Ninja CM371 Hot & Iced XL Coffee Maker Review: One Machine for Every Coffee Craving

Product Overview

The CM371 is Ninja's answer to the household where one person wants a hot travel mug at 6 a.m. and another wants iced coffee at noon. Its standout features are four brew styles and eight size options — all from ground coffee, no K-Cup or pod compatibility required.

The four brew styles work across all eight size selections. Classic is standard-strength drip. Rich uses a slower flow rate and higher concentration for a bolder cup. Over Ice brews concentrated coffee directly over a glass of ice, preventing dilution as the ice melts. Cold Brew runs a 10-minute rapid extraction cycle — not a true cold-water immersion but a heated, quick cycle intended to mimic cold-brew smoothness.

The removable reservoir is one of the more practical design wins: it lifts out, fills at the sink, and snaps back in. An auto-metering feature draws only what the current brew size requires, so you can leave it topped off for multiple brews without measuring each time.

Performance & Real-World Use

Hot coffee in Classic and Rich modes is reliably good — full-flavored, consistent cup to cup — though Consumer Reports testing found the CM371's brewing temperature falls below the industry-recommended 195–205°F range. In practice, most users won't notice a flavor deficit; specialty coffee enthusiasts who drink single-origin pourover at precise temperatures may. The Rich mode is a meaningful step up if you typically find drip coffee flat.

The Over Ice function is genuinely useful. By brewing a concentrated dose directly onto ice, you get iced coffee in three to four minutes that doesn't taste like watered-down drip. It's the most practical feature for iced-coffee drinkers who don't want to wait for hot coffee to cool or buy café drinks daily.

The so-called Cold Brew mode is worth understanding clearly: it is not traditional cold brew. True cold brew steeps coarse grounds in cold water for 12–24 hours, producing a distinct low-acidity concentrate. The CM371's 10-minute Cold Brew mode uses a heated, accelerated process. The result is smooth and less bitter than standard hot coffee — closer to a cold-brew approximation than a substitute for the real thing. For casual drinkers this is fine; for cold-brew enthusiasts expecting the genuine article, it falls short of the name.

Single-serve brewing without pods is one of the least-marketed but most underrated features. The machine works entirely on ground coffee, which costs a fraction of pod prices per cup and produces measurably better flavor. The Smart Scoop eliminates guesswork about how much coffee to use for each size.

Cleaning is straightforward: the removable reservoir and swing-out filter basket rinse easily, and the glass carafe is dishwasher-safe. The pump produces a noticeable noise during brewing — louder than a standard drip machine but not disruptive.