A review of the new Ninja Coffee Bar coffee machine and all of its features. 
If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I live for a good cup of coffee. A steaming cup of coffee in my favourite mug helps me get my day started on the right foot. When I was writing my thesis last year, I could always count on a cup of coffee to help me get through a block or to help me refocus for the endless hours of research and writing. I credit coffee with getting me through that last gruelling semester. Last year I started to use coffee more in my recipes – coffee adds a depth of flavour to beef stew and enhances the chocolate flavour in brownies. It’s one of those ingredients that I love to experiment with!
There are so many types of coffee makers on the market right now that it’s hard to choose the one for you. Depending on your needs, you could go for a single-cup brewer (I’ve found that with single-cup machines, you end up paying more money for the individual pods), a regular brewer or an espresso machine. If you have the space and budget, you can get a machine that has all three in one, but for most of us that’s not in the books right now. I don’t do many product reviews on my site, but over the past couple of months I’ve been testing the Ninja Coffee Bar™ and I’ve loved it so much that I just had to share it with you.
What is the Ninja Coffee Bar™
The Ninja Coffee Bar™ is a feature-loaded brewer that brews flavour-rich single mugs, travel mugs, half carafes or full carafes. Basically, you can make the perfect amount of coffee depending on your needs. Typically, I’ll brew a single cup for myself, but if I have friends coming over I’ll brew a full or half carafe – it’s as simple as turning a knob and making sure you have enough coffee grounds and water in the machine. With four types of brew options available (classic, rich, over-ice and specialty brew) you can make a rich black coffee (my go-to) or a specialty espresso-like concentrate for the base of a latte or cappuccino style drink. Now if you’re a true coffee aficionado, you’ll know that this espresso-like concentrate isn’t a true espresso, but instead it is a concentrated coffee that is brewed based on the coffee-to-water ratio. That said, I’ve made a few killer lattes this way and the flavour holds up well.
Make it: Coffee Buttermilk Pancakes
Favourite features
I have two favourite features of this coffee machine. First is the Auto-iQ™ One Touch Intelligence technology which means that you choose a size and a brew, and the machine will draw the perfect amount of water depending on the options you’ve selected. With this technology, you’ll never have to worry about making a weak cup of coffee ever again.
The second feature that I love is the programmable delay brew that can be set up to 24 hours in advance. I’ll program the machine the night before so that when my alarm goes off in the morning, I’ll wake up to a perfectly brewed cup of coffee. It’s like having your own personal barista making you a coffee every single morning.
Make it: Homemade Peppermint Mocha
My Experience
I’ve loved using this machine and it’s compact size makes it perfect for a young professional living in a condo or apartment with minimal counter space. The only thing I will note about the Ninja is that I’ve opted to use disposable filters over the permanent filter that comes with the machine. In my experience, I found that with the permanent filter I would find some coffee grounds in the bottom of my coffee.
Make it: Coffee glazed bacon
The verdict
This is a versatile machine that will suit all of your coffee drinking needs. I would definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a new coffee machine that can do more than brew a cup of coffee!
Disclosure: I was given a Ninja Coffee Bar™ however the decision to write about and review this product was completely my own and all opinions are 100% mine.
John Ford
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