Looking for the best iced coffee maker? We’ve found six machines to create delicious chilled coffee drinks that don’t taste watered down.
Iced coffee is a popular drink that coffee lovers enjoy in any season. However, the costs can add up if you make buying a chilled coffee drink at Starbucks or your local coffee shop a daily habit. An at-home iced coffee maker allows you to make cold coffee drinks whenever you want at a fraction of the price.
As you look for the perfect iced coffee makers to bring home, you’ll notice that they have different techniques to create great-tasting iced coffee. Some of the machines use cold water and a spinning technique, while others brew a strong coffee concentrate over ice. You can also find cold brew makers that steep the coffee grounds to create a rich and smooth chilled coffee.
Our best-iced coffee maker is the Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker. This machine is certified by the Specialty Coffee Association for excellent flavor. It offers a variety of coffee brewing styles from iced coffee to cappuccinos and lattes. A built-in milk frother is perfect for topping off your drink with delicious cold foam.
Let’s have a look at six of the best-iced coffee makers on the market today.
6 Top Picks for the Best Iced Coffee Maker at a Glance
- Best overall: Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker
- Best performance: Philips 3200 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine
- Best for a crowd: De’Longhi TrueBrew Drip Hot or Iced Coffee Maker
- Best budget iced coffee maker: Cuisinart DCB-10P1 Automatic Cold Brew Coffeemaker
- Best compact iced coffee maker: Mr. Coffee Iced and Hot Coffee Maker
- Best for pods: Keurig K-Elite Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker
Our 6 Best Iced Coffee Maker Reviews
We’ve chosen six popular iced coffee machines with a variety of sizes and brew styles to satisfy your tastebuds and fit your budget. Decide which coffee maker is right for you!
1 Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker
The Ninja Specialty Coffee Maker is popular with coffee lovers and also gets a stamp of approval from the Specialty Coffee Association. This coffee machine brews iced, hot, and specialty coffees according to the SCA’s strict golden cup standards. It heats water to consistent temperatures between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit (90.5 to 96 degrees Celsius) and saturates the coffee grounds for an ideal amount of time. The result is a great-tasting brew that beats out much of the competition for flavor excellence. You can brew for one person, or fill a carafe with up to 10 cups of coffee.
For iced coffee, choose the “Over Ice” button to brew doubly strong coffee directly over a cup of ice. The result is a rich cup of cold coffee with a well-rounded flavor. If you want to make your coffee drink fancier, you can create a frothy milk topping using the fold-away milk wand. This wand is not capable of steaming milk. However, it is perfect for creating a cold foam recipe!
The Ninja coffee maker can do it all, making delicious iced coffees, hot coffee, cappuccinos, lattes, and more. Once you try a Ninja coffee maker, you may be a fan for life!
Pros
- Versatile machine
- Four brew styles: Classic, Rich, Over Ice, or Specialty Brew.
- 6 brew sizes
- Fold-away milk frothing wand
- Removable 40-ounce water reservoir
- Sca-certified
- Mid-range price
Cons
- Milk frother does not heat milk.
- Does not create authentic espressos.
2 Philips 3200 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine
The Philips 3200 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine is a top-quality machine that can meet just about all your at-home coffee needs. Besides brewing authentic espressos with 15 bars of pressure, regular coffee, cappuccinos, and lattes, this machine can brew a tasty iced coffee.
The iced coffee brew setting uses a slower drip, lower temperatures, and a higher ratio of coffee grounds. Brew it over a cup of ice. As the warm coffee drips over the ice, the result is a delightfully smooth-tasting iced coffee, reminiscent of cold brew.
This machine is pricier than other iced coffee makers. However, it’s like having a small Starbucks store sitting on your counter. If variety is your spice of life, then this Phillips 3200 coffee maker may be the right choice for you!
Pros
- Includes conical burr grinder
- Brews iced coffee, regular coffee, authentic espressos, specialty drinks, and hot water
- Choose the size and strength of your beverage
- Automatic milk frother
- AquaClean water filter system
- Easy to disassemble and clean
Cons
- Pricier than the average iced coffee maker.
