I Tried the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine and Fell in Love With Mornings Again – It Makes Great Coffee Without Taking the Fun Out of Brewing

After a few weeks of testing, the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine has become a staple on my kitchen counter. This compact, convenient all-in-one brewer delivered brilliant espresso without the guesswork, offering the cafe experience in the comfort of my own home.

With a built-in conical burr grinder and hands-free milk frothing, it offers everything you need for barista-style drinks without the training.

That said, there were a few small issues that kept it from five stars, but I am being extremely picky. This is how I got on with the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine during testing, and why I still think it is one of the best espresso machines money can buy.

Product Specifications: Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine

Design and First Impressions

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The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine arrived well boxed, in mostly sturdy cardboard packaging, with some fabric bags to protect the machine from scratches, and the signature Ninja stickers that held removeable components in place and offered quick tips for easy use. These were mostly easy to remove, but as has been the case with other Ninja products I have unboxed, some leave sticky residue behind. Luckily, we have some great tips for removing stickers if you struggle.

The machine was not incredibly heavy, weighing a little under 19 lbs, with the fabric bag making it easy to lift from the tight cardboard frame to my counter.

The machine comes with everything you need to get started, with a quick start guide and recipe guide, portafilter (with single and double shot baskets), stainless steel milk jug, tamper and funnel, and a complete cleaning kit with descaling solution and water hardness testing strips. Everything felt weighty − a good initial sign of quality.

Brewing Performance and Set Up

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Before using the coffee machine, you need to complete some setup steps. Luckily, these are all easy to do.

Beyond cleaning removable components with soapy water to remove lingering factory debris, you need to soak and insert the water filter and perform a water hardness test.

The water filter is soaked in plain water for several minutes, which I did in a clean pitcher with a heavy spoon to hold it down as it tended to float. You finish this step by rinsing it under running water for 60 seconds before fitting it into the reservoir using the included casing, which features a handy dial to set a reminder for when you need to replace it. It's a small detail, but one I appreciated.

The machine also comes with water hardness test strips, making setup refreshingly straightforward. Simply dip a strip into a cup of your tap water, leave it on a flat surface for a few minutes, and compare the resulting color with the included guide.

You can then enter your water hardness into the machine during the initial setup. This allows it to optimize brewing performance and tailor its descaling schedule, helping to improve flavor while reducing limescale buildup over time.

The final step is to run one plain water cycle through your machine to flush out the components. I put the empty portafilter in place, selected the largest serving size with a large mug beneath the spout, and pressed brew. This water was then discarded.

With this complete, you are ready to brew.

Grinding Beans

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The first step to making coffee with the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus is grinding your beans. The top hopper can hold up to 250 grams of fresh beans, and has an airtight lid to keep them fresh between brews.

What I loved about this machine is that it weighs your portafilter and decides the best grind size for your coffee, depending on your selected brew type, taking away any guesswork.

The process is remarkably simple. After selecting your brew type from espresso, iced, classic (drip), or rich, and attaching the dosing funnel to the portafilter, place it into the grinding cradle. On the first press of the grind button, the machine weighs the portafilter and automatically calculates the ideal dose and grind size based on your chosen drink and shot size.

It then displays a recommended grind setting on the LED screen. Simply adjust the grinder dial on the left-hand side of the machine to match the suggested number, press the grind button again, and the machine dispenses the correct amount of coffee. It takes the guesswork out of dialing in your espresso, making the process quick and approachable for beginners.

There was one instance where the machine ran out of beans mid-grinding. An orange warning light came on with a beep, so I simply added more and pressed the grind button again, allowing it to complete the programme without fuss.

Tamping is also simple. You leave the funnel attached and press the tamper down until it is flush with the top edge. These are then removed from the filter (and can be stored in a handy recess on the top of the machine).

