Ninja's Luxe Café Pro is £150 more expensive than the original version – here's why I think this upgraded coffee machine is worth buying

I've been testing out the upgraded version of Ninja's sell-out espresso machine, the Luxe Café Pro Series, for about five months now and it's an understatement to say that it's become one of my household staples.

It's by far the most popular appliance in my home – not only loved by my family and I but also by guests who get to choose from a full menu of coffee shop drinks when they come over. Without a doubt it is one of the best coffee machines I've ever tried but the £150 price difference compared with the original Ninja Luxe Café machine (which I also think is a five star buy) might seem hard to justify at a first glance.

But the long and short of it is, if you have it to spend and you're choosing between the two, the upgrade is definitely worth it. Here's why.

What the Pro version does better than the original Luxe Café

1. The milk wand

If you're an Americano or espresso lover then you might not see the value in my favourite feature of the Luxe Café Pro which is the milk frother, unless you're a very generous host who would be prepared to pay the extra to impress houseguests.

The automatic milk wand on the Pro is miles better than the one on the standard version. Overall, it's much thicker which is good news for a few reasons: stronger steam power, faster heating and much easier cleaning.

Add the improved milk wand design to the impressive 5 automatic frothing presets available on the Pro series machine and you've got a readymade latte and cappuccino station waiting for you every morning when you roll out of bed. If you're looking for a coffee machine to curb your Blank Street spending habit then this milk wand is the key.

The milk jug on the Pro is also large enough to carry enough milk for frothing two drinks at once, so morning coffees for you and a partner or for entertaining is much easier to do. And with a quick wipe down of the frother with a microfibre cloth, clean up is very minimal as opposed to the sometimes hard-to-handle frother on the original machine.

2. The integrated tamper

One of my bugbears with the original Luxe Café machine was the fiddly nature of the manual tamping process. Though the tamp was stored cleverly and had a high quality design, manually applying pressure to a puck could be pretty hit and miss.

That's why the transformation of tamping with the Luxe Café Pro makes a huge difference. Rather than a manual endeavour, there's an in-built tamper operated by the pull of a lever on the left side of the machine (sometimes referred to as a one-armed bandit like on a slot machine).

This new tamping system eradicates a lot of the potential mess of the old one and makes the process of pulling your shot of espresso much faster too. It also makes the machine look much neater and sleeker on the worktop too.

3. The hot water dispenser

While the milk frother upgrades might not appeal to black coffee fans, the added hot water dispenser with the Luxe Café Pro version just might. As Brits we are of course very dependent on our kettles which led to me to initially think that a hot water spout wouldn't really add much to this machine, but I was wrong.

My partner's drink of choice is an Americano and I've found it much easier over time to use the machine for this all-in-one function over boiling my kettle separately. And if the Americanos are a little short for your liking you can also use the additional hot water button to top your drink up.

Where the original Luxe Café wins

1. The price

While both of these machines offer phenomenal value, the simple fact is that the Ninja Luxe Café is a lot more affordable. It's been subject to some fantastic deals since its release last year and with Black Friday just around the corner there's already some unbelievably good prices available on it in the run up to this Christmas, including this incredibly good value Barista Bundle at Very.

2. The colour options

There's been a real shift towards matching the look of ones kitchen appliances to the existing colour scheme of a kitchen and Ninja is doing an excellent job of offering so many options of the Luxe Café (but not the Pro version) for discerning customers who want to make that a reality.

Even better, lots of those shiny colourways of the Luxe are now on sale early for Black Friday. Here's a look at them and where you can find the best prices.

If you're looking for a quality at-home espresso machine, Ninja's really is worth saving for given the number of features packed in for the price point. For relatively kitted out machines from De'Longhi or Sage, for example, you'd be looking to pay a lot more!