Ninja Luxe Café vs Breville Barista Touch Impress: smart espresso showdown

Ninja Luxe Café Pro vs Barista Touch Impress at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on my testing and the manufacturer specs. Rows where the machines are level have no winner.

Keep in mind that the tally is not my verdict. Some rows matter far more than others, and which ones matter depends on what you drink.

Design, size and build

These two take up a similar footprint, but they feel different on the counter.

The Ninja Luxe Café Pro is about 12.5 inches wide, 13.4 inches deep and 14.8 inches tall, and it weighs about 27 lb. It has no side handles, so moving it to clean behind was awkward.

The Breville Barista Touch Impress is about 14.2 inches wide, 13.4 inches deep and 16.3 inches tall, at about 24 lb. Its 4-inch color touchscreen sits front and center.

The Ninja Luxe Café Pro is narrower and shorter, but heavier and has no side handles.

Both are brushed stainless and plastic and felt sturdy. The Breville’s 2-liter tank sits at the back with a magnetic float sensor, and the Ninja’s roughly 2-liter tank needed a refill every day.

The Ninja’s lower height makes it the easier fit under wall cabinets. The Breville needs about 16.3 inches plus room to lift the hopper lid.

Height on the counter

Standard wall cabinets sit about 18 inches above the counter.

Our tip: Leave room to slide the Ninja forward, because it has no side handles and you will move it often to empty the drip tray.

Setup and the first week

Setup on the Ninja took about 15 minutes, including filling, priming and a few practice shots. Its Barista Assist recommendations made the first week painless.

The Breville also walked me through setup on its touchscreen. In week one, it asked for a top-up dose on about one shot in three, and by day four nearly every dose passed on the first tamp.

On both, I ran a blank shot of hot water through the empty portafilter✕PortafilterThe handle with a metal basket that holds the ground coffee. You lock it into the machine, and hot water is pushed through the coffee in it. before the first espresso of the day, which warmed the metal and made the first shot taste as good as the second.

The Barista Touch Impress guides every step on its 4-inch touchscreen.

Breville doses passing on the first tamp

Share of doses that got the green check on the first lever pull, from my four-week log.

Our tip: Run a blank shot through the empty portafilter before your first espresso on either machine, because a cold basket steals heat from the first shot.

Grinder, dose and tamping

Both machines grind straight into the portafilter and help you tamp. They do it in different ways.

The Ninja has a conical burr✕Conical burrsTwo cone-shaped grinding parts, one inside the other. Beans are crushed between them, and the gap between the burrs sets how fine the coffee is. grinder with 25 settings and Barista Assist, which recommends a grind for each drink. After grinding, you pull an integrated tamper twice, with no funnel and no mess.

My recommended settings were 15 for a single, 11 for a ristretto and 23 for drip-style coffee. A double weighed 17.8 to 18 grams every time.

The Breville uses Baratza-designed burrs with 30 numbered settings on a stepless dial. It grinds at about 1 gram per second, so a double took 18 to 20 seconds, the slowest part of its workflow.

Its Impress lever presses a built-in tamper with about 22 lb of force and a 7-degree twist. Sensors measure how far the tamper travels and tell you if the dose is low or high.

If the dose is low, you grind a top-up and tamp again. If it is high, the machine shortens the next grind on its own. A second pull polishes the puck and reduces channeling✕ChannelingWhen water finds a weak path through the coffee puck and rushes through it, leaving the rest under-extracted. The shot tastes sour and thin..

Espresso quality

Both scored 8.7 for espresso in my reviews, and in the cup they were genuinely close.

On the Ninja, my double aimed for 18 grams in and 36 grams out. It usually came out at 38 to 39 grams, at about 63 to 64°C in the cup, and its double espresso scored 9.0, its best drink.

On the Breville, my standard recipe was 18 grams in, 36 grams out in 27 to 30 seconds, and from week two most shots landed there. The crema✕CremaThe golden, foamy layer on top of a fresh espresso. It forms when pressure pushes oils and gases out of the coffee. was thick, hazelnut-colored and elastic.

The Breville’s shot had balanced acidity and sweetness, a strong chocolate note and almost no astringency. Its brew temperature defaults to 200°F and adjusts from 192 to 207°F in 1-degree steps.

The Ninja’s double espresso scored 9.0, its best drink in my testing.

