A Coffee Maker for All Types

I was one of those people. I had a drip coffee maker. I had a K-Cup maker. I had a My K-Cup adapter.

I kept the drip coffee maker in the cabinet, pulling it out only if we had a number of guests.

I kept the K-Cup Maker on my counter and the adapter in a drawer.

Then, several years ago, I upgraded to a new K-Cup Maker but it had updated 'technology' to ensure that you were only using 'Keurig' cups and not any others, which unfortunately meant that the My K-Cup Adapter didn't work anymore.

This was frustrating. I liked being able to have options and to buy ground coffee, which was a better value. So, I started looking for options. I wanted flexibility to still make a single cup of coffee from ground coffee but having one coffee maker would be better. There were a few options out there but none of them were quite right for me. Several of the options brewed the cup and the carafe in separate spaces, making the coffee maker much larger than my counter could accomodate.

Then, I saw it, in an ad. The Ninja DualBrew Specialty Coffee System. It had everything! I could make a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate) using a k-cup, I could make a cup of coffee up to a full pot of coffee with grounds, I could make a cup to a pot of hot or boiling water, I could froth milk for my coffee or hot chocolate. And, it's footprint was smaller than my current K-cup maker. Win-win! Of course, it was more money than I wanted to spend, so I started to watch.

Finally, there was a sale and I had 40% off and I earned Kohl's cash. Another Win-Win!

I went and bought the coffee maker. I cleaned everything and set it up. I ordered some cone coffee filters. Then I began to use the coffee maker. I was pleased with the results. The k-cups use an insert and can brew up to 12 oz.

I liked that the hot or boiling water didn't deliver through the space where the coffee brewed (of course, that was an issue when I tried to brew a cup and hadn't changed it off of water - I got a cup of water, even though I had a k-cup in place.)

I love that the filter basket is spring loaded, so when I remove it from the coffee maker to dispose of grounds, it doesn't drip. When I wash it, I have to squeeze to get water through the drip point and/or turn over to dump out the water. When you brew into the pot, it fills from the bottom...which I read years ago helps with the flavor of the coffee. When you brew from 1/2 carafe up to carafe, the burner will keep the coffee warm and shuts off after a set amount of time. I learned that there were two settings - classic and rich for the coffee. And, there is an option for over ice, which my daughter loved for making iced coffees over break. The coffee scoop guides how much coffee to use for a mug, a travel mug, a 1/2 carafe, a full carafe. The frother doesn't heat but does make a nice foam and is easily detached for cleaning.

Once I knew it was going to work for me, I sold both my K-Cup Maker and my Drip Coffee Pot, helping me further reduce the effective price of this new investment. I enjoy the flexibility. On days where I only have a cup, I will still use K-Cups out of convenience mopst of the time but if I want a couple of cups or we have company, I can make from 8 oz -18 oz in a mug or travel mug and anywhere from 28 - 55 oz (classic brew) in the carafe (I supposed i could make 8 oz in the carafe but that seems silly).

My daughter has used the hot water for hot chocolate and for oatmeal, she uses the Iced Coffee setting to make a single cup of iced coffee from grounds.

This new kitchen addition was a great decision and made me glad that I had waited to find the one that was right for me.

I bought this product and all opinions are my own.