Ninja Coffeemaker Review

Ninja Coffeemaker Review

My Melitta Thermal Coffeemaker was a great coffee maker in the $50 price range.  It has a cone filter and thermal carafe, and made great coffee for years.  I stand by my evaluation that this is the "best value" coffee maker in terms of features and quality that you get for the money.

A couple months ago, I found that my Melitta wouldn't turn on.  I suspect that the computer got zapped by a power surge or something.  My first thought was to get another one, but my wife bought me a fancier model instead: the Ninja Coffee Bar with Thermal Carafe.

Ninja Coffeemaker
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The Ninja Coffeemaker is a step up in price, around $150, and provides a step up in features. I like the removable water reservoir of the Ninja.  It is easy to take the reservoir to my refrigerator to fill it with filtered water.  The reservoir then snaps back in place on the Ninja coffeemaker.

Ninja Coffeemaker Removable Water Reservoir
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Another great feature is the easy size selection knob.  You can select a single cup, a travel mug, a half carafe, or full carafe.  Most days I select the travel mug size to fill my mug for my drive to work.  The other day I was running out of coffee beans, so I made the smaller 1 cup size.  The Ninja automatically uses the correct amount of water to brew the selected amount of coffee.

Ninja Coffeemaker Single Cup Brewing
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Another interesting feature of the Ninja is that it has a stand where you can set a coffee cup during brewing in place of the carafe.  This makes it handy to brew a single cup.

Ninja Coffeemaker Single Cup Brewing
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The Ninja came with a permanent gold cone filter.  This can be used instead of paper filters, but I still use paper filters.

Ninja Coffeemaker Permanent Gold Cone Filter
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There are several types of Ninja coffeemakers available, I went with the thermal carafe model to keep my coffee hot when I want to use the carafe.

Ninja Coffeemaker Thermal Carafe
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The Ninja coffeemaker has a tube that extends into the carafe that helps keeps coffee hot as you pour it**.  This is just one of the many details that the Ninja coffeemaker has that makes it a great coffeemaker.

**Update:  I was looking at this more closely this morning, and I realized that the tube is used to direct the coffee to the bottom of the carafe during brewing.  This helps it stay warmer.  When you pour the coffee from the carafe, the tube is not used.  The lid of the carafe has an opening so the coffee pours directly out.  This is a cleaver design!

The Ninja set also includes a milk frother for making coffee drinks such as cappuccino.  The milk frother is a "hand pump" style frother and is a separate item that is not attached to the coffeemaker.

Another feature that the Ninja offers is an "Over Ice Brew" setting.  This brews stronger, more concentrated coffee that can be used to make iced coffee drinks without getting watered down.  If you like stronger hot coffee, you can select the "Rich Brew" instead of the "Classic Brew".

Ninja Coffee Bar on Sale for $50 Off
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The Ninja Coffee Bar can brew great hot coffee with its cone filter and thermal carafe.  It can make iced coffee drinks using the "Over Ice Brew" setting.  The handy size selection knob lets you dial up a full carafe, half carafe, travel mug, or cup.  The Ninja takes the right amount of water from the water reservoir- no need to measure water.  The Ninja has a fold-down stand so you can brew a single cup right into you cup without using the carafe.

This coffeemaker is rated nearly 5-stars on Amazon, and I can see why:
Ninja Coffeemaker







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