The grinder grinds consistently, but suffers from retention. After grinding, I pushed the coffee machine backwards on my counter to sit more neatly in the corner, and the vibrations shook a significant amount of grounds out of place, falling onto the drip tray. It also dropped some grounds each time the portafilter was placed into the cradle. It has the potential to be very messy if you need to pull it out to use it each time.

Brewing Coffee

Brewing the coffee is just as simple. The portafilter slots into position as it would on any other coffee machine, lining the dot up with the dot on the machine and turning until the dot is in line with the head of the arrow on the machine. I will note that the machine needs to be held still when you do this, as its smaller size means that it is not quite heavy enough to weigh it down, and it can slide along your counter as you twist it into position.

With a mug beneath the spout, you press the brew button and let it do its thing. This process is the same no matter which brew type you selected before grinding.

I am happy to report that this process is relatively quiet, so much so that when my partner woke up early for work and made his morning coffee, it never disturbed me sleeping upstairs (and our house is on the smaller side, so noise travels). It is quick, too.

The plain hot water setting is a nice touch, but it can splutter in use, splashing coffee onto the stainless steel backsplash, which needs wiping down after. A dial on the right-hand side of the machine switches the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus to hot water only, allowing you to make an Americano drink without needing to boil your kettle. This water comes from a separate spout on the left side of the cup, and tends to splutter and flow unevenly during dispensing. On a few occasions, this splashed water over the edge of the mug onto the counter.

When the water neared the top of our mugs, we often had to stop the hot water cycle early, too, to avoid overflowing.

Beyond that, the coffee it brewed was excellent, with a rich, creamy crema on top of each shot. With our choice of quality, locally roasted beans, my partner hailed it as good as, if not better than, a coffee shop.

I will note that, as the coffee maker is designed to be compact, it does come at the cost of a small water reservoir. Four double shots and three water top-ups using the hot water setting drained it from max fill to below minimum (three Americanos and a flat white). The tank can be removed for refilling, but I found it easier to use a large jug to fill it in situ.

There was one instance when using the hot water function, in which the water dropped below the minimum line mid-brew. The machine seemed to panic at this, and made a loud buzzing noise as it continued to try and draw water it could not find. I stopped the programme manually, and added more water to the tank, and this did not happen again. But it suggests you need to double-check the tank before you press start, as it might not stop to warn you as it does when the beans run low.

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Frothing Milk

I have never owned a milk frother before, which is what sets home coffee apart from a quality café. The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus, however, comes with a built-in hands-free milk frother that can steam and froth both dairy and plant-based milks.

As with the rest of the machine, I found this step simple. The included recipe book comes with a general suggestion for the amount of milk you need to create a standard cappuccino, flat white, and latte, so I followed their suggestions.

One small complaint is that the ml recommendations in the guide are not marked in the stainless steel milk jug they included. For a cappuccino, for example, they suggest 150 ml of milk; the jugs etched measurements skip this increment, so it takes a little guesswork. It is not the end of the world, but it does feel like an overlooked detail.

The milk jug is then placed beneath the steaming wand, the desired foam thickness selected with the dial, and the button pressed to begin. I used dairy-based semi-skimmed milk and found that it froths quickly without spitting, and pours wonderfully.

One frothed, you wipe down the wand with a damp cloth and flick it back into its downwards-facing position, where it will automatically purge. There is a drip hole beneath to catch this water for easy clean up.

Be aware when steaming milk after brewing coffee that the handle needs to point outwards, else coffee will drip down onto it.

Cleaning and Maintenance

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Whenever I get a new appliance, I dread the cleaning process. Luckily, Ninja has made cleaning the coffee maker a breeze.

The drip tray beneath the appliance can be slid out for easy emptying and cleaning, dissembling into three layers for hand washing with soap and warm water. The portafilter is also hand-washable, and is easy to empty with a firm tap against the edge of a trash can.

The tray needs emptying regularly, I discovered. Luckily, there is an orange floating indicator that will rise when it is getting too full. I suggest emptying it before it reaches the top, as you risk spilling the water as you move to your sink otherwise.

