AutoBarista™ Pro Fully Automatic Espresso Machine AE1051

ngl i only pull double shots and this machine has made me some amazing coffee. i can press a button and coffee house quality comes out without having to buy pods. i get coffee beans for free cuz im a barista so this is a dream for me

I am annoyed because it doesn’t have a proper bean to water ratio, especially at the single shot setting. My other gripe is it isn’t frothing almond milk very well, but I need to test it more. Dairy and cashew milk have been good. Those two things aside, I like it very much. But, they really need to fix the ratio issue. That’s super annoying and affects shot quality.

TLDR: 1. Water to grind ratio needs to be fixed. 2. Frothing system is a downgrade from the Luxe Pro. I also have this machine and what I’ve found and confirmed with Ninja support over a video call is that this does not produce a two to one ratio shot of espresso no matter what settings you choose. It’s supposed to do two to one at strength setting 5. It does not. The smallest volume it produces is about 1.7 to 2.2 ounces and 50+ (usually exactly 52 grams). That’s with the machine set to single shot and max strength (which the documentation states is a two to one ratio). It produces essentially the same volume regardless of the strength settings chosen. The espresso quality is weak. The Ninja tech confirmed these findings on the call on two different “lab devices”. Post call I received an email from a customer experience advocate asking to send my machine to Ninja instead of returning it to Best Buy. I chose not to bother since they confirmed these findings behavior on two machines in house. The frother is inferior to the Luxe Pro. I have both on my counter at the moment. I tried 3 beans, Lavazza Super Crema, Illy Intenso, and a local roaster (decaf). The results were consistent across the board. I tried every setting imaginable. And I did at minimum two full calibrations in each set of beans. I really wanted to love this machine as it sounds promising but I find the espresso quality to be poor and the frothing system has taken a hit vs the Luxe Pro which is fairly decent IMO. That’s the experience I’ve had over 6-8 hours working with the new model. I’m impatiently waiting for some of our well known coffee influencers to start posting their detailed findings to see how it compares to my experience. From what I’ve seen the best ratio this machine will produce at any setting is about three to one. At a thousand dollar price point my expectation is that the machine will perform as per the documented specifications. Assuming a single shot is using between 7 grams of beans on the low side, and 11 grams on the high side, there’s no way a 52 gram or 2 oz shot should be produced. That clearly explains the weak espresso (and fairly poor crema) results I see. Ninja needs to go back to the drawing board on this one. Either the software is failing, or the software and or hardware isn’t consistent among the units they’ve produced. I do give them kudos for the great customer service though. As a side note the tech did tell me not to expect the ratios they document to be realistic (I’m paraphrasing but that’s what he expressed). He couldn’t explain why single and double shots produced the same volume. Maybe the techs two lab units and mine have the same problem and not all the units are performing this poorly.

Ok I have to take this back. It’s light years better than the Phillips. I was in a pissy mood. My single, real gripe is the water ratio issue, especially at single shot. I like to have a strong 20-30ml single and I’m unable to produce that with this machine. Otherwise it’s pretty solid. I do prefer it over my Luxe Pro for the ease of use. The Luxe produces a bit higher quality when it’s dialed in correctly, but it’s not a huge difference outside of the singles. For me, GrindIQ is superior to Luxe’s auto barista tech, and it’s definitely more consistent. I’m hoping Ninja can fix the ratio issue and do warranty replacements or parts replacement for folks that want the better single shot ratio. I get very consistent shots from the auto vs the Luxe. On average the auto is better but a perfect shot from the Luxe is better. With both machines I doubt I’ll go back to the Luxe Pro often so it’ll likely become a gift to a friend if I can get over the single shot ratio thing. I have no idea when I became so invested in espresso and coffee, hehe.

Unfortunately I’m out of pre ground beans so I can’t do this until a make a run to the roaster which I’ll likely do later today. I have a really cheap grinder at home which won’t get a good result. It doesn’t grind fine enough for a super automatic. I tried to measure how many grams the machine is using for single and double shots by stopping the cycle after the grind process. But the unit locks the brew group into place during the cycle even after stopping it post grind, so I’m unable to remove the brew group to weigh the output. I’m not smart enough to figure out how to accomplish this, yet. The weight of a double is definitely closer to two to one as you mentioned. For me, I’m still finding the taste of a double sub par to my Luxe Pro. It’s like something between coffee and espresso. I’ll likely try some nee beans today.

