Ninja - DualBrew PRO 12-Cup Specialty Coffee System with Thermal Carafe, K-Cup Compatible, Hot Water System & Frother - Black/Silver

I've only had it for about a week, and have finally figured out ALL the little things that make THIS COFFEE MAKER STAND OUT. The way Ninja invented this type of product AMAZES me! I LOVE IT! I'd HIGHLY RECOMMEND this if you're like me & enjoy the convenience of K-cups, but also like to brew your own coffee for 2+ cups in a day, and like the ease of cleaning your machine to keep it like new! THIS IS THE COFFEE MAKER TO TRY! Some of the things I love the most from this design is how user-friendly it really is. I like the stickers they put on for first-time users & honestly, I'd love if they were permanent. I need to see what is needed & switching back & forth can be confusing if you don't do it all the time. I LOVE the boil water option that doesn't taste like coffee, because it's NOT dispensed in the coffee portion! OMG, I love this has a "DELAY" feature so you can brew your K-cups, or pot of coffee for whenever you want it! I love the open & close feature that allow for a quick cup without spilling coffee as it brews a pot of coffee. I love the storage of coffee scoop & the scoop itself has 2 measurements! I love the frother & how easy it is to remove for cleaning & then self-stores! I love that you have a choice where the water reservoir can swing back & forth, from back to side with a little motion (basic, but it works for the price!) So far, I really love too many features to say in this little review spot. I've been a big Keurig customer for many years, but hate their customer service & disposability of their products (that only last a year or 2). NINJA has a much better reputation, And if you buy from Best Buy you get lowest price offered by price match & if you have a Total Tech plan (sold separately but worth it) your items are covered for a good 2 years!

This is, by far, my favorite purchase! I have previously been using a K-cup machine for a few years. I had decided to upgrade to one of the cafe with frothing units and compared a couple products; going over specs, abilities and reviews. I decided to purchase this Ninja Dualbrew specialty coffee system. The thing that pushed me more toward this one was the separate hot water spout. I love being able to have hot or boiled water without coffee residue. I am able to use this to make tea, hot cocoa and oatmeal as well as many other uses. This machine is incredible. I am able to make regular hot coffee, whether by the single cup or up to 12 cups. I can make lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos, iced coffee. I love the frother and its ability to remove to clean super easily. When making a cup of coffee, I can use the filter or the k-pods. I have been using the filter method the most because it makes such a rich, flavorful cup of coffee each time. The functions are very easy to operate and clearly displayed.

I previously had the standard Ninja Brewer, and was happy with how it worked, but the carafe broke and was on back order, so I went ahead and upgraded to this model. The coffee pretty much tastes the same as the previous one, which is great, but this model has some quirks that I'd reconsider if I was buying it again: - My biggest beef: I specifically bought this version with the thermal carafe because I thought it would keep coffee warm longer than a glass carafe with a warming plate. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case. I didn't realize this when I bought it, but when you get the version with the stainless steel carafe, they remove the warming plate under the carafe, so the carafe is the only thing keeping the coffee hot. We now find that if the coffee has been in the carafe more than an hour or so, we have to pop it in the microwave to get it hot again, and that seems to change the flavor of the coffee a little. This was nearly enough of a dealbreaker for me that I contemplated returning it, but I didn't have the original packaging anymore. - There's no pour spout on the carafe -- just a smooth lip all the way around the carafe. The coffee comes out like a waterfall, and it inevitably splashes coffee in the process. It's a small thing, but kind of annoying, and a really odd design choice. - The way you measure water and coffee grounds is a little funky. Instead of filling the reservoir for the specific number of cups of coffee you want, it has markers that indicate 1/2 pot, 3/4 pot, full pot, etc. And my previous machine just used one scoop of coffee per cup you wanted to make. For this one, if I want to make a full pot of coffee, I use up to 7 scoops of the large end of the scoop. Just seems a bit vague. - For $250, I would expect it to come with a permanent filter, but it doesn't. Ninja sells one, but it's out of stock. - While having a separate K-cup option is great, you can't use reusable K-cups. I was a bit disappointed by that. At the end of the day, the coffee is good, but for the money, it leaves me thinking "I wish they did x instead of y" too often. If it broke, I'd probably replace it with the model with the glass carafe and warming plate.

I really love and enjoy this coffee maker! I live in an apartment, so getting hot water is not extremely easy, but with this amazing coffee maker, you can make tea with just one click. The coffee made from the machine is full of flavor, which makes me always want to make more! What I most love out of everything are the awesome features and how easy it is to use! I definetely recommend this product for coffee and tea lovers!