The machine also comes with a long-handled brush for cleaning out the grinder and tamper storage well, as well as some descaling tablets and solution for deep cleaning of internal parts. The conical burr grinder also comes apart for easier cleaning.

What Shoppers Say

The general consensus amongst other uses is overwhelmingly positive, with reviews (at the time of writing) on the SharkNinja site setting the machine at 4.8 stars out of 5.

Shoppers comment on how easy it is to use, the compact size, and the incorporated steamer and grinder, which streamline the process.

One commented in their five-star review, 'I have never had so much fun playing barista in my home using the Ninja Luxe Cafe Mini Espresso Machine. This was easy to set up, and the instructions for every step of making so many different coffee House classics were so simple. I love that this machine includes a bean grinder as well as the full press setup for making your espresso or coffee.'

There is one limited one-star review which claims 'The coffee was burnt tasting and underachieved,' however, this is a single outlier, and hardly detailed. I take this as an exception.

We previously reviewed the Cafe Mini's larger predecessor, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro, and had a similarly wonderful experience. After her review, Lydia Hayman marked the larger machine down only for the sheer size of the appliance, meaning that this mini version is a welcome addition to the lineup for us. It carries with it all of the wonderful features and quality brewing of the previous machine, so which you pick will depend only on the amount of counter space you have available.

Should You Buy The Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine?

All in all, I would highly recommend the Ninja Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine. It is a fantastic, small-space-friendly coffee machine that is largely automated but still fun to use.

It brews wonderful barista-quality coffee, albeit with a little bit of mess, and has greatly improved our home coffees. In fact, I have lost count of how many times my coffee-obsessed partner uttered that he was excited to use his coffee machine in the morning as he got into bed each evening. He's been so excited to show it off to guests, too.

This is perfectly suited to people who love quality coffee from fresh beans, who want some of that authentic espresso experience at home without the faff of weighing their own and calculating the right pressure. You do not need any barista training or even a deep understanding of coffee to master this machine.

It is especially useful for those who have a small kitchen like me, who struggle to keep counters clear of everyday clutter without another appliance getting in the way.

That said, there is a lack of transparency about the materials used in the inner brew path, and I cannot be sure whether it is one of the best non-toxic coffee makers or not. If you are very health-conscious, it might be worth some extra digging.

How We Test Coffee Makers

At Homes & Gardens, we have a rigorous testing process for all of our coffee makers. This enables us to score coffee makers both individually and against other models on the market.

Once we have researched the best coffee makers on the market, we test at home, as it means we can use the appliance in our regular routines. This helps me uncover advantages (or most likely, pain points) I would never discover with a one-hour session in the test kitchen.

After unboxing, we'll let you know whether we get any extra accessories and what our first impressions are of the coffee maker. Here's where we'll talk about the size, style, build quality, and anything else that jumps out at us aesthetically.

Next, we'll get brewing. We make notes on how easy the coffee maker is to set up and start using. After each brew, we assess the flavor of each cup, the range of the machine, how long it keeps coffee warm for, the ease of cleaning, and the all-important price. Where applicable, we experiment with special features, such as integrated grinders and milk frothers.

Once we are happy that we've tested everything that we can, we'll take a step back and think about how the coffee maker compares to other models. We'll read through online reviews to get a sense of what customers are saying and then, bringing all that information together, our team will let you know who we think it suits and whether it's good value for money. As you can see, we leave no stone unturned.

If you’re interested and want to find out more, you can read all about the process in our how we test coffee makers page.

What Else to Shop

From cleaning essentials to countertop organizers, I have rounded up everything you need to flesh out your new home coffee station.

All prices correct at time of publication.

No matter how good your coffee machine is, the bean you pick will have a huge impact on the final taste of your coffee. We have a whole guide dedicated to choosing coffee beans to help find the best roast for you.

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