Ninja Luxe Café Pro Series, Espresso Machine, Drip Coffee, Cold Brew, Hot Water, Integrated Tamper, Built-in Grinder, Hands-Free Frother for Cappuccinos, Lattes, Americanos, Dairy or Non-Dairy, ES701

I researched extensively before buying this espresso machine. I came across a number of reports of defective machines but decided to take a chance based on Ninja’s reputation. I’m so glad I did! The machine is extremely solid and well built. It can make everything from regular coffee to espresso to iced coffees. This is a very sophisticated machine and reading the manual is essential for a good result. The coffee produced smells and tastes amazing. The milk frother works better than any frother I’ve had before. The bean hopper holds a large amount of coffee beans which I appreciate. I find the speed of the machine to be good and comparable to other espresso machines I’ve had. I’ve seen reports of the coffee produced being too hot or too cold but mine has been perfect for me for each type of drink. Given the many different types of coffee beverages this machine makes with ease, I highly recommend it. In fact, I went to stay with relatives for a month over the holidays and I took the machine with me!

I am so impressed and pleased with this machine. I wanted to wait after two months of use before providing my humble input. I was willing to spend up to $1,500 for a new machine, especially since the last one I had was during my early 30’s and things have improved significantly with the new machines. The Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro has high ratings and reviews from Baristas, the price was actually and surprisingly acceptable. I ran the clean cycle at one month, takes 6 minutes and today, month two, I ran the descale function - 90 minutes. The Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro series does both efficiently and not messy, big, big plus. Coffee tastes better after. The machine is built very well, has all the features I was looking for, coffee beans dispenser, grinder, tamper, inside scale, top hot plate, hot water dispenser, milk frother. Keep the machine clean, use fresh beans and enjoy it. Daily, I use the espresso side, while my spouse uses the classic, drip side. We average 3 servings each a day for a total of 6 together. Coffee always tastes great. Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro is perfect for me. I highly recommend it.

I can't say how pleased I am with this espresso machine. It is so intuitive and easy to use. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. When I was looking for an espresso machine, I looked at this one and one from another company. As it turned out, I went with the other one. That machine malfunctioned within 7 months of the purchase date. After going back and forth with phone calls and sending the unit back for repair, they sent it back to me with a different problem. I contacted that company again. They sent me a new one and now after another 4 months, the water pump went out of it. I gave up and decided to purchase the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro Series Espresso Machine. I have been completely pleased with the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro from day 1. This machine tells you what the bean grind number should be, brews a perfect espresso, allows you to choose the texture of the froth and then automatically cleans the frothing wand after use. There is no guessing as the Ninja will not allow you to move to the next step if you have missed anything or have done something wrong. My only regret is not going with Ninja in the first place. I own several Shark/Ninja products. They are reliable, their customer service is top notch, and they make sure you are satisfied with their product. I have learned my lesson and will stick with the quality of Ninja products. Absolutely exceptional!

OMG, I LOVE this machine! I've had it just a few days and I am so impressed by the coffee drinks it makes. The machine is absolutely stunning and beautiful. It's solid and feels high quality. The thing I'm most impressed with is how fabulous the milk frother is. You don't have to keep moving your arm around to froth half and half or milk; it spins the liquid automatically by itself. I've been stuck on cappucinos since I got it. I am coming from a super-automatic where it not only tamps but dumps the pucks into a container for you. The Pro version has an assisted tamper built in; so no measuring and weighing coffee grinds. NO MESS all over the counter! For the additional 100. it is SO WORTH upgrading to get this model for this feature alone. All you need do is pull the tamper lever twice and it's tamped and ready to brew. Every cup of espresso comes out the same! SO worth the extra money. The only thing is now you need a knock box to dump the pucks into, but that's a small price to pay for such an exquisite espresso machine. I love the hot water feature too. And I haven't even tried the cold brew feature. The espresso comes out with a wonderful crema and the froth lets you adjust from thin to thick! After most recently using a coffee pod system I have a new love of coffee again. I'm really enjoying this and think I'll go have another cappucino! YUM, it's just fabulous and it's very well thought out and easy to learn how to operate it. Bravo Ninja!

Does it ALL!! And does it all really well. It gives you a really nice, smooth, bold and rich espresso and provides the basis for a great drink.. any kind you can think of to create. Very intuitive.... adjusts the size of the grind you need based on drink you want to make and temperature preferance. So many choices... and even drip coffee too up to 18 ounces. This machine is a beast and it self cleans too! Ninja didn't forget a single thing! I will update within the year to see if anything has changed....