Best coffee maker yet! I previously had the Keurig Duo, and Ninja seems to have taken all of the good aspects of that coffee maker, but made them even better! They thought of everything, from the ability to stop water midway through brewing, to the ability to select strength and size that you want to brew. Extras like frother, k-cup adaptive feature, and hot water only are great too. One extra note, the carafe pours easily and is easy to clean. Highly recommend!

As a tired father to a newborn, I am very happy with the upgrade this machine offered to me over my previous coffee maker. My first machine was defective, but Ninja’s customer support was quick to diagnose the issue and ultimately, they replaced the machine without me having to spend too much time on the phone. The drip brew coffee is consistent and predictable, and with basic adjustments to how fine of a grind you use or to the grinds to water ratio, you can really dial in how you like your drip brews to come out. I even went so far as to make a super fine espresso grind out of one of my favorite beans, ran the specialty brew setting to make a super strong 4 oz pour that I turned into a 'cappuccino style' coffee with some frothed milk and that was delightfully good! FYI – I also got good cappuccino-style results using the Café Bustelo Espresso Style K-Cups (also on the specialty brew setting but for the K Cups this time). My wife (who hates all coffee products) said the cappuccino style coffee I made was something she would drink with me (huge win!) However, I'll admit that it took finding and buying the proper fitting metal reusable filter to get good results. It is disappointing that the machine does not come with the metal filter at this price point, but even more disappointing that the Ninja brand filter is perpetually out of stock. No one wants to constantly use something disposable and add to the garbage in the world, plus the metal filter results are just superior in my opinion. You CAN buy any number 4 reusable cone filter and get it to work, but you'd have to put your fingers into the bottom of the filter and then shove it down until it bends enough to fit all the way into the machine. I've done this, and it went fine but that still didn't stop me from buying the actual metal filter for this machine once I found it. The standard number 4 filters aren’t quite as tall as the proper fitting ones. Clearly, the Ninja brand reusable filter is a bit of a unique fit but fear not, there is another coffee machine that uses these exact same unique filters AND they are in stock. It’s a GE Cafe 10-Cup Drip Brew Coffee machine (a model that Best Buy also happens to sell) - AND if you look on GE's parts websites you will find it so I recommend everyone that owns this machine to grab either the Ninja filter or the GE Café filter (they are literally the same thing) as soon as you can. If you do this, I am confident you'll have great at-home coffee results. My results with this machine quickly became good enough to consolidate a bit and give away my older drip brew coffee machines. Now I have only one nice looking coffee appliance on my countertop, and I feel like my at home coffee station is very well equipped. FYI – this Ninja machine comes in 2 versions, one with a metal thermal carafe and one with a glass carafe/warmer plate combo. To be as polite as possible…. if you know what you’re doing you will choose the correct version for your needs – so please disregard any other reviewers’ comments about the thermal carafe. It’s A THERMAL CARAFE – its not magic. If you only fill it up half-way, the coffee is not going to stay hot that long, that’s just basic physics. However, if you put the top on it and fill it up at least ¾ or more – I can promise you the coffee will stay hot for at least 3.5 hours (which is as long as I cared to test it myself with a thermometer). I brewed a full carafe and the initial temp was 160-165 (perfect IMO) and then immediately poured myself a large cup and set the carafe down. After 1 hour I poured another 2 cups and set the carafe back down (to simulate some realistic usage for when I’m brewing a pot to leave for guests to come help themselves too). 3 hours in the temp was 145 and 3.5 hours in the temp was 140. Still good for sure! Let’s not discount the fact that the carafe doesn’t have to be anywhere specific to work (no warmer plate that it has to stay on), so you can brew this large pot and then just put the carafe on the table for everyone and the machine is immediately available to brew other stuff (you can brew directly into cups, travel mugs, teacups, other carafes you have, etc.) It is so versatile it kinda feels like a little coffee shop in your house. I specifically bought this machine because I was being picky about a few features I really wanted – and even so I was still very surprised to learn that it had other stuff that is really thoughtful and useful. I specifically looked for something with – (1) cone style filters, which I strongly prefer over basket style filters (cone is much more consistent, efficient and better able to brew a proper single cup) (2) I specifically wanted a thermal carafe rather than a warmer plate that burns the coffee and ruins the flavor if you leave it on for too long, (but be my guest and buy that version if you really prefer) (3) larger capacity for when I have guests and (4) also being able to do K Cups. The hot or boil water feature was a plus that I wasn’t specifically looking for but has already come in handy many times and so in hindsight this is a feature I’m glad is there. I wasn’t thinking about tea drinkers when I got this machine, but the hot water dispenser must be amazing for tea drinkers! The pop-out side frother is also something I wasn’t specifically looking for but am now glad it’s there (I’ll give away my separate mini frother to keep my clutter to a minimum now that I have this machine). The built in spot for the measuring spoons and multi-position water reservoir are also very thoughtful features that I underestimated at the time of my initial purchase. Also I live at 5,000 feet elevation and used the high altitude calibration settings right out of the box (another great surprise). There are people pointing out that there isn’t a water filter built into this machine. Again, I personally don’t like having multiple water filters to replace (I use a filtered water pitcher for my fridge and that’s my only filter period – I don’t want to have to replace water filters for built in fridge features and I wouldn’t want to have to replace filters in this machine either.) Just use water from your pitcher to fill the reservoir and problem solved. The area a lot of users also complain about is the lack of a reusable K Cup for this machine. It’s annoying for sure – but when I really think about it you can simply just make a good strong single serve drip brew in a reusable cone filter which is a lot easier than manually prepping a bunch of K Cups ahead of time. Although I guess prepping the reusable K Cups ahead of time is kind of like meal-prepping so I know it’s useful to do and of course everyone absolutely hates the idea of all the garbage these disposable K Cups make so honestly my solution is just to not use the K Cup feature myself personally, but I do just keep a few around for occasional guests. If you are concerned about the K Cup waste then this machine is not for you. I will say it was definitely an oversight on Ninja’s part to not incorporate some kind of reusable K Cup filter. I see plenty of other brands have retrofitted their own permanent K Cup in their machines and it’s definitely doable so hopefully it’s a feature add for future Ninja models. On the plus side – the triple needle on Ninja’s K Cup pod brewer actually works very well and makes some delicious K Cups. I will admit though – I am going to be putting some time and effort into trying to rig up my own reusable K Cup that can work with this machine. I’ve already drilled up the triple needle holes in a few to experiment (currently unsuccessfully). Lastly, if I were to compare this to other machines that can do both K Cups and drip-brews, I will note that it appears on many other machines the k cup and drip brew sections are both permanently a part of those machines (so you brew them in 2 separate parts of the machine basically). On this one, they are not and so it requires you to add or remove the K Cup pod attachment based on what you are brewing. For me (rarely using the K Cups) this means constantly having to keep this K-Cup pod attachment device in a drawer nearby to the machine. Personally, this is not an issue but if space is an issue for you it might be something to think about. I didn’t even notice this honestly until my mom pointed out that she thought it was annoying to have to add or remove this thingy for K cups which she doesn’t have to do on her machine at home. What do we get in exchange for having to do this Ninja’s way? On top of the space savings on the unit itself, you can actually brew both short and tall cups/travel mugs in either the k cup or drip brew modes – which I didn’t see that my moms machine could handle. I have some very nice tall/thermal travel mugs and tumblers and so it’s nice to be able to fill those up regardless of how I choose to do the brewing.

