At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Stylish & compact
- Wide range of drinks
- Excellent screen and buttons
- Very good performance
Cons
- Some design niggles
- Barista Assist can overcompensate
- Expensive
Our Verdict
Ninja’s Pro level semi-automatic coffee machine can do just about everything and the vast majority of the time, it does it to an excellent level, doing things for you while still giving you enough control to feel like a barista. There are some niggles and you might find the cheaper Premier model plenty, but that doesn’t stop this from coming highly recommended.
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You might know Ninja for its air fryers but the company that’s taking the kitchen by storm makes everything from knives to ice cream makers to coffee machines.
It’s the latter that I’ve been testing with the Ninja Luxe Café Pro (ES701), aiming to bring the barista out in you. As the name suggests, this is the top-of-the-range model from Ninja, offering 10 more drinks than the Luxe Café Premier.
This semi-automatic machine is a ‘3-in-1′ with options for espresso, filter coffee and cold brew. Furthermore, it has a hands-free Dual Froth System and a grinder which offers ‘Barista Assist Technology’.
I’ve been testing the Luxe Café Pro for two months to see if it’s worth splashing out on – at an RRP of £699/$749.
Design & Build
- Stylish and compact
- No touchscreen is a blessing
- Some awkward elements
The Ninja Luxe Café Pro is a really nice-looking coffee machine. I’d like more colourways to choose from like the Premier, but it’s smart and is surprisingly compact considering all the things it can do.
Chris Martin / Foundry
There were far too many labels and bits of tape to peel off after taking it out the box, but luckily that was a one-time affair. More importantly, the Luxe Café Pro doesn’t feature a stupid touchscreen. Every time I’ve used these on a coffee machine, they are slow and just downright unnecessary.
The combination of buttons, dials and the backlit screen is perfect and shouldn’t go wrong either. Elsewhere, there’s a large bean hopper which can fit a little more than a typical bag’s worth (227g), a mug holder with space for four espresso mugs and a handle on the side for tamping the ground beans.
Overall, it’s an excellent machine, but there are a few small downsides to note.
Chris Martin / Foundry
As with most coffee machines, the water tank is the most awkward. Unless you have a big kitchen with plenty of space around the machine, it’s tricky to get in and out – I normally just fill it with a jug instead (and you can use the milk jug).
The drip tray has a small removable section where the coffee pours in case you need to place a very tall travel mug, and this almost always falls out when I’m emptying the larger tray as I forget it’s there.
Another downside if you are forgetful is that the handle doesn’t get locked in place when the beans are being ground. If you walk off, come back and forget to tamp, pulling it out causes coffee to go everywhere, including in the drip tray.
Chris Martin / Foundry
The wheel to adjust the grind size is on the left side behind the tamp arm and could be awkward to use for some kitchens or perhaps people with conditions like arthritis. You do get some motorised assistance but not always.
There are two lights to help you see what you’re doing but they’re placed quite far back so I only found the one shining into the milk jug worked, and that’s the one I needed far less.
Lastly, the additional shelf to get smaller mugs closer to where the coffee brews doesn’t sit totally flat, so mugs can slide a little when the machine vibrates.
As mentioned, these are small things but worth noting before you buy.
Drinks, Features & Performance
- So. Many. Drinks
- Barista Assist is a help and a hindrance
- Top-notch froth
As mentioned at the top, the Luxe Café Pro can make a lot of coffee – I mean different types, so if you only ever make espresso, then this will be overkill. Just get a pod or simple bean-to-cup machine.
The coffee is split into two sections – espresso and coffee – and you can put three different baskets into the handle: single espresso, double espresso and one called ‘luxe’.
Chris Martin / Foundry
The latter is just a fancy name for a large basket to make filter coffee but you can choose more than one option for a lot of the coffees, so you can experiment with different ways to make them. Here’s the full list:
Espresso
- Ristretto
- Espresso
- Lungo
- Americano
- Cold-pressed
Coffee
- Coffee
- Rich
- Over ice
- Cold brew
If that wasn’t enough choice, you can choose seven different sizes (where it applies) from small to XL (175-530ml) as well as three strength settings. And you can adjust the temperature if you wish.
It gives you so many choices, making the Luxe Cafe Pro far more versatile than so many rivals. Especially the fact it can make cold brew and cold-press coffee – you can use the latter to make espresso martinis.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Of course, add in the milk frother and you can make plenty more drinks from flat whites to ices lattes. More on that shortly.
The coffee is very tasty indeed. Using our ‘house’ beans, I can taste the difference compared to previous coffee machines with a richer and more full-bodied flavour.
Barista Assist
The Ninja makes these coffees very well the vast majority of the time but the Barista Assist technology isn’t always on point.
In short, by weighing the grounds and getting feedback from sensors, the Luxe Cafe Pro can recommend the correct grind size for the coffee you’re making. It has no less than 25 different sizes.
Chris Martin / Foundry
For filter coffee, it doesn’t really come into play but when you have to tamp the grounds, it matters a lot. The instructions do explain that it will need to make a few espresso shots in order to dial in at the start as well as when you change beans.
While I’ve found it helpful and generally accurate, it occasionally throws out a seemingly random recommendation. In the photo, you can see it wants to use 21 for a single espresso which is far too coarse.
I brewed one at 13 (which I’ve settled on as a safe size for espresso), but it insisted on 21. I obliged and it immediately recommended going down to 11. It means you might end up with barely any crema or an espresso that’s far too small.
Chris Martin / Foundry
So, a bit like the AI chat bots we’re all using now, it can seemingly hallucinate sometimes, so some common sense might need to be applied.
Dual Froth System
I had no such problems with the dual froth system. This means it has a steam wand as well as a circular whisk and it works with incredible consistency.
On the control panel, you can choose from a range of different foam thicknesses as well as cold froth. Furthermore, you can tell the machine if you’re using cow’s milk or plant-based based so it can froth it correctly.
I’ve mainly used it for oat milk flat whites and they are legitimately better than many coffee shops I’ve been to. To boot, once you’ve given the steam wand a wipe and put it back in place, the machine automatically purges it.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Unexpectedly, I’d also like to shout out the hot water option, which I never use on coffee machines. Here, apart from mugs sometimes sliding due to the vibration, it’s a real boon when you just want to make a single mug of herbal tea or hot cordial.
It avoids boiling the kettle and there are even three temperature options to choose from.
All in all, apart from the odd blip with the Barista Assist, which, after some time, you’ll feel more confident to ignore when needed, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro really is a coffee shop in your kitchen.
Price & Availability
The Ninja Cafe Luxe Pro, as the name hints, isn’t the cheapest coffee machine around. It’ll set you back £699.99/$749.95 and there only the shiny chrome model in terms of colourways at the time of writing.
It must be popular as it’s been out of stock on the official Ninja store the whole time I’ve been testing it, but you can find it elsewhere, including Amazon, Very and Argos.
If this seems too pricey for you, then the Cafe Luxe Premier (ES601) is £549 and often found discounted.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Should you buy the Ninja Café Luxe Pro?
This type of coffee machine doesn’t have a blanket yes or no answer to whether you should buy it.
While it’s an excellent semi-automatic machine, it’s expensive and therefore you need to think about whether this is the right one for you.
If you want to make a huge range of drinks, but have some help with elements like the grind size (with the occasional glitch) and frothing milk, while still feeling like you put skill into making your loved one or guest a brilliant flat white, then it’s a great choice.
It’s not a great option if you want a small machine and just push a couple of buttons to get the same coffee every day. And if you don’t need quite this range of drinks, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Premier is a better value option (and comes in different colours).
