Last Updated on 11 September 2025 by Dan Wilderness
Hello everyone – regular readers will be aware we’ve recently had a baby, and so there’s been plenty of sleepless nights for now! I’ve wanted to invest in a coffee machine for a while, so this has seemed the perfect time to do so, and I’ve ended up opting for the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Model. Today, I’m reviewing my experiences to see if Ninja’s coffee machine is worth your money!
There are two versions of the Ninja Luxe Cafe (Pro and Premier) which I cover below in more depth. I’ll be covering what both machines do and the differences in this review, but as I own the Pro model, all of my experiences using the machine are based on that.
(Please note: The Financial Wilderness may also receive a small payout if you make a purchase through a link on this site. It won’t affect the service you receive and we recommend only what we honestly believe to be the best available, not what gives us commission. You can read more about our affiliate policy on our disclaimers page.)
Why I chose the Ninja Luxe Cafe
I started off with a couple of requirements that were always going to be naturally steering me towards certain coffee machines.
- I mainly drink milk based coffee drinks, option a mix of Cappuccino, Flat White and Cortado so I wanted a machine that made these drinks as easy as possible. (If you’re primarily an espresso drinker – we think other choices are better, more below).
- I am often trying to grab a coffee between meetings, so need something not too far off one touch, or at the simpler end.
- Ideally, I wanted something that I could customise my drinks if needed and used fresh beans.
The search for this has me between two real choices, a couple of Delonghi’s Machines (I looked at the Magnifica Evo and Eletta) or the Ninja, and opted for the latter after having a look at both in a shop.
(The difference between the two seems to be that the Delonghi’s are more of a true one-touch and forget machine, the Ninja allows more flexibility and range of drinks).
Ninja Luxe Cafe Premier vs. Pro: Key Differences
Before we go any further, I’ll just note that there there’s two version of the Ninja Luxe Cafe – the Premier and Pro.
There’s not a significant amount of difference between them, but a couple are key and may determine which Ninja coffee machine is right for you.
After this section, the rest of the review will talk about features on both machines.
Tamping Approach
The biggest difference is that the Pro machine has a tamping procedure integrated into the machine.
What is tamping? This is where you apply pressure down on your freshly ground coffee in order to create the puck of ground coffee that the hot water is pushed through in order to brew your lovely coffee.
On the Premier series, you’ll grind the coffee, then manually tamp it with an external filter. On the Pro you’ll pull a lever twice after grinding and it’s done immediately.
What’s the difference? Internal tamping is both quicker and less messy (it’s fairly easy to spill coffee granules when removing from the grinder to tamp if not careful) – but some people like tamping manually as part of the coffee process.
Personally I thought the internal tamp was particularly helpful.
XL Milk Jug and Steam Wand
The other bigger difference between the Premier and Pro models is that the Pro comes with an expanded milk jug and a bigger steam wand. This means it’s easier to make bigger milk focused drinks or double up to make multiples at a time, and an extra option of extra thick froth with a bit more power.
That thick froth is ideally suited to a cappuccino, which was another point in the Pro’s favour for me.
Here’s a picture of using the XL milk jug to create the thick froth:
More Espresso Flexibility
The Pro model also features more customisation over your espresso shot to brew as a lungo or a ristretto shot (a long or short brew) rather than a standard mix.
This is nice to have but personally I haven’t tried this out too much to date.
Hot Water Button
This one is in the marginal benefits for me, but the Pro model also comes with a hot water button with three default coffee temperatures for Americano Customisation or simply topping up.
Price Difference
At time of writing, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro is £699 compared to the Premier at £549 – a £150 difference.
Is the Ninja Luxe Cafe the Pro or Premier a better option?
There’s no clear winner – I honestly think this is one that comes down to personal preference and what you’re using the machine for.
I opted for the Pro because I wanted to maximise my cappuccino experience with the steam wand and to minimise the potential of mess with having to tamp.
However, the practical act of tamping is not a hard one, and £150 is quite a lot of money. Over time, I thought the convenience would make it worth it with long term daily use expected, but there is nothing that is absolutely essential to the Pro which makes the extra expense a necessity.
Ninja Luxe Cafe Coffee Menu & Drink Options
What I really like about the Ninja Luxe Cafe is that if you can think of ordering a coffee based drink in a coffee shop, you can make it in the Ninja Luxe.
Cappuccino is easy, but so is a soy milk toffee latte if that’s your thing.
