What is the OXO Brew Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker?
A smaller cold brew maker built to sit inside a fridge rather than on a worktop.
OXO publishes 710ml of concentrate, enough for up to seven drinks, a stainless steel filter, a polypropylene brewing container and a glass carafe with a stopper. It weighs 420g. Draining starts by itself the moment the brewer is placed on the carafe.
The design brief is footprint, and everything follows from it.
Automatic draining, for better and worse
No switch means nothing to forget, and nothing to control.
Setting the brewer on the carafe starts filtration, which is about as simple as this process gets: steep, stack, walk away. There is no valve to press and no way to leave the coffee draining half finished.
The cost is timing. The larger OXO 32oz holds the brew behind a release switch until you decide the steep is done, which matters when a twelve hour target lands at an awkward hour. Here the decision is made when you stack it, so the steep length is however long you leave it in the first vessel.
Stainless rather than paper
A permanent filter, and a slightly fuller cup as a result.
OXO specifies a stainless steel filter with no paper option published for this model. That removes a running cost and means the concentrate carries more of the oils and fine particles that paper would hold back. Cold brew is already a low-acid, heavy-bodied drink, and metal filtration leans further that way.
If you prefer the cleaner cup that paper gives, the 32oz model supports it and this one does not.
OXO Compact vs Hario Mizudashi
Two fridge-sized cold brewers with different amounts of apparatus.
The Hario Mizudashi is one glass pot with a mesh basket, 600ml, dishwasher safe, and it lives in a fridge door. The OXO Compact is 710ml across a brewer and a carafe, and separates the grounds into a different vessel when it drains.
The Hario is simpler and cheaper to keep clean. The OXO gives you concentrate stored away from the grounds, which keeps extraction from continuing while the coffee sits. If you drink a batch in two days that difference is small; over a week it is not.
Is the OXO Compact worth it?
It is worth it when shelf space, not volume, is the constraint.
Seven drinks per batch from something that brews inside the fridge is a reasonable proposition for one or two people, and the automatic drain removes the main way a home cold brew goes wrong, which is forgetting about it.
OXO states a satisfaction guarantee rather than a warranty term, so no figure is recorded here. The polypropylene body is the other compromise: it is light and it is not glass.
Who should buy the OXO Compact (and who should not)
Buy it if your fridge has one shelf to spare and your household is small.
It suits a single drinker or a couple, a small kitchen, and anybody who would rather not think about when to stop the steep. The stopper on the carafe means the finished concentrate keeps without decanting.
Do not buy it if you want a paper-clean cup, because this model publishes only the stainless filter. Do not buy it if you brew for a household, since 710ml is seven drinks. And if you want to control when filtration begins, the 32oz model has the switch this one does not.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the OXO Compact cold brew maker hold?
710ml of concentrate, which OXO states makes up to seven coffee drinks after dilution.
Does the OXO Compact use paper filters?
No. OXO publishes a stainless steel filter for this model. The larger 32oz version supports paper as well as mesh.
How does draining work on the OXO Compact?
It starts automatically when the brewing container is placed on the carafe, so there is no switch to operate and nothing to leave half drained.
Can you brew cold brew in the fridge with it?
Yes. OXO describes the compact size as suitable for brewing on a countertop or inside a refrigerator, which is the reason the model exists.
