Without knowing it, coffee lovers tend to amass quite a bit of kit! At one corner you have a trusty drip machine for brewing copious amounts of Joe, a k-cup machine for those hectic mornings, an espresso machine to create those cappuccinos you swear by, and maybe even a French Press for those days that you’re feeling all fancy and keep pronouncing everything in pretentious accents; we all do it.
Before you know it, you have enough products to fill an entire aisle at Costco! But Euro-pro has created a machine that claims to perfectly do all these things: the Ninja Coffee Bar!
Going for about $140, the Coffee Bar promises to brew anything from a single cup of java to a full carafe, make heavenly iced coffee, and even churn out a coffee-concentrate for espresso-styled drinks. All that piqued your interest?
Well, let's jump right into the Ninja Coffee Bar Review!
Ninja Coffee Bar Design
Considering all the features it crams in, the Ninja Coffee Bar is actually a bit smaller than you’d expect. It stands at 14.75 inches, has a width of 9.5 inches and a depth of 8.75 inches. It’s a bit tall, so you first need to confirm you have enough clearance, but apart from that, it will easily fit on most counter tops.
Don’t hold your breath for any premium finishing though! This machine has a fair share of plastic with a bit of stainless steel thrown in as a consolation. It may not qualify as eye-candy, but it still feels well-built and capable of providing some good service.
Features
Features
Here are some notable features of the Ninja Coffee Bar:
Customizable Brew Size
Tired of brewing a whole pot of coffee only to end up pouring most of it out? Well, the single-serve option on the Coffee Bar could change all this. You have the option of brewing enough java to fill a single cup, travel mug, half or full carafe. So whether you’re living up the single life or have a family huge enough to form a fully-fledged angry mob, the Ninja will give you the option to make just enough Joe; this one feature alone throws in some major points into its basket.
Brew Type Versatility
Depending on what mood you’re in, you can choose between 4 brew types that are essentially varying degrees of coffee concentration. At the weaker end of the spectrum you get 'Classic Brew’ that is mild tasting, followed by 'Rich Brew’ that goes well with cream or sugar.
One of the neatest features of this coffee maker has to be the 'Over Ice Brew’ mode. All you have to do is fill the carafe with ice cubes, then go ahead and brew just like you’d normally do. The machine will rack its brain and figure out the right concentration to compensate for the melting ice, and voila! Iced coffee.
If you’d like to try your hand at making espresso-styled drinks, simply press the 'Specialty Brew’ button and the machine spits-out highly concentrated coffee, which you can then use as a base for your drinks, or gulp it down as is to prove just how much of a bad-ass you are.
Ninja Bar Performance
The Ninja Coffee Bar is pretty amazing value for money. It can brew a whole carafe in under 7 minutes, which is uber-convenient when you have a whole family walking around like zombies waiting for that morning cup.
The warming plate does a bang-up job at keeping the coffee nice and hot for up to 2 hours, after which it automatically shuts off.
As expected the glass carafe is poor at retaining heat, so the Joe quickly cools when the warming plate is not in play. But if you’d like to keep that java piping hot for more than two hours at a time, you can opt for the Coffee Bar with a stainless steel carafe instead.
This bad boy also comes equipped with a delay brew timer that can be set for up to 24 hours in advance. So you can wake up, get ready, and have a travel mug full of hot coffee waiting for you as you walk out the door. Just like that. Thanks technology!
How Tasty Are The Results?
Well, how picky are you? If you’re very particular about you coffee, if you’re one of those aficionados that can tell what type of soil beans were grown in just by listening to the steam coming out then the Coffee Bar won’t live up to your expectations.
It has the tendency of heating the water a bit too hot, which can result in over-extraction and a slight hint of bitterness. But again, you’ll need to be very picky to notice this.
For most people, the taste is lovely; on the verge of brilliant even!
The espresso-styled drinks are especially heavenly. The coffee maker comes with a little recipe book that has directions on how to whip-up various drinks. Follow the instructions to the letter and your taste buds will be in for a ton of tantalizing.
If you’re a fan of iced coffee, you’ll also be more than impressed with the results. It definitely beats dropping all that change at your local coffee shop.
The Pros
Here are some notable pros of the Ninja Coffee Bar:
- Provides unmatched versatility in terms of brew size and type.
- Easy to clean and maintain.
- Very simple to use LCD display.
- Convenient auto-off warming plate feature.
- Churns-out some pretty good coffee.
The Cons
Here are 2 notable cons of the Ninja Coffee Bar:
- Too much plastic in the construction.
- Tendency to over-extract the beans.
VIDEO: Introduction to the Ninja Coffee Bar
Pricing
The Ninja Coffee Bar can be purchased on Amazon for 
Verdict
Euro-pro have sought out to create an all-in-one coffee maker and done a pretty convincing job at it! It may not be the most elegant-looking machine and it may not have the perfect flavor of a French Press, but the versatility it offers is simply staggering.
The ability to make a single serving or brew a whole carafe, the ability to whip-up iced coffee one minute and a cappuccino the next: this is what makes the Ninja Coffee Bar a java-lover’s dream come true. For about $140, this bad boy gives true meaning to 'the greatest bang for your buck’!
***What did you think of our Ninja Coffee Bar Review? Do you have any comments to add? Let us know below!