3 De'Longhi TrueBrew Drip Hot or Iced Coffee Maker
The De’Longhi TrueBrew Drip Hot or Iced Coffee machine is perfect for brewing iced brew in larger batches for a crowd. It grinds beans fresh for each batch and brews 3-ounce concentrated coffee, single-serve sizes, or a 40-ounce carafe. When you choose the over-ice option, this machine uses a higher concentration of coffee so your iced coffee never tastes watered down.
In addition to iced coffee drinks, you can brew hot coffee. Choose from light, gold, or bold settings for the perfect level of flavor.
This high-performance coffee machine caters its brew style to your tastebuds.
Pros
- Brews 6 different sizes
- Uses a high-quality conical burr grinder
- Choose your preferred coffee strength
- Insulated carafe keeps coffee cold or hot longer
- Includes a clock
Cons
- No milk frothing option.
4 Cuisinart DCB-10P1 Automatic Cold Brew Coffeemaker
The compact Cuisinart Automatic Cold Brew Coffeemaker gives you a surprising amount of value for its low price. It is one of the cheapest cold coffee makers we found and has several hundred happy customers who are ready to sing its praise.
While the normal cold brew process takes 12-24 hours to steep, this machine can get the job done in less than 25-45 minutes. It reduces the brew time by adding a spin cycle to the brewing process. This allows the coffee to release its flavor more rapidly without applying any heat.
You may have to wait a little longer than a regular drip machine for the Cuisinart Cold Brew Coffeemaker to finish its cycle. However, you will also reap the benefits of a smooth cold coffee that has less bitterness and lower acidity than your average cup of coffee.
Pros
- Great-tasting, authentic cold brew flavor
- User-friendly design
- Sleek look
- Dishwasher-safe removable parts
- Compact size
- Budget price
Cons
- Slow brew time (25-45 minutes).
5 Mr. Coffee Iced and Hot Coffee Maker
If you’re not looking for anything fancy, the Mr. Coffee Iced Coffee Maker gets the job done. This single-serve coffee maker is a cheap option that doesn’t hog your counter space. It isn’t the fastest brew machine on the market, taking up to four minutes to brew one cup of hot or iced coffee. However, the final result has great flavor.
Like most Mr. Coffee brand coffee makers, it comes with tools to make measuring coffee grounds and ice simple and user-friendly–like a handy scoop and an Integrated system for measuring water and ice. This standardized measuring system allows you to get a consistently good cup of coffee each time that is not too weak or too strong.
The water tank brews as much water as you put in and is not removable. Use the guidelines inside the reservoir to brew 6, 8, 12, or 16-ounce cups hot cups or up to 22 ounces of iced coffee. Mr. Coffee also throws in a 22-ounce double-insulated tumbler that is perfect for taking cold coffee on the go!
This friendly, compact coffee maker is perfect for small spaces like dorms, R.V.s, and crowded countertops. It brews single-servings of both hot and iced coffee without using pods. Not only does it fit easily into your home–but it can fit easily into your budget as well.
Pros
- Great coffee flavor
- Compact size
- Reusable filter
- Easy-to-use measurement system
- Brews 6-22oz cups of coffee
- Budget-friendly
Cons
- Not compatible with pods.
- Water tank is not removable.
- Many plastic parts.
6 Keurig K-Elite Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker
For a quick and easy iced brew, the Keurig K-Elite can be a handy machine. This pod coffee maker brews either hot or cold drinks at the touch of a button. Fill a cup with ice and choose the over-ice option for a cold coffee drink that is ready to go in less than a minute.
This machine is easy to use and clean-up is simple. The Keurig also has a built-in descale option to deep-clean your coffee maker and preserve the life of your machine.
You can choose from several different Keurig-compatible pods from Starbucks, Peet’s, Dunkin Donuts, and more. You can even try a flavored brew!
Pros
- Compatible with hundreds of K-cup pods
- Strong brew option
- Hot water on demand
- 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12-oz cup sizes
- Automatic off
- Fits travel mugs up to 7.2 inches
Cons
- Plastic pods create extra waste.