Did a lot of shopping for this and waited patiently for the pro to come out. Well worth the wait. We've always been pretty particular with our beans and grinding, but this changed our mornings completely by giving us higher end drinks and forcing us to be even more strict about our beans. With machines like this, even non-snob coffee drinkers can tell a difference between fresh and not-so fresh beans, so unfortunately we can't rely anymore on the 18+ month shelf lives most coffee companies promise, including Amazon. A shame, since we loved Amazon's Nicaraguan beans for years. We tried them on this machine and they came out weak compared to the newer beans. Highly recommended, highly professional, yet so welcomingly simple to use. I'm actually a certified barista (yes, there is such a thing) and this is closest you'll get to a high-end coffee store machine, but making some of the tedious stuff automatic, like dosing, tamping, frothing, purging, etc. It even recommends what grind to use next based on the last brew using pressure and flow...Ingenious, though not always correct, but still helpful.

First off, this looks great on your counter. It's well made, well thought out, well designed. The process is clearly mapped out with lit instructions; each stage of drink making is simple. The tamper is built in. The water tank is in the back but even in a corner where we keep our machine it's easy to reach around, grab the hand hold, remove the tank, fill it and replace it. The foam system steam cleans itself after every use. Everything fits well so you know when it is in its place. The machine takes some getting used - you need to adjust strength and grind for different coffee beans. It's not easy to swap out to decaf. Maybe I haven't discovered how best to do that yet. The volume of espresso or coffee can vary a lot from pull to pull - even on the same setting. And, I found my initial espressos way too strong, so I add a puck screen for smoothness. That works well for me. Overall, we love the machine. We like making specialty drinks for friends and family when they visit. We have had very positive feedback from everyone, even those who are not big coffee drinkers. The espresso lovers comment on the excellent flavor and crema.

I couldn't stand the tamper. I thought getting the version with the built-in tamper would make things easier, less messy, but I didn't think I would have to sacrifice the quality of the shots for it. I am no coffee expert, but I have seen enough coffee content to know that you want your puck of coffee to be evenly dense and flat. The way the coffee grounds are despensed, they end up in a little mountain in the porta filter, but the front side of the filter has less coffee than the back side. The porta filter is stuck in its spot until you tamp bc otherwise tons of grounds will fall out if you try to pull it out to evenly spread out the grounds. So you have to tamp it with this uneven mountain of grounds. Every puck I ever tested would have a soft spot on the front where there were less grounds. This will cause channeling, causing your shot to be under extracted. Not very "pro." I thought maybe my countertop was sloped, so I checked it and nope. Perfectly level. I added a ruler under the back feet to tilt the machine forward slightly; which helped the grounds distribute better, but it wasn't a complete fix and not a permanent solution. I would perfer the manual tamping version of the machine so that I can evenly spread the grounds before tamping. Also, I think something was wrong with the system that reads the grinder. Everytime I unplugged the machine (because I have limited outlets) and then plug it back in, it would change what grind setting it said it was on. Example: I use the machine and it says grind size 18, recommended size 18. I unplug, but leave the machine untouched and in the same place. I plug it back in and it says its set to grind size 17, but recommends 18. The machine wasn't reset; it remembered all its previous recommendations and settings, but it would say the grind size was one off from where I left it. This meant I was constantly changing the grind setting and the recommendations were always changing, even when I was making the same thing with the same beans. I did like the barista assist technology. I wouldn't have had a clue on where to set the grind size without that. I loved the auto frother. I could just set my milk to frother and I could walk away and do something else while the machine worked. Its pretty cool that you can change out the filter size (single, double, quad basket) and the machine would just know which one you were using. It looked nice on my counter top. Most parts of the machine felt sturdy and high quality. But, a few more cons: the warmer on top never felt more than barely warm. Couldn't really warm anything. I don't know if this was a flaw of my particular machine or if this model just doesn't warm much. The drip tray at the bottom is too small and pretty annoying. I was making 2 drinks a day, using the milk frother, and it seemed like every 2-3 days I had to empty the drip tray. Its a wide flat tray with multiple holes on top, plus water can leak from the sides. So, you have to carry it very carefully to not slightly tip it or let the water slosh much because water would drip out. If this was a once a week or every other week task, it wouldn't bother me so much, but doing it 2-3 times a week got annoying fast. I saw one guy rig his up with a tube that he ran to the sink so that he wouldn't really have to empty the tray, but my machine was nowhere near my sink unfortunately. Overall, I liked the machine, but I couldn't get past the tamper, especially since I felt like I upgraded to the "pro" version but felt like I got a massive down grade instead. I am going to get the non-pro version with the manual tamper and I guess I will just deal with getting a few coffee grounds on my countertop rather than sacrifice my shot quality. If you are someone who isnt picky at all and doesn't really notice the nuances of quality and you just want the easiest most stress free espresso machine, then I would recommend this machine. If you are someone who ever tastes something and you feel dissatisfied enough to say something to a waiter or barista, to just throw it away rather than consume it, or maybe if you are more into coffee and maybe want to make a bit of a hobby out of it, I would not recommend this particular model, but maybe the non-pro version.