Here’s some popular style the Ninja Luxe Cafe can make (all versions):
- Americano
- Espresso
- Filter Style Coffee
- Cappuccino
- Iced Coffee
- Coldbrew Coffee
- Flat White
- Cortado
- Hot Chocolate
You can also make a few coffee based specials very easily, like an Espresso Martini or an Irish Coffee.
Is the Ninja Luxe Cafe easy to use?
Yes, very. When you first look at the machine it can look a bit intimidating to those who are used to aren’t baristas or coffee aficionados already familiar with an espresso machine. In practice, it’s incredibly simple and you’ll pick it up very quickly.
This is very much helped by the fact Ninja produce a really good quick start and inspiration guide included with the machine that guides you through exactly how to make a number of favoured coffees (and also have a video version for those who prefer a visual approach).
Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it’ll be muscle memory – but it’s definitely not hard.
Let’s talk through how you make a coffee in the machine as it’ll highlight some of it’s features.
How do I make a coffee in the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
If you watch a barista in a coffee shop next time you order your favourite coffee, you’ll see they go through exactly the same steps you’re about it. It might sound quite a bit written out, but all the below steps are very fast and easy to do.
Time needed: 2 minutes
Step by Step: A coffee in the Ninja Luxe Cafe
- Add beans
First pour your selected beans into the hopper – we’ve got more on the ideal beans to use with the Ninja Luxe Cafe below below.
- Change Grind if Required with Barista Assist
The machine has a feature called Barista Assist, which advises a setting to apply for the grinder which you can change if needed.
- Select drink style and grind
You then select your base drink style on the machine (espresso for most drinks) and hit grind. The machine will measure out exactly what you need and dispense those grinds into the portafilter (which is the device the water is blasted through to make your coffee.)
- Tamp the coffee
You’ll then either manually or automatically tamp those ground beans down into a puck of coffee, depending on which version of the machine you go for.
- Brew your coffee
You put the portafilter and your mug on the middle dispenser and hit brew – if you’re making an espresso, your job is done here!
- Heat and froth milk (for milk based drinks only)
If you want a milk based drink, fill the milk jug to the marked line for your drink, and select your level of frothiness (and if you’re using dairy or non-dairy milk). Hit start.
Your milk will be heated and frothed appropriately – give it a swirl, pour it into your coffee cup and you’re done!
How quickly can I make a coffee in the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
I timed myself making a cappuccino without rushing to see what I came out with.
I had my cappuccino ready to serve in 2 minutes and 32 seconds – not super quick, but enough to make this work between meetings.
That was based on it taking 1 minute 2 seconds to reach the stage of the espresso being ready (including grinding the beans), with the remaining time being taking frothing and heating the milk (another 1 min 11 seconds) and then 10 seconds to pour it out
What is Barista Assist on the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
One feature Ninja push hard on the Luxe Cafe models is Barista Assist, which is effectively an adviser on exactly how much to grind your beans for a perfect drink.
This is a key part of the process as grinding too hard or too fine can leave your drink either tasting a bit sour or bitter, as too many or few compounds get extracted into your end up.
Barista Assist works on a 25 point scale, with a recommendation made when you put the beans into the machine and is reviewed after each brew. You can adjust the grinder with a simple wheel on the side of the machine.
Ninja say you’ll generally need to brew two espressos when using a new pack of beans in order to get to the right place.
Here’s a picture of some freshly ground coffee made with Barista Assist in the Ninja Cafe right after tamping:
Does Barista Assist work well on the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
If you look at online forums about the Ninja Luxe Cafe, this is one of the topics that’s more controversial.
My personal experiences have been pretty good! I’ve found Barista Assist has generally got me close to ideal and then I’ve adjusted it up or down a couple of notches to my personal taste. I’ve never had to make significant adjustments.
If you’re expecting this feature to be a number that’s always dead on perfect every single time without any need to adjust, you’ll be disappointed – but so far even when I’ve felt it’s a little off, I’ve never had what I’d describe as a bad cup of coffee.
However I did find some cases online where people felt their barista assist was seriously off, to the extent of a suggestion the machine was faulty. In those cases, it appears Ninja customer services were good about replacing machines.
Does the Ninja Luxe Cafe make good coffee?
Yes, absolutely it does – which is good as that’s the key question we’re here for. Whilst using good beans is a must (with any coffee machine, not just the Ninja), it’s definitely met my expectations for a home barista set.
To date I’ve had no bad coffees and all of them have been ones I’d be very pleased with if I bought in an independent coffee shop.
What type of beans should I use with the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
The machine works best with dark or medium dark roasts – these are the most common to most people’s coffee tastes anyhow.
If your tastes veer towards light or medium roasts and their flavour profile, I’d suggest going for something else.
