Ninja Hot and Cold Brewed System Review

Ninja’s improved coffee maker is its best one yet. It’s packed with features and capabilities, and it’s the best coffee maker to buy if you want to make all kinds of drinks and spend less cash.

DESIGN

The $199.99 Ninja Hot and Cold Brewed System brews coffee and tea, offers 6 different cup sizes and it has 5 different brew styles.

On the left, there’s a filter basket and the carafe. The filter holder slides easily, so you can add coffee with no effort. The machine comes with two filter holders – one for coffee and one for tea, so flavors don’t mix. When making the coffee, you can either use a permanent filter, or you can use paper coffee filters. The machine also allows you to use loose leaf tea or tea bags.

The water tank and control panel are placed on the right. The reservoir lid flips open for easy filling and you can also remove it from the unit to refill or wash. The tank has 50 fl ounce capacity.

When brewing full or half carafe, the warming plate will turn on to keep your drink hot longer. The default plate setting is 2 hours, but you can program how long it stays on (up to four hours), and you can set the temperature to high or low. There’s also a safety feature, which shows when the warming plate reaches a temperature safe to be touched.

Like its predecessor, this model has a built-in milk frother. The milk frother doesn’t heat the milk, so you can either make cold froth (perfect for iced drinks) or microwave the milk for 45-60 seconds and then froth for lattes and cappuccinos. The brewer and frother work separately so you can froth and brew at the same time.

Even the measuring scoop is great! It has two sides and has measurements for everything, carafe, rich brew, regular brew and different types of teas.

This machine might not be a work of art like the hand-crafted Technivorm Moccamaster, but it’s an outstanding buy if you want many great options for your morning cup of joe and reasonable price. The machine is available in black and comes with glass ($199.99) or thermal carafe ($229.99).

However, Ninja is less durable than some other brands, so if you’re looking for a machine that is built to last, Moccamaster would be a much better choice.

CUP OPTIONS AND BREW STYLES

The Ninja gives you so many brewing options. There are 6 different cup sizes: cup, XL cup, travel mug, XL multi-serve, full carafe, and a half carafe. You can control the strength and style of your coffee by choosing standard brew, rich brew, over ice, cold brew, or specialty brew.

At standard brew setting, the single cup makes 9.5 ounces of coffee. Choose rich brew or the cold brew, and the machine will use less water to make coffee more concentrated. At rich brew setting the machine will dispense 8.7 ounces – which means less volume but stronger coffee compared to standard brew. Cold brew option will make 4.8 oz of drink at smallest cup size and when you add ice, you will have 10 oz drink.

There are two options for iced coffee. Brew over ice option is pretty much like regular brewing, it just gives a concentrated brew over ice. Cold brew takes more time, but it brews at the lower temperature, so it gives a slightly smoother, sweeter cup, compared to brew over ice option. Cold brew travel mug brews 7 ounces of coffee and when you add ice and finish your drink, you’ll have 14 ounces of iced coffee. That’s a great size! Plus, your drink will cost less than $0.50 when you make it at home like this.

The specialty brew option makes concentrated coffee that’s very similar to espresso and it’s perfect for regular lattes and cappuccinos at home.

This machine is also great for all tea lovers. All the different cup sizes are available for tea as well, plus the machine has different brewing options for different tea types to get the optimal taste.

Is that all? You can also get everything ready the night before and set your brewer to brew coffee in the morning. Of course, there’s also an auto-off to help save energy.

MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

What I also like about this machine is that it has very little places that are hard to reach, and this will prevent bacteria or mold to grow. You can keep your Ninja coffee maker nice and clean in just a few simple steps. After the unit has cooled, remove the filter holder from the brew basket. Discard the grounds and quickly rinse the filter with mild detergent and warm water.

You should clean the frother whisk, carafe, and the carafe lid after each use. Quickly handwash with mild detergent and warm water, or place on the top rack of the dishwasher. Once a week, wipe the unit with a soft, damp cloth and descale your machine every 3 months or when the CLEAN light illuminates.

Permanent filters, removable filter holders, water reservoir, frother whisk, and scoop are dishwasher are top-rack dishwasher safe. The thermal carafe is not dishwasher safe.

The machine comes with a 1-year limited warranty for regular home use.

NINJA HOT AND COLD BREW VS KEURIG

Even though Keurig has also released a model with a built-in frother, Ninja features are hard to beat. The K-Cafe retails for $179.00 but for an extra $20, you will have so many additional options and you’ll morning cup of coffee will cost a lot less. One k-cup cost from $0.40 – $0.60, compared to $0.20 per cup when using ground coffee. Of course, this option is also better for the environment unless you’re using reusable k-cups. Both Ninja and Keurig are less durable than some other brands.

Ninja hot and cold brew specs:

6 cup sizes, 5 brew styles
50 oz removable water tank
separate filter holders and permanent filters – one for coffee and one for tea
warming plate with adjustable time and temperature
hot surface safety feature
drip stop
auto on
auto off
clean indicator
1-year warranty

take out

When you break it all down, the new Ninja Hot and Cold Brewed System is a great buy for all the reasons the old Ninja coffee bar was. But, this one has additional features and it also comes with a ton of accessories.