On trial: Ninja AutoBarista Pro Coffee Machine

Meet Ninja’s first coffee machine to take beans and ground coffee, creating high-end tasting (and -looking) drinks with minimal effort

What makes a good coffee machine? Let’s start with easy to use. This is an absolute must. Next, a variety of drinks, followed by good looks, and lasts years. I’ve been sent Ninja’s latest coffee machine to test out, and while everything about it screams high tech and luxury (it makes 13 drinks, for goodness sake), it’s actually been designed to be as fuss-free as possible. And that’s the real test, so read on to see if it is genuinely a pleasure to use.

It makes sense to start with the 13 drink options: you can make an espresso, drip, Americano, flat white, over ice, latte, cappuccino, ice latte, cold brew… The machine also takes ground coffee beans if you prefer that – a first for a Ninja coffee machine. It comes with a handy scoop and, even better, once you’ve selected your drink – let’s say a latte – it tells you how many scoops to use.

If you like things milky, simply add your (hot or cold) milk of choice – nutty or ‘normal’ as I say. Even the jug is clever, it shows you what line to fill the milk up to for a cortado, cappuccino, flat white and latte. It froths away and then beeps when it’s ready for you. There are five froth presets, or put simply, five ways to froth: Steamed Milk, Thin Froth, Thick Froth, Extra-Thick Froth and Cold Foam.

And a quick note on Ninja’s Grind iQ Technology, which takes the guesswork out of grinding. Place a cup under the coffee spouts (make sure your water reservoir and bean hoppers are full). Select espresso, press the ‘Grind IQ’ button and then start. During the cycle it learns about the beans you’re using, and automatically adjusts the grind to account for roast type, bean size and freshness – so will truly make the perfect espresso every time. From here, you can select your drink of choice (cappuccino, latte etc)!

Lastly, I really, really like that you can use two user profiles to save your preferred drink settings (from brew strength to size, temperature and froth style). You can also brew two espresso shots simultaneously if you have a guest.

A boring question, yes, but an important one. And I’ll keep it quick: it’s very easy to clean and maintain, thanks to the dishwasher-safe removable parts (very hygienic), self-purging steam wand and automatic rinse cycle. Although I will say, at first I thought the machine had started making a drink I’d forgotten about, and I leapt up – only to discover it was auto rinsing. Lesson learned.