What does make a big difference is to use beans as freshly roasted as possible.
I got a decent result with good supermarket beans, but I really have noticed the difference in ordering fresh coffee beans from roasteries and that’s now become my go to approach.
How easy is it to customise milk options on the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
Incredibly easy! You just fill the milk jug to the right line for the drink you are making and can select to just have hot milk of various levels of frothiness. Once selected, you just hit the button and the steam wand does the work.
Can I use non-dairy milks such as oat milk with the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
Yes you can, and there’s a setting on the machine for these which ensure they’re frothed and heated perfectly for them, as the approach can be slight different.
Is the Ninja Luxe Cafe easy to clean and maintain?
Maintaining the Ninja Luxe Cafe is very easy as it does most things for you.
As part of initial setup the machine will come with a test strip in order to help you identify your water hardness – one of the first things you’ll do is input this into the machine in order for it to identify how and how often it needs to descale.
The machine will alert you when the descaling process is needed and it’s easy to run, either with a tablet (one supplied to work this out) or can also be done very easily with some vinegar. The descaling process does take a while, so you’ll want to run it at at time you don’t want a coffee.
For more day-to-day use, all parts that get messy (the portafilter and the milk jug) are very easy to wash up but generally need done by hand.
I keep a cloth by the machine in order to give the steam wand a quick wipe after each use (something you’ll also see in coffee shops!).
The machine will also run a purge sequence after making drinks where it blasts through a little water and steam in order to clear out any old milk and stop that blocking the wand. You can also wash the wand manually if you want as well.
What don’t I like about the Ninja Luxe Cafe
Despite being very pleased with the machine, there’s a couple of points I’d call out as ideally needing some improvement.
Drip Tray
On a machine that is otherwise extremely well designed, the drip tray is rather frustrating on a number of points and the biggest area I could see that Ninja could improve this machine.
Firstly is the volume – it’s too small! I find myself needing to empty it at the short end of every couple of days, and I’d really have appreciated more coverage. Given I’m usually making between 2-4 coffees a day, there would definitely be a need to change it every day for larger households.
The second issue with is that the drip tray using a float system – so when the little ball is raised by the water level shows a bit of orange, it’s time to empty the drip tray.
However it’s quite easy to miss if it goes up during making a round of coffees, and the machine won’t stop you when it’s full – so a bit of a flood is the result if you overflow.
My final issue with the drip tray is that it doesn’t travel or pour particularly well when full. For counter-space purposes my machine isn’t particularly close to the kitchen sink, and if it’s full it’s very easy to spill a bit of water when transporting. Not the end of the world, but definitely a bit annoying.
Exact Coffee Measurement
This one doesn’t actually bother me at all, but looking online there are people it definitely will so I thought I would include it.
If you go online coffee forums you will find some people who are very militant about the fact that an espresso should be 18g beans to 36g of coffee. This is technically correct.
The Ninja doesn’t always consistently produce this and can have a bit of variability in the end result, but I’ve never found it that far off.
My personal threshold is simply does my cup of coffee taste good, and as discussed earlier in the review I’ve never had a concern about this – but if you do, I’m pointing this out now!
No Decaf Change Out
I am being picky here, but as someone who occasionally likes an evening coffee but also wants to sleep, I’d have really liked the ability to easily swap for decaf beans without doing a full bean changeover.
This isn’t a common coffee machine feature (most do have the one hopper and filter) but it’s on the Delonghi Rivela and nearly drew me towards that when making my purchase decision.
Overall Review of the Ninja Luxe Cafe
Whilst a coffee machine will always be a luxury purchase, I’m overall extremely pleased with the Ninja Luxe Cafe. It’s met the objective I had for it which is that I can consistently make a coffee-shop level drink easily and relatively quickly.
Combined with good beans (a must for any machine) I’ve found it really does make absolutely delicious coffee – as mentioned earlier in the review, no matter what style I’ve tried I’ve yet to have a bad coffee. A picture of my freshly made morning cappuccino below:
The machine is smart and really easy to use, and I’m appreciating that I can customise things easily to my taste, and make an extremely wide range of drinks with it. This is really helped by the “Inspiration Guide” that Ninja include with the machine which runs through a variety of drinks and gives step by step instruction on how to make them. Once you’ve done that a few times, it’ll give you the confidence to try anything.
It’s easy to keep clean and use and looks smart on the countertop, although I should note that it’s relatively bulky and takes up a fair amount of space, a common problem of many coffee machines.