Ninja drink scores

My flavor scores out of 10 on the Ninja Luxe Café Pro.

The Ninja also makes styles the Breville doesn’t. Its ristretto runs 18 grams in and 21 out, and its lungo aims for 144 grams, which I got on a good day but sometimes ran short at 70 to 80 grams.

Our tip: Weigh your yield on a scale that reads to 0.1 gram on either machine, because the Ninja often ran 2 to 3 grams long and that changes the taste.

Drip-style coffee and americano

This is the Ninja’s big advantage. As well as espresso, it brews drip-style coffee in four sizes, from about 6 to 8 ounces up to about 18 ounces.

At grind setting 23, its Classic Small Plus aimed for 235 ml and gave me 245. For someone in the house who just wants a big mug of coffee, it is a real alternative to a second machine.

Ninja drip-style coffee sizes.

The Breville makes long blacks and americanos with hot water through a bypass in the group. For a long black, I poured 4 to 6 ounces of water first, then the double, to keep the crema on top.

Its americano was a double with 4 to 8 ounces of water added after. Both are excellent, but neither is a true mug of filter coffee.

The Ninja’s americano scored 8.6, and both machines avoid the bitter, drying notes of pushing a mug of water through one espresso puck.

Our tip: Pour the water first for a long black on the Breville, because adding the shot on top keeps the crema intact.

Milk drinks

Both machines let you froth hands-free or steam by hand, and both have temperature control.

Ninja: Dual Froth System Pro

The Ninja has a 12 mm non-burn steam wand that wipes clean after each use. Its automatic frothing gave whole milk a score of 8.4 and oat milk 7.6, with oat on medium froth at about 61°C.

Steaming by hand with whole milk scored 9.0. The Ninja also makes cold foam, which scored 8.8 and has no equivalent on the Breville.

Breville: auto or manual

The Breville has a four-hole steam tip with a cool-touch liner and a sensor that reads the jug’s temperature through its base. The default is 149°F, adjustable down to 140°F.

Its foam scale runs from 1 to 8. I used 2 to 3 for a flat white✕Flat whiteA short milk coffee with a double shot and a thin layer of silky milk. It is stronger and less foamy than a cappuccino., 3 to 4 for a latte, 4 to 5 for a cappuccino and 7 to 8 for a dense cappuccino cap.

Manual steaming made finer, silkier microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It feels silky and glossy, which is what a good flat white or latte needs. than the automatic mode, and it was good enough for latte art.

The Breville’s sensor reads the jug temperature, and its manual mode pours latte art.

Milk texture scores on the Ninja

My ratings out of 10. The Breville’s automatic milk was slightly coarser than its manual milk.

Both land in the sweet spot. Research from the University of Camerino found the best foam structure at around 60°C, or 140°F.

Our tip: Clear all four holes in the Breville’s steam tip if the steam gets weak, then purge it into a damp towel.

Iced drinks and cold brew

The Ninja is the only one of the two with cold drinks built in. Its cold press makes a cold brew-style coffee, and its cold foam floats on iced lattes.

A cold foam latte over ice took me about 2 minutes. Cold press and cold foam can even run at the same time.

On the Breville, iced drinks mean pulling a hot double over a glass full of ice. It works, but it dilutes more, and there is no cold foam.

Our tip: Fill the glass with ice before you brew any iced drink, because ice added afterwards melts unevenly and waters the drink down.

Controls and speed

The Ninja uses dials and buttons with three strength levels, three brew temperatures and three hot water temperatures. By week two, my weekday routine took about 3 minutes.

The Breville uses a 4-inch touchscreen and saves up to eight drinks. I named them after people rather than drinks, which made it easier for guests.

Breville times from power on to first sip, from my stopwatch.

The Breville’s ThermoJet✕ThermoJetBreville’s fast heater. Instead of keeping a boiler of water hot, it heats water on its way through, so the machine is ready in seconds. heats in about 3 seconds, so I switched it off between coffees without a penalty.

Cleaning and water use

Water use is the Ninja’s biggest weakness. An overpressure valve sends water to the drip tray above about 9 bar, and a finer grind sends more.

In my two-person household, I estimated that only about 55% of the Ninja’s water ended up in drinks. The tank needed a refill every day, and the drip tray filled daily, sometimes twice.

Where the Ninja’s water went, my estimate for two people.

On the Breville, a 2-liter tank gave about 22 espressos or 16 flat whites and lasted two of us about two days.