What’s the difference between iced coffee and cold brew?
While iced coffee and cold brew may look similar in your glass, these two chilled coffee drinks have very different brew methods.
Iced coffee is brewed like regular coffee. However, generally, the coffee-to-water ratio is much more concentrated. The hot coffee is cooled and poured over ice, or in some iced coffee machines, it is brewed directly over ice.
Pro tip: Freeze leftover coffee in ice cube trays to add to your iced coffee drinks. Then when the ice melts down, your coffee won’t lose its strong delicious flavor.
Cold brew coffee does not use heat at all. Instead, it is made using cool or room-temperature water and coffee grounds. Many coffee drinkers use one part coffee to two parts water for this method. You can go through your coffee supply much quicker with this method than a regular drip brew method.
The grounds are left to steep for about 12-24 hours on the counter or in the fridge. However, some high-performance cold brew machines can make a cup of cold brew using a spin method to cut down the brew time to an hour or less.
As a result of its slow-brew method, cold-brew coffee has a rich, smooth flavor. It is also lower in acid than many other coffee drinks.
Buying guide: How to find the best iced coffee maker on the market
There are many iced coffee options on the market. To find the best machine for you, narrow down your choices by considering the capacity, size, brewing technique, and your budget. Here are some tips to help you make the best decision for you:
Capacity
Do you drink coffee alone, or drink in a crowd? You can easily find single-serve iced coffee makers that are the perfect size for one to-go cup. However, if you often serve a crowd, you can also find larger coffee makers that can brew for several at once.
Size
If your drink of choice is iced coffee in any weather, you may prefer to find a slim and trim single-serve coffee maker that takes up little counter space. However, if you prefer a range of hot and cold specialty coffee drinks, choosing a larger all-in-one coffee machine may give your kitchen a more streamlined look.
Budget
You can find many iced coffee makers for less than $100. However, many higher-end coffee machines offer an iced coffee setting along with many additional coffee drink options. We chose iced coffee makers from various price ranges to fit all budgets.
Brewing technique
The combination of caffeine and ice is a great perk-up to start your day or for a mid-afternoon treat. However, there are many different brew methods to achieve a chilled coffee beverage. Most basic iced coffee drinks are made by making a strong brew in a regular drip machine. This can be accomplished by adding twice the grounds to a regular coffee brew or using the “over ice” option.
Or, you can choose a cold brew method where the water is not heated at all. This is often a long process that takes half a day or more. However, you also find automatic cold-brew coffee machines that brew a smooth batch of coffee in less than an hour.
For milk-based cold coffee drinks such as iced lattes, iced macchiatos, and iced cappuccinos, you can start with a shot of espresso over ice. Then add cold-frothed milk to the top.
If you are an espresso lover, check out our comparison of two popular Breville espresso machines.
Once you decide which cold coffee taste you prefer, you can find the perfect machine to meet your needs.
Our verdict
While you can make iced coffee in a regular coffee machine, an iced coffee maker is tailored to give you the best flavor for your favorite brew style in minutes. You can also find automatic cold brew coffee makers that can cut hours off the process and give you a cold brew in an hour or less. We sifted through a wide variety of coffee makers to choose machines that give you the best value for the price.
Our top pick for price and quality is the Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker. This machine offers a variety of brew styles, including iced, hot, and specialty drinks. It also follows SCA standards to give you the tastiest coffee.
Whether you prefer a high-end espresso maker that can brew iced coffee, lattes, and cappuccinos or just want a cheap and user-friendly machine to get the job done, we’ve got you covered.
Now it’s time for you to decide which of these six iced coffee makers will go on your wish list.
FAQs
To make iced coffee and cold brews, you need the proper coffee-to-water ratio and measuring tools for water and coffee grounds. An iced coffee machine is helpful since the machine adjusts the coffee-to-water ratio automatically so your coffee doesn’t taste watered down when you brew over ice. Many baristas prefer the flavor of a single-origin coffee for cold brew.