The only downside which has caused it to lose a full star is the drip tray – as discussed in the review this does fill too quickly and needs a better mechanism to empty it. Even simply making it a bit bigger would help.
Overall though, we think this is an absolutely great machine for those who want a relatively easy coffee experience and absolutely recommend it.
Advantages
- Easy, great tasting coffee
- Many drink options
- Inbuilt milk frothing works very well
- Very customisable
- Easy to clean
- Specific settings for non-dairy milk drinkers.
- Barista Assist generally gets beans to a good place…..
Disadvantages
- ….but Barista Assist isn’t perfect and may need tweaks.
- Drip tray is poor and fills quickly.
- Espresso purists may object to measurements not always being precise.
Where can I buy the Ninja Luxe Cafe?
The Ninja Luxe Cafe is sold in most bigger department and electrical stores, but we’d usually point to buying from Ninja direct as they tend to run promotions throwing in a few extra bits.
You can find the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Version here at Ninja and here at Amazon
You can find the Ninja Luxe Cafe Premier Version here at Ninja and here at Amazon
Alternatives to the Ninja Luxe Cafe
I put in a lot of time researching my coffee machine purchase before making it so I thought I’d recommend some other machine – I’ve also listed why some of these machines may be a better choice for you.
Sage The Barista Pro
A good alternative if: Your focus is mainly on a perfect espresso rather than milk drinks and want to focus on precision.
Sage’s rather attractive steel creation has a fantastic reputation as being one of the best espresso focused machines around.
It does have a wand to be able to do milk drinks as well, but is more manual than the Ninja on this – you’ll get a superb right-every-time coffee from this though.
Available from Sage or from Amazon
Delonghi Magnifica Evo / Rivelia
A good alternative if: You want more of a one-button coffee and are willing to trade some flexibility for it.
Delonghi’s coffee machines are the other ones I seriously considered buying. The Magnifica Evo is a great lower cost machine that can make basic milky drinks including a cappuccino at the touch of a button.
The slightly more advanced Rivelia offers a feature of interchangeable hoppers which I thought was a great trick – allowing you to also have decaf easily on hand or even just a different coffee.
Buy from Delonghi or from Amazon (Magnifica Evo and Rivelia)
ProCook Barista Elite Bean to Cup Coffee Machine
A good alternative if: You’re looking for something like the Sage at a cheaper price.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this website that I do rather like ProCook’s stuff, and they’ve recently entered the espresso machine market.
I’ll be honest, their machine is clearly modelled on the Sage as the inspiration as they look remarkably similar – but it also gets great reviews whilst being a little bit cheaper.
Available from ProCook here.
FAQ’s on the Ninja Luxe Cafe
Not directly into the hopper which is for fresh beans only, but if you have coffee grounds you can put them directly into the Portafilter and make a coffee that way, although using the Ninja to grind fresh beans is the recommended method.
As mentioned earlier in the article, dark or medium dark roasted beans are the way to go for this machine, preferably as fresh as possible.
I’m presently trying a significant variety of UK roasteries and intending to write a complete article on the best coffee beans out there.
For now, I’m going to highlight Workshop Coffee as somewhere I’ve been very pleased with – their house blend Article is a really nice base coffee that should appeal to a lot of people.
We’ve got a referral code for Workshop that will net you 15% off a first order: SMARTRR-REFERRAL00004558236730147802880
The funnel, baskets, cleaning disc, water reservoir and lid, bean hopper and drip tray parts can be used in the top rack of the dishwasher.
Any other parts should be washed by hand.
Yes! You can put milk and hot chocolate flakes or powder into the milk jug and run a heating and frothing programme to your taste.
It comes out excellently, working in a similar way to the Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser.
Not really but there’s a workaround.
The milk jug that comes with the Ninja Luxe Cafe is great for the frothing and steaming, but isn’t an ideal shape for latte art – you might get a few basics out of it but nothing groundbreaking.
What you can do is froth and heat your milk in the Ninja jug, and then transfer it to a jug better suited for latte art – a bit of a faff, but will get you what you need. Manual frothing is the best way to do this.
Not really, the package comes with just about everything you need.
The one missing item which you’re probably going to want is a knock box (a box you put the puck of ground coffee into after you’ve brewed your coffee).
Whilst you can use any container for this, a good knock box is designed to make it very easy.
Ninja do sell their own knock box, but you can save a little bit by getting one on Amazon as these are purely functional. I have this knock box which despite having a weird bomber design printed on it, works very well.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about the Ninja Luxe Cafe or want to share your own experiences we’d absolutely love to hear from you! Just leave us a note in the comments below.
And that’s it!
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