I tested Ninja's new coffee machine and ditched buying takeout coffee

Starting the day with a good cup of coffee is an absolute must for me. I like it black, strong, and with a dash of cold water, or if I've the luxury of getting take-out coffee, I'll opt for something seasonal—I don't care about being basic and will definitely have gingerbread lattes in December.

At home, I've had the , which uses Nespresso pods, for a couple of years, and before that, I had a machine. Both of these have been great for making espresso and Americanos, but I didn't have the optional milk frother with either of them. So, I was intrigued when kitchen brand Ninja unveiled an exciting new .

Ninja already dominates kitchen with popular ,, knife sets, and even pans, so I was thrilled to try the new and up my coffee game. And I'm not alone. When the machine was launched, shoppers were so excited by the gadget that 50,000 of them signed up for the waitlist within 24 hours.

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The arrived in a hefty 17kg box, and I was afraid I had measured the space in our kitchen incorrectly and it'd have to be sent to another team member to try. Luckily, measuring in at H:37.2 x W:33.6 x L: 34.4cm it fits perfectly in the allocated space.

After unboxing it, the instructions for setting it up are easy to follow. Either a QR code to scan, linking you to a video to watch, or a traditional set of instructions. In the end, I set the machine up using a mix of both. From testing the water PH to calibrating the to the whole beans I'd chosen, setting up was straightforward but slightly time-consuming.

Calibrating to a new set of beans involves a couple of grind cycles to allow the machine to adjust. The conical burr grinder delivers the right amount of freshly ground coffee directly into the portafilter and has 25 grind settings, so it's definitely worth doing as the then suggests a good grind size for whatever drink you are making at the time.

Ninja says the is the ultimate , allowing users to make barista-style coffee at home no matter their skill level, so I have used quite a few of its automatic settings to begin with.

After using the portafilter with whichever size basket suits your needs ( single, double or the even bigger luxe), tamping the coffee and then running the machine to produce your , users can then decide to either add hot water from the machine or steam some milk to create a latte, flat white, or cappuccino (or any other frothy concoction you fancy). The has a number of automated frothing settings for both standard milk and plant milk. However, I've found I actually prefer using the steamer manually.

So far, (some success), cappuccinos (lots of success), and lattes (success but no latte art...yet) using semi-skimmed milk, oat milk, almond milk, and soya milk. While black coffee will always be my preference, I've really enjoyed creating lattes with oat milk for my boyfriend and have even purchased some syrup to try vanilla lattes.

The has also allowed me to up my hot chocolate and mocha game. Adding powder to the milk before steaming it into a velvety froth creates a luxuriously smooth and rich hot chocolate. If you're someone who enjoys cold brew coffee and still want froth the machine even has settings suitable for that.

As well as being pretty much fool-proof with loads of easy-to-follow recipes in a handy booklet for inspiration, all the removable elements can go in the dishwasher making keeping it clean relatively simple. While I have yet to use the descaling cycle, reading the instructions makes the process seem simple enough to follow.

One of the things I really like about the machine is how seamlessly all the accessories are stored - the portafilter baskets tuck neatly in a swing-out draw while the tamper and grinding funnel attach to the side of the machine. It's clear a lot of thought has gone into the overall design of the .

One of the few things I've not found easy with the machine is changing the portafilter baskets. There is definitely a knack, and while I've now cracked it, I initially thought the double basket was stuck when, in fact, I just needed to be far firmer with it.

At , it's definitely a considered purchase rather than something to buy on a whim; however, since having it in our household, we are spending less on coffee. I could easily go through three packets a week with my old pod machines, costing around £8 in pods. With, we've found a 270g packet of whole beans (£3-£6 depending on what's on offer) lasts a week. I've also noticed I've preferred to make my own 'speciality' coffee and use my 'to-go' mug instead of heading to a coffee shop, so I'll have saved money there too.

If you fancy a machine with a similar spec and do not want the automated frother , it has similar functionality for an RRP of £659, although shoppers can currently get one for £529.99 at .