Ninja Coffeemaker: Brewing Temperature and Serving Temperature

When I had my previous coffeemaker, the Melitta with cone filter and thermal carafe, I was excited to try out my non-contact temperature gun to check out the brewing temperature and the serving temperature.

Here's what I found measuring my Melitta Coffeemaker:
Melitta brewing temperature:  158 F
Melitta serving temperature:  152 F

The brewing temperature was measured in the filter basket during brewing, and the serving temperature was measured in the thermal carafe just after brewing.  Of course, the temperature of the coffee will drop a few degrees further when you pour it in a cup.

Now for today's question:  What is the brewing and serving temperature for the Ninja Coffee Bar?

Ninja Coffee Bar: Measuring Coffee Temperature

This was pretty easy to test.  I brewed a pot and got out my non-contact temperature gun again.  Here's what I measured for temperatures on my Ninja Coffee Bar:

Measuring Water Temperature During Brewing in Ninja Coffee Bar

Ninja Coffeemaker Brewing Temperature:  175 F
Ninja Coffeemaker Serving Temperature:  160 F

Again, the brewing temperature is the temperature of water in the filter basket during brewing, and the serving temperature is the temperature of the brewed coffee in the carafe just after brewing.

Comparing these coffee temperatures with what I measured on my Melitta coffeemaker, you can see that the Ninja brews about 15 degrees F warmer.  The coffee in the carafe is about 8 degrees warmer from the Ninja than for the Melitta.

So is this good or bad?  The coffee from the Ninja tastes great and is not scorched, so I don't think 175 F is too hot for brewing.

Actually, the brewing temperature for the Ninja and the Melitta may be more similar than my measurements show.  I measured the Melitta brewing temperature with coffee grounds in the filter basket; I measured the temperature of the water in the filter basket with NO GROUNDS for the Ninja.  I think the coffee grounds would provide a lot of surface area and tend to result in a lower temperature measurement.  So taking this into consideration, I would say that the brewing temperature for Ninja and Melitta are actually pretty similar.

I want to double check my temperature measurements, and I like to play with my temperature gun, so I look forward to taking more temperature measurements.

Copyright © 2017 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Contigo Travel Mug FAIL

Today, I had a bit of a problem with my excellent Contigo travel mug.  This mug has worked great for several years, keeping my coffee hot and making it impossible to spill.  You see, the Contigo travel mug has a trigger mechanism in the handle- no coffee comes out unless you squeeze the trigger,  You can even turn the mug upside down, and it won't leak .  At least until today.

I pulled into the parking space at my office and noticed some drips of coffee on my car seat.  I figured I simply neglected to tighten the lid and gave it a bit of a twist before heading in to my office.

But at my office, things went bad really fast.  I ended up spilling coffee on my lap.  I'm sure this looked ridiculous!  The cause:  the Contigo travel mug failed.  I took some pictures to show exactly what went wrong.

         

How My Contigo Travel Mug Failed!

Contigo Travel Mug Leaking

The problem appears to be a stress fracture along the attachment of the blue threaded ring to the black lid assembly.  Coffee was leaking out, and there was nothing that could be done about it.  I ended up with coffee in my lap to start the day...

This was a great coffee mug for 2012 to 2017, but is no longer usable.

Now for the next question:  will Contigo send a replacement?

Stay tuned to find out if Contigo is as good of a product as I once thought...


Update:  After sending a second round of photos, Contigo agreed to send a replacement lid for free!  They were out of the original blue color, so I went with gray.  The replacement lid arrived today, 5 weeks after the leakage event.  Thanks Contigo, I'm still a fan!

My free replacement lid arrived!

Copyright © 2017 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal