Ninja - 10-Cup Specialty Coffee Maker with Fold-Away Frother and Glass Carafe CM401 - Black/Stainless Steel

The Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker is a very nice addition to any kitchen. It is a very attractive unit, elegantly styled in stainless steel and matte black. The unit can brew traditional coffee in two strengths, in six sizes up to a full carafe or it can be used to create iced coffee, cappuccino or latte beverages. Ninja is a unit of SharkNinja which was founded as Euro-Pro in Montreal, Canada in 1995. SharkNinja produces more than 150 innovative home products such as Shark vacuum cleaners, steam mops and steam irons, Ninja blenders, food processors, air fryers, pressure cookers and slow cookers. Here is a summary of the key features: • Model: Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker • Thermal flavor extraction technology brews at a precise temperature • SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) Golden Cup Certified Home Brewer • Removable water reservoir with auto-metering • Swivel brew basket with drip-stop is easy to fill and clean • Permanent gold brewing filter included • 50 ounce glass carafe with brew-through lid which circulates coffee strength evenly • Four individual cup brew sizes from 9 ounces to 18 ounces • Half carafe or full (50 ounce) carafe brew choices • Two brew strengths: Classic and Rich • Iced coffee mode • Specialty coffee mode makes concentrated brew for espresso-type drinks • Programmable daily brew time • Cleaning mode and cleaning-needed warning light • Adjustable temperature warming plate with variable time to shut-off and warning light • Fold-away milk frother is easy to clean • Onboard smart scoop to accurately measure coffee for various sizes • Removable parts are all top-rack dishwasher-safe • Fold-away cup platform • Color: Black and stainless steel • Includes full instructions and recipe book • Cord length: 30 inches • 1550 watt heating unit • Dimensions: 15 inch height, 12 inch depth, 8.8 inch width • Weight: 11.8 pounds • One year warranty on parts and labor When you unbox the Ninja CM401 you should be very impressed by the elegant design and the quality of construction. It is a beautiful combination of matte black and stainless surfaces, accented by a crystal clear water reservoir and features a full, but very intuitive control panel set into a stainless panel. On one side a smart scoop is flush-mounted in a bracket, insuring that you always have the measuring device at hand. A fold-away milk frother is tucked in the back. The warming plate is highlighted by a set of glossy black concentric stripes. The brew basket swivels forward to allow easy filling and it holds a gold brewing filter. The beautiful grooved water reservoir can be lifted off for cleaning. So how well does it work? Just great! I have a Keurig single serve coffee maker which produces a nice consistent cup of coffee from each pod. I bought some pre-ground Starbucks Pike Place coffee to test against the Starbucks Pike Place K-cups I typically use. To make a single cup of coffee I used the instructions on the Smart Scoop (three level teaspoons of coffee for my 14 ounce cup), flipped down the single cup holder and placed my mug, set the size of my mug on the control panel and pressed “Classic” to start the brewing process. About 3 minutes later my coffee was ready, delivering a delicious aroma and a taste even better than my trusty Keurig. Cleanup was simple – just dump the grounds from the gold filter into a trash container, rinse out the filter and brew basket and it was ready for another brew cycle. The economics of the Ninja CM401 are pretty attractive compared to a Keurig. One large mug requires 15 g of coffee. A 13.5 ounce canister of Starbucks Pike Place coffee (about $9 on sale) holds 382 g – enough for 25 large mugs of coffee. That works out to about $0.36 per mug. Starbucks K-cups typically cost about $0.75 each but sometimes Best Buy offers them for as low as $0.50 per K-cup. Assuming you paid an average of $0.62 per K-cup, over the course of a year you would save about $95 if you brew just one cup of coffee per day. If you have two or more cups per day (as I do!) the Ninja pays for itself in just one year just on the savings from single cup coffee brewing. But the Ninja CM401 is much more than a single cup brewer. It brews full and half-carafes of delicious coffee in two strengths, “classic” and “rich.” I like a nice, full-bodied coffee so I thought that I would need to use the “rich” setting. But the classic setting actually tasted better to me. It’s obviously a matter of personal taste but it is nice to know that the unit can adjust the brew strength so easily. One interesting feature of the carafe is the “brew-through lid” which incorporates a long cylinder to mix the coffee to the bottom of the carafe, ensuring a well-balanced taste throughout. You can also make iced coffee by just selecting that option. The brewing strength is adjusted automatically to compensate for the dilutive effect of the ice used to cool the coffee. You can make a single cup or an entire carafe of iced coffee. The glass carafe supplied with the Ninja is made to handle the thermal stress of hot liquids and ice without suffering any harm. I had some reservations about how good the results of the Specialty Coffee feature might be. It creates 4 ounces of very concentrated coffee from two large scoops of ground coffee. The concentrated coffee can then be used to create various espresso-type beverages such as cappuccino or lattes by adding frothed milk. Well, this was my biggest surprise. I brewed the 4 ounce coffee concentrate, heated a cup of milk in the microwave for 40 seconds, used the fold-out frothing wand on the milk and poured the coffee concentrate into the heated, frothed milk. The result was a delicious cappuccino! It was so easy to make! I tried the concentrate with some of the other recipes provided by Ninja and obtained similarly great outcomes, all without the bother and mess associated with a dedicated espresso machine. There are only two negatives I can note about this coffee maker. First, it is rather large, 12 inches wide and about 15 inches tall. It will fit under most kitchen cabinets but you will need to slide it forward to refill the water reservoir. Second, the handle on the glass carafe is smooth and doesn’t have much grip. I could foresee someone letting the carafe slip from a careless grasp. But these are relatively minor issues. When you add up the superb specialty coffee beverage feature, the single cup economic advantage, the delicious taste of the coffee produced and the fine design and technology features of this appliance, the Ninja CM401 Specialty Coffee Maker has certainly earned a full five stars and my strong recommendation.

I love the way my ninja kitchen coffee maker looks in my kitchen. However, I gave it four stars because I wish it had the option to steam the milk for hot beverages while frothing it instead of heating it up separately in the microwave or stove. Besides that, I think it was a good purchase!

I bought this for the aole purpose of maki g iced coffee, and it in fact, does its job! I love it, coffee tastes like coffee, in my opinion better than starbucks which is another reason i bought this to save money lol but the functions are easy to do, and instructions are easy to read, now that its getting colder ill be using all of the other settings, which i have no doubt they will be awesome too!

We absolutely love our ninja 10 cup specialty coffee maker. We love that it can do different things and doesn’t take up a lot of space. This definitely the perfect coffee maker a coffee lover could have. I recommend this if you are into frothed coffee, making a big pot for family or friends or just making a cup for yourself either hot or cold this coffee maker is right for you.

I am thoroughly impressed with this machine. It is great for lattes, iced coffee, and plain old cup of coffee. The coffee is brewed perfectly, I highly recommend this coffee maker.

Love this coffee maker, I went from a Kureg to it and its pretty amazing. You can leave it preset at night for a fresh batch first thing in the morning. Great with all coffee.

We have been very happy with our purchase of the Ninja Coffee maker. It’s been used to delay brew coffee every morning and they have all been great. We had an old Mr. Coffee drip machine for years and it made good coffee, but this tastes way better. Not sure if it’s the water temp, of the process but it’s better and for a family that will drink a full pot everyday, I don’t mind paying a little more for a product the delivers what I want. A++

This coffee machine is amazing! I am really enjoying my purchase. I would definitely recommend.