Picked this up 12-4-24 since it was on sale for $130. My trusty Mr Coffee maker has lasted me over a decade, still works, but I figured it's time to upgrade. I don't really use K Cups, so that was not a big deal for me. The main selling point was the thermal carafe, I prefer those since they don't burn the coffee if you have a full pot on for a bit. Also, I prefer a removable water reservoir which this has, and you can also swap the position from the side to the rear. My biggest complaints so far, is it DOES NOT come with a reusable filter (packaging says filter basket is included, which is confusing because that is not referring the "filter". Also, I cannot remove the filter basket with the maker sitting under my cabinets. They are located 18" above the counter (see picture). So I guess I will have to find a more convenient spot for this to sit. Otherwise, 1st impressions are good.

We have had this machine for over a year now. It makes excellent drip coffee for me every day. When I'm out of town, or if I forget to set the automatic timer, my wife uses it to make K cups faster and better tasting than our commercial Keurig ever could. We also use it to make tea one cup at a time faster than we can make it any other way. My son uses it on the lower temperature setting for herbal tea, while I use the boil setting for my Irish breakfast. There is no coffee affect to the tea water because the hot water tubing is completely independent of the coffee brewing equipment.

Love it. Love having the diversity of having a K Cup or ground coffee. This is way better than any of the Keuirgs I’ve had. Most of those broke on me. As you can see in the photo, I’m a Ninja family.