The machine even makes fresh, frothy cold foam with the touch of a button
For anyone out there who loves coffee – from cappuccinos and cortados to strong espresso shots, and cold brew (even with sweet cold foam), one brand has just dropped a fully automated machine to do it all. Ninja’s Auto Barsita takes out the faff of tamping and grinding, doing it all with the touch of a button.
As a Tech editor, I’ve been lucky enough to test a handful of home appliances, including the Breville Barista Max, which I swapped out to make space for the new addition. Opting for an automatic bean-to-cup machine instead of grinding and tamping myself.
I’ve been testing it out during the recent scorcher weather in the UK, ditching a pricey iced takeaway for my own at-home version. The Ninja Auto Barista makes iced latte, cold brew, over-ice americano and cold-pressed coffee in a literal touch of a button.
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As the temperature across the UK soared to above 30 degrees, it was the perfect time to test out its cold, iced coffee options. Since drinking at least eight in the last four days (a lot of beans later) it would be no exaggeration to say this machine is like having a personal barista at home – I was able to whip up lunch or do the washing up while the appliance ground, tamped, brewed the coffee and cold whipped the milk for me.
Instead of using a traditional espresso-brewing machine, which can take between 12 and 24 hours to set in the fridge to avoid a bitter taste. The Ninja model pours cold brew at the touch of a button.
Ninja Auto Barista
One of Ninja’s newest coffee machines, the Auto Barista, is an automatic bean-to-cup and ground coffee appliance. With more than 13 drink-making options, made at the touch of a button.
It doesn’t use any heat but still creates a full-bodied espresso. This has to be done over ice, but in a rapid amount of time, it delivers a smooth, refreshing glass of coffee – ready to drink or mix with cold foam.
The rapid cold brew is a huge selling point to the Ninja AutoBarista, and something I’ve certainly made the most of over the last few hot weather days. There are other features that make this high-end model worth the £899 price.
Two types of beans at one time
The machine comes with two different hoppers, so we can have two types of beans on the go at any one time – making it easy to switch between instead of fully cleaning out the holder – which is what we had to do with the Breville Barista.
This means I can drink regular coffee in the morning and simply swap to decaf in the afternoon without emptying the machine. Or, pick my go-to blonde roast while my fiancé prefers a stronger dark roast.
No need to adjust the dial for coffee grinding
This is because the Ninja model does it all for you, automatically adjusting the settings with its GrindIQ. As the beans get older and staler. Unlike its older Ninja Luxe Cafe, which is currently on sale for £447 from £549.99, you don’t have to manually turn the dial to adjust the grind size. Instead, the premium Auto Barista monitors extraction pressure and uses AI-like tech to adjust the internal grind settings.
This is super handy; however, when completing the change, the bean types from the hoppers, the machine requires a full calibration when switching from type to roast strength. This is done once on setup and is resource-heavy – it takes a lot of water, and if I’m honest, I didn’t like seeing how many beans it used up. To avoid doing this too much, we’ll definitely stick to our two favourite roast types in the two individual hoppers.
Another thing to note is the water resource – it’s a thirsty machine, and I’ve been refilling the water tank every two days, which comes with the added emptying of the water tray. Both are more needy than I expected, if I’m honest. The water is taken up mostly by its self-rinsing feature, which runs each time the machine is turned on and off.
Saying that, a really useful feature on setup is the water hardness test. We were able to set it to the right setting to help minimise limescale buildup over time.
Other automatic coffee machines to consider
For a fully automatic machine, Sage is another brand to consider. Its Barista Touch Impress, £1,199, also has cold extraction for refreshing summer lattes or over ice espresso. Compared to Ninja, it’s also available in a lot more colours – for those who care about matching to their worktops.
It goes without saying that the Ninja Auto Barista is a big investment, at nearly £900 – although I do rate it worth the price considering just how much it offers and does by itself.
However, for smaller budgets, the DeLonghi Magnifica Evo Automatic machine has been reduced by more than £200 at Lakeland, to £369.99. Instead of Ninja’s 13 recipes, this offers seven one-touch options and a latte frothing attachment.
Some coffee drinkers like the interaction of tamping and grinding their own beans for their cuppa, then Ninja’s Cafe Luxe is a good option, and it’s currently on sale. Ruth Ovens, Head of Operations, on our team, has this in her home and has since ‘ditched takeout coffee’.
In her review, she said: “At £549, it’s definitely a considered purchase rather than something to buy on a whim; however, since having it in our household, we are spending less on coffee. I could easily go through three packets a week with my old pod machines, costing around £8 in pods.
“I’ve tried flat whites (some success), cappuccinos (lots of success), and lattes (success but no latte art…yet) using semi-skimmed milk, oat milk, almond milk, and soya milk. While black coffee will always be my preference, I’ve really enjoyed creating lattes with oat milk for my boyfriend and have even purchased some syrup to try vanilla lattes.”
