Thomas Smith

How Much Caffeine is In OXO Good Grips Cold Brew?

I love the OXO Good Grips Coffee Maker, and have started to use this basically as my primary coffee maker. It makes a cold brew concentrate in 12-24 hours of brewing time.

The concentrate is rich, silky smooth, and delicious.

Since I now drink it every day, though, I wondered how caffeinated this stuff is and how it compares to normal drip coffee. The answer turns out to be really complicated, as it depends on how many grounds you mix with how much water, and then once you create the concentrate, how much you dilute it in your cup.

Here’s a video that I made to explore the question.

Key Takeaways, TLDR

  • The standard ratio of grounds to water for cold brew concentrate is a one-to-five ratio
  • An 8-ounce serving of this one-to-five cold brew concentrate usually has 500 milligrams of caffeine
  • Most people dilute the concentrate, typically with a one-to-one ratio
  • A one-to-one ratio of concentrate to a cup of coffee will have 250 milligrams of caffeine
  • This is equivalent to two cups of drip coffee or pod coffee (120-150 milligrams of caffeine per 8 fluid ounces)
  • Be careful not to exceed the standard recommended limit of 400 milligrams of caffeine per day

The Ratio of Grounds to Water

The OXO Good Grips Coffee Maker recommends using 10 ounces by weight of grounds plus about 40 ounces of water. I started out by measuring my grounds and water religiously and precisely using a scale.

After a while, though, I just started to kind of eyeball it. I put in 10 ounces of coffee and measure that on a scale, and then I would fill the water until it got all the way up to the top and the lid starts to come up or drift up a little bit, and I just leave it like that.

I fill the carafe until the lid floats up a bit

It’s probably more concentrated than the official mix, but I just find it easier to fill the thing up than to portion out the water precisely.

If you fill the OXO Good Grips’ carafe to the top and put in 10 ounces of coffee, it’s about a one to five ratio of coffee to water.

Filling the OXO Cold Brew maker

This is apparently a pretty standard ratio in cold brew concentrate. A one-to-five concentrate usually has about 500 milligrams of caffeine per 8-ounce serving.

Diluting the Concentrate

Most people don’t drink the concentrate straight, though, as it’s very strong and unpleasant to drink. People dilute it in different ratios.

Strong stuff!

I tend to dilute my concentrate in about a one-to-one ratio. If you made the stronger concentrate following the official OXO Good Grips recipe, they recommend diluting it even further.

I put in about half a cup of the concentrate when I make my morning coffee. That’s about four ounces, which works out to a cup of coffee with about 250 mg of caffeine.

Conclusion

You can see how this is a pretty efficient way to get your coffee in the morning, as I get the equivalent of about two cups of standard drip coffee condensed into an eight-ounce serving.

Diluted in this way, the coffee is super drinkable, cold, and delicious! I like it in my Contigo mug. However, do keep in mind that this is really concentrated stuff. If you drank the OXO Cold Brew concentrate undiluted, you could easily have over 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. Play it safe and dilute the concentrate well.