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Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: two-minute review
The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine is a compact version of the Ninja Luxe Café. It doesn’t require an enormous amount of counter space, especially considering that this single machine grinds your whole beans directly into your filter, weighs your grinds, brews your espresso or drip coffee, and froths your milk. You won’t need any other coffee accoutrements on your counter.
While I did brew some absolutely delicious coffee with the Ninja Luxe Café Mini, there is definitely a learning curve. In fact, I wouldn’t say I have mastered the espresso settings yet, even after brewing many cups. Even with the identical espresso settings, sometimes I get just an ounce or so and sometimes I get a lot more. Drip coffee comes out consistently well; no issues there. I also had some trouble frothing the milk; with just a minimum amount of milk in the jug it overflowed onto the counter.
Note that even though this is a semi-auto machine, you do need to have some manual strength and dexterity to get the portafilter properly into place. Be ready for some trial and error. If you’re prepared to take on a project, I think you’ll be well-rewarded for your efforts.
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Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: price and availability
- Widely available both in store and online
- Retails for $449.99 USD (£338.50 GBP, $643.73 AUD)
- Only sold in the black and chrome colorway
You can find the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine at many brick and mortar stores and websites, including Amazon, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target, and Ninja’s own site. It retails for $449.99 USD (£338.50 GBP, $643.73 AUD) and comes in just the one color, black and chrome.
Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: specs
|
Name |
Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine |
|
Type |
Semi-automatic |
|
Dimensions (L x W x H) |
10.24 in L x 12.17 in W x 13.43 in H / 26.01 cm L x 30.91 cm W x 34.11 cm H |
|
Weight |
18.96 lbs / 8.6 kg |
|
Brew styles |
Espresso (double), Triple (espresso), Classic (coffee), Rich (coffee), and Over Ice (coffee) |
|
Milk frother |
Yes |
|
Connected device |
No |
Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: design
- Efficient design gives it a smaller footprint
- Aesthetically pleasing, goes with any decor
- Five brew styles
The Ninja Luxe Café Mini is efficiently designed to house everything you need to make just about any sort of coffee drink in a relatively small package. When you first unpack it, you will need to determine your water hardness with the enclosed test strip and set your machine accordingly. Run a flush cycle and then you’re ready to start brewing.
The machine has a conical burr grinder, a brewing system that makes both espresso and coffee, and a steam wand. It comes with two filter baskets:, a smaller ‘double’ and a larger ‘luxe’ basket (unlike most espresso machines, there’s no basket for pouring a single shot).
Place the basket into the portafilter, the funnel on top of that, and then slide it into the grinding cradle. Choose your brew style. The machine evaluates your beans and determines a recommended grind size. Turn the grind dial to meet the recommended number and hit the grind button.
Once your ground coffee is the basket, remove the portafilter and tamp down the grinds with the assisted tamper. It has a spring inside so you’ll apply just the right amount of pressure.
Then you can remove the funnel, place the portafilter under the Ninja Luxe Café Mini’s group head and turn it until it locks into place. This takes some manual strength and dexterity, and the machine’s relatively light weight means you have to brace it in place so it doesn’t slide around, though it does get easier with repeated use.
You can manually select your level of strength (represented by one, two, or three beans) and temperature or just use the default. When you’re done brewing, dispose of the puck of used coffee grounds, and clean the dirty components.
There is also a milk jug and steam wand. To use it, turn the manual valve on the side from brewing mode to frothing mode. The owner’s manual includes detailed instructions of how to get the most froth from your milk of choice.
You’ll need to clean the tamper, funnel, basket, portafilter, steam wand and jug after each use. You’ll also need to empty and clean out the drip tray every few brews, and every time you froth milk. Additionally, you’ll need to descale the machine periodically. However, there is no obvious way to get in and clean the grinder. That part never gets wet, but coffee oils will build up there over time.
Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: performance
- There is definitely a learning curve
- You need manual strength and dexterity
- Brew amounts are not consistent
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Overall, I think you’ll find that the Ninja Luxe Café Mini will make you some great coffee and espresso drinks. There’s definitely a learning curve, but if you have the patience you’ll figure it out. Of bigger concern was that sometimes the brewing seemed to just stop short of a full yield, and I’m not sure why. The same beans brewed at the same setting just didn’t always yield the same size espresso. This only happened to me while brewing espresso; all three of the drip coffee settings yielded perfect results every time.
There are five different brew settings: Espresso (which is actually a double espresso), Triple (espresso), Classic (drip coffee), Rich (a richer drip coffee), and Over Ice (drip coffee brewed at a lower temperature). I tested all five of them multiple times.
Espresso
The smallest drink you can make is a double espresso, there is no single espresso setting on this machine. The owner’s manual says to throw away the first espresso you brew each time you put new beans into the hopper because it takes a couple of brews for the machine to dial in correctly. I tasted it anyway and yes, you should toss it. After that first one, the espresso tasted good though sometimes it would randomly give me a shorter brew. I did notice that I consistently got a beautiful crema.
Triple espresso
The experience of brewing the triple espresso is just like brewing the regular (double) one, only you use the Luxe basket instead of the smaller one. Again, the machine would sometimes give me a tiny brew. Pictured below is one of the smaller triples; other times it was much larger. Otherwise, the espresso was good and always had a lovely crema.
Classic
The Classic drip coffee setting yielded consistently good results. In addition to adjusting the grind size, brew temperature, and strength if you like, you can also choose to brew 6, 8, 10, or 12 ounces of coffee. The user experience of brewing the drip coffee is the same as brewing espresso, except that you skip the tamping step. The machine does something totally different on the inside. You get no crema. And when you go to throw the puck away, it’s very wet, as opposed to the drier, crumbly puck you get with espresso.
Rich
The rich drip coffee setting works just like the classic, only it yields a richer brew. I find I prefer the classic, as I found it a bit smoother and less bitter, but your tastes may differ.
Over ice
The drip coffee over ice setting might have been my favorite. I found it very smooth and it didn’t taste too diluted from the ice.
Steam wand
I found that it took some practice to get the milk frothing just right. I tried just leaving the jug in place and frothing it from there, and it works ok but doesn’t produce much foam. I tried following the instructions about angle and movement in the owner’s manual, and got too much foam.
The wand will purge itself right after frothing, and you’ll want to wipe off the milk from the outside of the wand right away. Otherwise it sticks on there pretty good, requiring a bit of scrubbing to get it off.
Should you buy the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine?
|
Attribute |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Value |
While not cheap, it does replace five machines: conical burr grinder, coffee scale, espresso machine, coffee machine, and milk frother. |
4/5 |
|
Design |
It looks great on the counter and has a relatively small footprint for all it does. |
4.5/5 |
|
Performance |
There’s definitely a learning curve and my results were not consistent, but the coffee drinks especially were quite tasty and the espresso crema was perfect every time. |
3.5/5 |
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Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine: also consider
How I tested the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Espresso Machine
I brewed and drank every drink on the menu: (double) Espresso, Triple (espresso), Classic (coffee), Rich (coffee), and (coffee) Over Ice more than once. I used two different kinds of beans for each beverage, first going all the way through the menu with a dark french roast and then again with a medium-dark roast. I frothed two different kinds of milk (almond and skim dairy) several times and added the milk to espresso shots. I cleaned all of the parts that touch the coffee after each use.
First reviewed July 2026
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