Daily cleaning was similar otherwise. I knocked out the puck, wiped the basket, flushed the group, wiped the steam wand after each milk drink and emptied the tray when the red float rose.

The Ninja’s drip tray filled every day, sometimes twice.

Our tip: Wipe the basket dry before every dose on both machines, because a wet basket makes the puck stick and the shot run uneven.

A morning with each machine

Numbers only go so far, so here is what a weekday flat white looked like on each machine by week three.

On the Ninja Luxe Café Pro

I switched it on and ran a blank shot to warm the portafilter✕PortafilterThe handle with a metal basket that holds the ground coffee. You lock it into the machine, and hot water is pushed through the coffee in it.. Barista Assist suggested my grind, the grinder dosed straight into the basket and I pulled the integrated tamper twice.

While the double ran, I filled the jug and picked a froth setting. The non-burn wand wiped clean in seconds afterwards, and the whole routine took about 3 minutes.

Then I emptied the drip tray. On most days that was the one job I could not skip.

On the Breville Barista Touch Impress

The ThermoJet was ready in about 3 seconds. I tapped my saved drink, named after me, and the grinder ran for 18 to 20 seconds.

One pull of the lever tamped and checked the dose, and the screen showed a green check. A second pull polished the puck, and the shot ran 27 to 30 seconds.

I chose foam level 2 and let the automatic wand texture the milk while I wiped the basket. That flat white also took about 3 minutes from power on.

The two mornings felt similar in time. The difference was in the details: the Ninja asked me to empty the tray, and the Breville asked me to wait for its slower grinder.

Our tip: Name your saved drinks after people on the Breville, because guests find their own drink faster than they find a flat white with the right settings.

Noise

Neither machine is loud. The Breville’s grinder hums quietly for about 20 seconds per double, longer than most, but at a low pitch.

The Ninja’s grinder is quicker, and its steam wand is quiet for a portafilter machine. Both were fine for early mornings in my apartment.

Relative loudness from my side-by-side use. Shorter bars are quieter.

Water, beans and supplies

Both have about a 2-liter tank. The Ninja’s hopper holds about 250 grams of beans and the Breville’s about 340 grams.

Fresh whole beans within a few weeks of roasting made the biggest difference on both. I used a fresh medium-to-dark roast with some high-quality robusta, and very oily beans clogged the Breville’s hopper once in week three.

Use filtered water or keep the filters installed, and put the spent pucks in the compost.

Breville tank yield, rough estimate from my testing.

The Breville uses far less water for the same drinks.

Our tip: Use the Breville’s dual-wall baskets only for pre-ground coffee, because fresh beans taste better through the single-wall baskets.

Real-life scenarios

Specs only go so far. These are the situations where one machine clearly pulled ahead during my testing.

For drip coffee, cold brew and cold foam, the Ninja does more.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10 from my single reviews of each machine.

Ninja Luxe Café Pro

Breville Barista Touch Impress

Overall, I rate the Breville 8.7 and the Ninja 8.6. The Breville is the more refined espresso and milk machine, and the Ninja is the more versatile one.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: do you want espresso done really well, or lots of different coffees done well? The Breville is the first, and the Ninja is the second. Still weighing other options? I rank every model I’ve tested in my guide to the best Breville espresso machines.

For more detail, read my Ninja Luxe Café Pro review and Breville Barista Touch Impress review, or see my Breville vs Ninja brand comparison.

For guided espresso and latte art, the Barista Touch Impress is the more refined machine.

Ninja Luxe Café Pro vs Barista Touch Impress specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as my everyday espresso maker for four weeks, making espresso, americanos, cappuccinos, flat whites and lattes on both, plus drip-style coffee, ristretto, lungo, cold press and cold foam on the Ninja and long blacks on the Breville.

I weighed doses and yields on a 0.1-gram scale, timed shots and drinks with a stopwatch, measured shot and milk temperatures with a probe thermometer and logged every Breville dose check.

I frothed whole and oat milk automatically and by hand, worked through the grind ranges with several roasts, tracked the Ninja’s water use, ran every cleaning routine and compared my notes with Ninja’s and Breville’s specifications and owner documentation.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body and consistency.
• Milk: foam texture, temperature and drink range.
• Workflow: controls, menus and daily routine.
• Ownership: noise, cleaning, water care and footprint.