The beans are good. Pretty fresh. Picked up yesterday from a local roaster. The Luxe pro ground them so I assume the grind size was OK but maybe the autobarista full auto has different grind size requirements for optimal extraction. Who knows :) Any pre grind I’ve tried in the auto with the pre ground setting comes out like this. I’ve done up to four scoops. Same results. What have your pre grind espressos looked like? Yes I chose single shot.

The milk jugs are the exact same size on my auto barista and luxe cafe pro. Same height, width and volume. When you select a drink that includes milk, you input all of your settings for the espresso or coffee and the froth settings, and it will suggest based on your drink selection which froth setting to use, but you can choose anyone that you want, for example, it may choose the lightest foam setting as a suggestion, but you can select any option you prefer. It puts an underline under the suggested froth option. After you hit start, I believe the first thing it does is grind the beans, then froth the milk, then it starts to make the drink. While the drink is being made the frother turns on and off to keep the milk warm and textured while the coffee or espresso is being produced. This is nice because the foam isn’t flat or cold when the drink is ready. When everything is done the machine will beep, and then you have to pour the jug into the glass on your own. I think it would be nice if the system also poured the milk for you, but in my experience with those machines they often don’t pour the right amount of milk anyway. I’m looking at you Phillips (but others have the same issue). You select a milk volume for your drink, but it’s often incorrect, usually on the light side. So, while it is a nice feature to have, to be completely hands-free, from what I’ve seen it doesn’t always work out that great.

Here’s my best guess. I saved a bunch of pucks from yesterday and let them dry out overnight. Weighing them this morning (they seem to be completely dry AFAICT) they are between 19 and 27 grams. They are from single, double and triple shot runs. It makes large and very nice pucks. The unit is growing on me. I’m just annoyed at the inability to do single shots with a good water to bean ratio.

To be fair, I’m an alternate milk user. I have not tried dairy. I use barista almond milk. The foam is quite bubbly. Large bubbles. And the texture is thin at the highest setting. I get better results from the Luxe Pro, a lot better in my opinion. I’ve seen others comment on the frother downgrade as well (for example a YouTube post from Tom’s Coffee Corner). I also have a Dreo BaristaMaker dedicated frother and that thing is marvelous. Froths alternative milk like its dairy. Silky, smooth, thick, microfoam. The autobarista results with almond milk are not good. Even when the foam has some body to it, it quickly dissipates. Hope that helps. I can send a pic later when I make a cappuccino or latte. Let me know if that’d be helpful. Not sure if you’re a dairy person. The auto barista may handle dairy just fine.

Since I’ve been experimenting, I figured I’d try something new. I tried some Elmhurst cashew milk in the frothing system, and that came out really good. Actually, it was my first time having cashew milk in a cappuccino and I liked it a lot. So, just wanted to report the foam came out great. The creamy top layer lasted until the end of the drink. I did not use the barista version. Supposedly, combining oat and almond and cashew milks make some magical concoction. I’m gonna try a mix of barista almond and cashew next. I also read that mixing 60p dairy, with 20p each of oat and cashew (barista versions) is top notch. I’ll probably give that a shot at some point. I don’t have dairy in my coffee drinks too often but it’s worth a try at least once. If you want to try the cashew and almond milk combo I read the ratio should be 50/50 for latte and 70(cashew)/30 for cappuccino. Something like that. Apologies in advance if I got that backwards 😬 Anyways, the auto barista is growing on me a little. I’m just super annoyed when things don’t follow specs to the T. The engineer side of me doesn’t like that. If you tell me two to one ratio then dammit I expect two to one 🤣

I really can’t say why. The autobarista has a more beefy, thick wand vs the luxe pro. So I would expect similar if not better results but that’s not what I’m seeing. It’s more than a slight difference. Personally , I think it’s a poor result in the auto barista vs a decent one with barista almond milk in the luxe pro. You may have better luck with oatly. I suggest you try the machine and don’t let my thoughts discourage you. Ninja has an awesome return policy. It’s pretty much no questions asked and 60-90 days to test. I’ve done returns with them in the past and you just have to enter your order number in the portal and they immediately generate a return label for you so you don’t really have much to lose.

Haha do you not like Tom? 😇 he’s one of the few I’ve seen mention this machine, so far…I don’t really care who. I just want to see what other folks are getting from the machine. Preferably, non sponsored real reviews. My hope is my machine is just a bad unit. I’m going to keep playing with it for a few days and keep chatting with folks. I haven’t completely given up on replacing it, yet.

