Ninja Luxe Cafe Premier 601 Coffee Machine.

Description

Dreaming of crafting every coffee drink from your favourite high street café menu without leaving your kitchen? The Ninja Luxe Cafe brings that possibility to life, offering a comprehensive solution for coffee enthusiasts who want variety without complexity.

Features and Benefits

• 53mm portafilter
• Double shot basket & luxe basket, standard, unpressurised
• 2 Litre water tank with water sensor
• Integrated grinder with 25 settings
• Built in scales
• Grind size guidance
• 3 espresso ratio settings
• 7 filter coffee & cold brew sizes from 6oz – 18oz
• Auto grinder pulsing when grinding finer
• Automatic pre-infusion
• Automatic milk steaming & frothing
• Automatic cold milk frothing
• Auto steam wand purge
• Spring loaded tamper
• adjustable drip tray to accommodate tall cups

Our testing reveals the Ninja Luxe Cafe fills a fascinating gap in the coffee machine market. While traditional espresso machines might seem daunting and fully automatic bean-to-cup machines often fall short on quality, this machine strikes an interesting balance.

The concept of assisted bean-to-cup machines isn’t new – Sage Appliances pioneered it with their Oracle and Oracle Touch, followed by more budget-friendly options like the Oracle Jet, Express Impress, and Touch Impress. But Ninja has reimagined this category, offering similar functionality at a remarkably lower price point while expanding the drink menu significantly.

During our extensive testing, we found the Ninja Luxe’s espresso and milk texturing capabilities quite impressive. While they might not quite match the Sage machines’ output, they come remarkably close. But what truly sets this machine apart is its versatility. Beyond traditional espresso drinks, you’ll be able to create:

• Filter style coffee
• Cold brew style coffee
• Cold pressed espresso
• Cold milk foam

For coffee lovers who fancy recreating their favourite café drinks at home (without the eye-watering prices), this machine proves incredibly capable.

We should note that this is very much an all-rounder. If you’re exclusively interested in perfecting espresso, you might want to look elsewhere. While it handles espresso admirably with minimal fuss (the grind size guidance system works brilliantly), dedicated espresso enthusiasts might find it limiting.

However, when using classic espresso blends – think Italian-style, chocolate-forward, or rich dessert profiles – it produces more than satisfactory results for cappuccinos, lattes, flat whites and Americanos that will please most palates.

The steam wand impressed us in manual mode (with some practice) and performs reasonably well in automatic mode, though it tends to produce quite firm cappuccino foam. For flat whites, we’d recommend using manual steaming for better control.

While you can’t steam milk and brew simultaneously, the cold frother operates during brewing, streamlining the iced coffee preparation process. Speaking of the cold frother – it’s a simple magnetic whisk mechanism in the jug’s base, but our tests showed it performs remarkably well.

The cold drink options really shine here. Between the cold pressed espresso, cold brew function, and cold frother, you can recreate nearly any iced coffee drink from your favourite coffee shop menu (though you’ll need to supply your own ice, naturally).

A note about the cold brew: purists might raise an eyebrow at the terminology, as it’s not traditional long-steeped cold brew. However, in our real-world testing, we found it produces refreshing cold coffee that most casual drinkers will thoroughly enjoy, especially during warmer weather.

Similarly, while filter coffee enthusiasts might debate the terminology, the Luxe’s filter-style coffee delivers satisfying results for those who appreciate a good strong cup, particularly when using espresso blends.

After thorough testing, we believe the Ninja Luxe Cafe offers exceptional value. It’s particularly well-suited to coffee enthusiasts who want to explore various brewing methods without committing to specialist equipment for each style.

For a more comprehensive analysis of the Ninja Luxe Cafe, check out:
The Ninja Luxe Cafe Review