The Hario Mizudashi Coffee Pot Review: The Best Hario Cold Brew Maker?

Hooked on cold brew but can’t afford to keep shelling out the big bucks at your local coffee shop? The Hario Mizudashi Coffee Pot is changing the cold brew game, making it simple and affordable to brew your own.

Read our Hario Mizudashi review to see if this homemade cold brew is right for you.

The Hario Mizudashi Coffee Pot ‘In a Nutshell’

SEE ON AMAZON

Hario has succeeded in making the simplest cold brew coffee maker available today – The Hario Mizudashi cold brewer. Like the recently-released Hario cold brew bottle, the Mizudashi perfectly suited for beginners and die-hard cold brew fans alike – this cost-effective brewer will change your coffee game in a heartbeat.

A minimalist design makes it very approachable. With only 3 pieces to assemble, you can be brewing coffee within 30 seconds of opening the box. (We should probably remind you to wash it first, but we’re not your mom.) No prior experience is needed to operate this handy brewer. The reusable filter will last you a long, long time so you never need to purchase replacement filters – unless of course you misplace it.

Things to Consider Before Buying the Hario Mizudashi Coffee Pot

This cold brew coffee maker is much simpler than many other options on the market. And it shares a lot of similarities with the Takeya cold brew coffeemaker, another Japanese-designed brewer. It’s an all-in-one brewer and carafe. Add the ground coffee to the filter basket, place the basket in the top of the carafe and pour water over top.

While simplicity can be a good thing, it doesn’t leave much room for adjustments and fine-tuning your brew. If you like to play around with your brew variables, the Hario cold brew coffee pot might not be for you.

It also might not be for you if you brew a lot of coffee at a time. Unlike some brewers, it doesn’t produce a coffee concentrate. This means you can only brew about 4 cups worth at a time.

And speaking of time: expect to spend about 20 minutes pouring water into the top, then letting it steep for at least 8 hours before drinking.

The Hario Mizudashi Review

The Hario Mizudashi Coffee Pot

• Ease Of Use
• Quality of Brew
• How Much it Makes
• Price

4.3

• See On Amazon

Founded in 1921, Hario is a big player in the specialty coffee industry. They produce many great brewing devices and accessories that are commonly found in world-class cafes around the globe. You have most likely heard of the V60 dripper, certainly their most popular coffee product (1).

We’ve reviewed a number of other products from this respected Japanese craft firm, including the Hario Skerton hand grinder and the Hario Woodneck pour over coffee maker. Needless to say, this company knows how to make coffee brewing equipment, whether for making hot coffee or cold (2).

Ease of Use – 5/5

The Mizudashi cold brewer is an entry-level brewer. Its minimal design won’t scare anybody away.

It doesn’t take up too much space in your fridge and makes it convenient to store your coffee, with its pour spout and handle.

To see just how easy it is to brew coffee with this device, watch this short video:

The cleanup process is easy, compared to other cold brew systems. Simply pull the filter basket from the top of the carafe, dump the grounds and rinse in water. Done. The glass carafe is dishwasher safe, but I wouldn’t put the filter through the dishwasher.

One of the best things about this brewer is its reusable, fine mesh filter.

As long as you rinse it thoroughly after each use, it should last a long, long time. You’ll never need to purchase extra filters as you would for many other brewing devices. This adds to the already cost-effective nature of this product.

Quality of Brew – 4/5

Here’s where the Hario lacks a bit in contrast to other cold brew coffee makers: Because the coffee grounds aren’t immersed in the water as long or as freely as with (for example) the simple Mason jar or French press technique, the coffee may not be as richly flavoured as some other cold brew methods. We’ve taken off a point for this.

However, the lighter brew is partially a function of your coffee to water ratio, of course. If you bump the coffee grounds up to a higher quantity, you can get back some of the missing oomph that the Hario’s factory recommendations leave out. You can also try grinding a little finer – not so much that you overextract, of course, but enough to pull a bit more flavour out of your coffee beans.

All these tweaks, of course, come at the risk of overextraction, leading to a bitter flavour – which is one of the primary selling points of cold brew in the first place. Experimentation is the best way to find that sweet spot, where more intense flavour comes without the negatives of bitter or acidic coffee.

Capacity – 3/5

The one place where the Hario falls down a bit compared to others. It’s not that the 1-litre volume is small (that’s about the size of the Oxo Good Grips, which you read about right here), but the Hario doesn’t produce a coffee concentrate. And several other cold brew coffee makers like the Filtron produce 1.5L, or even more. This puts the Hario at a disadvantage. We deducted two points for that.

Of course, offsetting this is simplicity: when you want a cup of cold brew from the Hario, you just pour it into your glass and start sipping (after adding milk or sugar, of course) – no need to dilute the concentrate produced by, for example, the Toddy. But because having a couple of litres of concentrate in the fridge is a big selling point for many cold brew coffee for lovers, this might be a place where the Hario lets you down.

Price – 5/5

The Hario Mizudashi cold brew coffee system is priced very affordably so that anybody can test out homemade cold brew. And because it includes a carafe for storing and pouring your cold brew, the reasonable price comes with an added helping of convenience.

Don’t buy the Hario Cold Brew Coffee Maker if…

You want more drinks from a single brewing – then, the To​​​​ddy is the one you need. A simple, yet effective design, with ground coffee and water placed in the plastic brewer. A stopper holds it all in until steeping is complete. Once you pull the stopper out, the cold brew drips through a cloth filter. This brewer allows you to brew a lot of coffee at one time, about 3 times more than the Hario. Read a review of the Toddy here.

You’re a coffee geek – you should be looking for Yama Cold Brew Tower. This tower is one of the most unique brewers available for home use. With the aesthetics of a laboratory, this cold brew system will truly make you feel like a scientist.

The Yama will take a lot less time to brew (about 3-4 hours) but requires the fine tuning of grind size and drip size (a brass fitting at the top determines how fast coffee drips through). During the entire brew, coffee is dripping down through a spiral glass pipe, creating a work of beauty that you probably want to show off.

You decide you’re not ready to buy a drip coffee maker – if you’re not ready to buy something just yet, you can still experiment with cold brew at home. For example, did you know you can make cold brew coffee in a French press? This is a pretty simple way to start cold brewing. Don’t have a french press? Well I bet you have a mason jar!

There’s no shortage of ways to make cold brew (3). Again, having a dedicated device for cold brew will save you time, but if you’re feeling creative, give it a shot.

The Verdict

Making cold brew at home doesn’t have to be hard or confusing.

The Hario Mizudashi Coffee Pot gives you everything you need for a fraction of the price to get started. It’s easy to use and even easier to clean. No skills are needed, just add some ground coffee and water.

SEE ON AMAZON