Ha, yah I’ve seen the same posts you’re referring to. Corny, short, ads. The froth I get from almond milk (barista) isn’t thinner (not in a good way) and more bubbly and airy than the Luxe Pro. But! I used some cashew milk yesterday and that came out excellent. I use mostly alternative milks. I haven’t tried the max setting (with the plus symbol) for almond milk yet. I’ll do that today. I’ve only used the third option from the left. From what I’ve seen from cashew milk I’d guess dairy is going to do very well. Cashew did great. Almond was meh but like I said I’ll try it on max today and see how that goes. I mentioned picks in another reply that I’ll restate here. I’ve weighed cried out pucks and they range from 19 to 27 grams. The 19 was a single, the 27 was a triple, and the doubles were 22-24. That’s what my very unscientific test showed

Yes I have a luxe cafe pro and the milk jugs are the exact same size. Same height. That’s correct. I do not see a switch on the bottom of the base where the milk jug sits so I’m assuming it determines if the jug is there by the position of the wand combined with what the machine thinks it should be doing :) Ok well I just tried to start a froth only cycle. If the wand is out, it will beep and display “wand” on the screen. If the wand is seated into its frothing position, and I try to start it, the machine beeps and says stop. So somehow it knows if the jug is there 🤷🏽‍♂️ The wand tip is chunky. 4 nozzle sprayer. Much wider than the luxe pro. Could be a moisture sensor? I don’t know.

Same boat. But I’m leading towards returning it and waiting to see Ninja’s response to this. I can use my Luxe Pro in the interim. I got mine from Best Buy so I only have another 11 days or so to return it. I was in a rush and wanted to pick it up in person so I kind of regret not buying it from Ninja directly with their 60 to 90 day return policy. But then again the problems would likely be the same. I really like the unit but I don’t want to settle for a buggy first production run.

Here is documented proof our machines are not performing to spec. The guide says espresso at strength 3 and one shot should be 35ml which is a correct two to one ratio at 17g pucks. My single pucks have been 17-19 grams. https://preview.redd.it/4ge98mjmcj4h1.png?width=1576&format=png&auto=webp&s=df62ea13fe39d039371e1365202c912a01ddd930 I’m gonna send this over to Ninja via email.

A ristretto option would be very nice. I was thinking the same. Why skip that? Ah, smart. Pulling the hopper.. I tried to do the same test by measuring the brew group empty and then after the grind, but I wasn’t able to pull it out with the ground beans in it because the group gets locked in during a cycle. No idea why I didn’t think of measuring at the hopper lol 🤦‍♀️ I’m getting 17-18 gram pucks from max strength singles, but over 50 grams and close to 2 ounces of espresso volume out of the unit. I’ve had as high as 57 grams out from a single shot. Average is 52-54. 56-57 on the high side.

🙊 maybe that's really what the acronym means. That’s all I’m going to think of now when I hear BA. Thanks for that 🤣 I’ve had some discussion with Gemini about our issues and it’s come to the conclusion that only a control chip change in future production runs or a firmware update (which unfortunately isn’t possible) can resolve the ratio issue. Why they don’t make these smart devices so updates like this can just be pushed over the air is just silly at this point. Especially on a brand new machine like this. These companies are stuck in the Stone Age apparently. A few small tweaks and they’d really have something awesome here.

I had a video troubleshooting call with ninja and the tech reproduced by results on two different units in their “lab”. However, they didn’t seem to see it as an issue even though their own documentation and guides highlight the expected output based on user selection. He said something like don’t expect to actually see a two to one ratio because it’s bean dependent. It didn’t make sense really. I got an email from them after asking to send the machine to them for testing vs sending it to Best Buy but for me that just complicates the refund / return process. And I explained there’s no reason to test my specific inky because the tech reproduced the issue on two units and users here are getting the same result. So this isn’t isolated to me, my machine isn’t special. The tech on the call did say he recommended returning it. Not because of the ratio issue but just because I find the espresso watery. But he didn’t say how a new machine would correct the ratio in any way. He just said your machine works like mine but if you want to swap it go ahead. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Did yours come with a cover for both hoppers? I only have one. So the hopper on the machine has the silver rimmed cover on it, and the extra hopper has the tight lid. I swap it as I swap hoppers. I wish they sent two of the tighter fitting tops. Did you receive two? Curious if it’s meant to be this way. I can imagine people having even more than 2 at some point and would want a lid for each one.

About the same width, definitely deeper, little taller with the swappable hopper. First brew this morning was easy. I've only tried one brew mode so far, so I won't wax poetic about it yet - but so far I'm impressed. Touch screen is sensitive in the right ways, fast and responsive too. More to come later. https://preview.redd.it/os33e33c6w3h1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75bbb9dc3c0dbd76f27736c4cda268f6c96eef56

The dimensions on the site appear to be accurate, based on my tape measure. 17.81 in L x 10.68 in W x 15.82 in H. Noise is slightly more quiet than the Luxe Cafe. I'll throw a video up shortly.

No idea honestly, never seen any of those and this is my first superauto. I don't think Ninja reuses designs though, they seem to craft their own and do it arguably quite well.

I got one too, pleasantly impressed with it. https://youtu.be/3GmPFuvzhzM?si=Ljby9lAolR0UTPUN

Always appreciate real critical information.  I knew there was no way this would be a solid product for decent espresso.  Do you know the dose sizes to minimum volume sizes. Who do you want to review it?  Please don't say Tom from Tom's Coffee Corner. 

Tom doesn't get into the machines as people think he does.   He's spread misinformation too as if Delonghi was paying him. In stead of creating original content he'll remake other old you tube videos.   Chances are you machine is not bad. The larger a puck is with a fine grind the more resistance it has. There's no way the ninja will put out espresso with a 20g fine grind puck. None. My hypothesis anyway. That is where the auto grinder comes in.  #1 cause of returns IMHO is from people grinding too finely clogging the machine and having extraction issues. The auto grinder probably helps to stop that by limiting the grind. My guess is the grinder uses a limited fixed ratio grind setting based on users strength/volume settings.  Large latte drinkers would be indifferent to it to poor grind.  Latte drinkers with 2 pumps is ninjas target demo. Espresso grinders can either grind for espresso or drip, not both. 

You just need to get your feet wet.  Get a kf5 or whatever in the insiders pass.for like $600. I have a kf8 and a jura.  Not sure if get another jura. Set the machine to the second finest grind, temp low. Then adjust the volume to taste.  If you like dark roast try peets espresso forte. Med. Roast Starbucks espresso roast.    You just need to get your feet wet. It's great coffee, you save money but not using pods.  89% of the people in this sub are heavy milk drinkers but don't want to admit it. I spent months figuring out why all the "awesome" recommendations like super crema were terrible.  Everything is great when it's mixed with 8ounces of milk and syrup Probably like this ninja. 

Whirlpool has it.  It's like a friends and family discount thing.  It came out after I got the kf8. Start a new thread and ask for a insiders pass. You can search for insiders pass too for more information.  Jura, KitchenAid/Miele are the best super for black drinks. They have the largest dose size and best grind. You'll get better/larger drinks than the pods even the philips LoR.  The KA you can get the best deal on. Espresso needs a fine to extract the nuances under pressure. Most machine will either clog too easily before you get decent espresso or not grind finely enough.  Not fine enough with a small dose means weak coffee.  If you notice your pods use a fine grind.    I should say the new compact ka machines just came out but people are saying the are the same quality as the full size, same brew unit ect, haven't tried it myself. The kf6-8 are the full size machines.  

Okay, I'm sure this will probably be unpopular here among the many espresso experts. I absolutely love a good espresso and I feel I can taste one better than I've ever made one. So yeah, we still go out for coffee too much. We've had a few machines. I've lurked here a lot and realized just how much I don't know. I just bought the ninja express pro on a black Friday deal. It's not perfect, at all. But I adore espresso, as does my husband, and we're doing okay and happy with it. My daughter loves iced coffees. My son likes regular brewed coffee with add ins. The barista assistant is a guess, at best, but we're learning. I just got a scale and bottomless portafilter. I would consider it good enough for now and my family is enjoying it a lot. If you have the time, taking the time to learn before you buy would be best. But we are also enjoying learning, our new machine, and less trips to the coffee shop. Edit: we also got a machine with the dreaded add water error. I did all the things I could find on the internet to fix it before I decided I would call customer service the next morning. Apparently this is common and ninja is pretty good about replacing these units. I read an off hand comment on the ninja luxe subreddit about slapping the back of the machine a couple times. Decided to try it as a last resort. Couldn't believe it, but it worked! We're all good for now, but be aware, ninjas have a one year warranty.