Philips 4400 Series Fully Automatic Espresso Machi

Impressive Machine with a few Odd Design Issues
—- UPDATEAfter using this machine for some time, I have to admit, I have changed my mind somewhat, and therefore upgrading to 5 stars. Overall, this is a fantastic machine, despite a few design issues.Under no circumstances consider buying this machine without the LatteGo feature. It’s a huge boost, especially for guests who don’t know how to make steamed milk manually. Also, you can just snap of the entire assembly and put it in the fridge with remaining milk. They really should offer a separate assembly for manual steaming, though.With respect to espresso quality and crema: always set to max espresso strength and max temperature, this will ensure a decent espresso quality.At least on this model, it is actually very easy to first make an espresso, and then make steamed milk, to pour a cappuccino in the correct way. It will take 10-15 seconds longer, but well. Alternatively, simply stir with a spoon after making an incorrectly poured cappucino. Without doing this the product is really not drinkable, unless you wanted an espresso with foam on the top. Note that after stirring or with semi-manual correct order pouring, the steamed milk is actually quite decent, perhaps even close to perfect.Philips should consider offering an automatic espresso followed by milk pouring option (might consume slightly more electricity), and there should be more options to customize strength, temperature, and most importantly brew time, to make this a perfect machine, but overall this is not bad at all.—- ORIGINAL REVIEWI have used a De’Longhi ESAM 3300 for the past 12 years until the grinder got stuck (with no repairs in the interim). I’m not even remotely a coffee expert, but that’s what I have used to make my morning cappuccino for years.My first impression after an afternoon of use is that this is an an impressive feat of engineering and it looks great in the kitchen, and makes a large variety of coffee drinks in a manner that most will be happy about.However, particularly compared to my old and trusty De’Longhi, this is a very flimsy construction, that also seems to be prone to dropping of parts. I managed to drop the loosely fitted milk lid twice on the floor in the first two hours and also spilled milk several times, which are events that literally never would happen with my old machine. Also, rely annoying that top lid for opening to pour in bins is just loose with no pivotable attachment. Just really inconvenient compared to the De’Longhi, as you have to put it aside instead of just flipping it open.More importantly, there are at least three serious design flaws in this machine, which pretty much means it cannot make serious/proper coffee drinks:1) It always pours the steamed milk first. You can literally not make a cappuccino this way (it will actually taste and feel completely different) and the only imperfect remedy is to stir the drink with a tea spoon after the machine has finished (or engage in a time consuming and non-supported manual work around). I really do not understand what they were thinking. Did the engineers not study the art of coffee making or consult with notable Baristas? Of course they did, but they apparently did not take it seriously.2) the brew time is about 8 seconds which is about 2.5-3 times too short. I suspect this has something to do with making and pouring the milk foam first and it may be energy efficient to reuse the same steam pressure, but you can’t make a proper espresso like this.Finally, 3) the LatteGo steamed milk is not of good quality; it does not create a velvety micro foam, but instead it seems to be a courser foam that then partially solidifies in the bottom. The result is not impressive, and as noted it will be necessary to stir the drink after preparation to make it tolerable.I understand that most families will enjoy this machine and not be concerned with any of this. However, look elsewhere if you enjoy a proper cappuccino… I will likely keep it, since it allows everyone in the household and guests to make their favorite coffee drink with the press of a button, and most will likely believe it tastes great.Perhaps Philips can do a software/firmware update to fix the incorrect order of milk pouring at least?

Overpriced Keurig machine, get a jura.
I bought this because it supposedly did the same thing as the one in my home builders office.Every time me and my wife went to my home builders office for picking out things and options for our custom house they would offer us coffee. Me and my wife always thought they had like a coffee shop in the back.One day I asked how you guys make this amazing coffee, well they took us in the back and showed us it was this coffee machine which I didn’t know about at the time but they told me it was a jura as well as the label on the machine.Well me and my wife love coffee so we decided we wanted something like that so we figured we get one too. That was until we found out how expensive the jura was. I did some research and found out. It was basically a all in one coffee machine and I came across this Phillips that had great reviews and supposedly did the same thing and a lot cheaper.Long story short, we went through 4 pounds of coffee beans trying to get the Philips to taste anything close to the Jura, and eventually gave up, me, and my wife conclusion was, it’s basically just a expensive Keurig. Honestly, the Keurig coffee, taste better, and the espresso on the Phillips taste like crap.So we decided to just get a jura like our home builder. In all honesty there is a night and day difference between the Phillips and jura. The Phillips is a $900 Keurig while the jura is actually a espresso all in one machine that tastes like coffee shop coffee.Lesson learned as usual you get what you pay for. Ps the jura has already paid for itself because no more Starbuck trips, also my home builders jura has been working non stop 30 plus coffees a business day they told me for 5+ years.

Used to have a Saeco Vienna Delux years ago, sold it because it was really a real estate hog on the countertop. Totally missed it though. This is a fantastic alternative. Holds ample water, so easy to refill or empty it too. This iteration of superautomatic is perfect for home. Not overly large and the way the water compartment slides in you can easily have it under the upper kitchen cabinets on the counter. No need to pour water in from the top.On my original Saeco, circa 2000 (cost $2K), I never used the milk steamer because it was a pain to clean. This one, just push the button and it self rinses. Take the milk container off and just rinse it too. All key cleaning points such as the drip tray/spent grounds container also simply slide out for quick clean without ever having to move the machine.Reminder, if you need to change the grind, the unit must be actively running and only 2 clicks at a time.Great improvement over previous version.Love that I can brew a full cup of coffee (in metric or imperial measurements) and then run a separate “milk foam” to top my coffee. Certainly less fat/calories than putting cream in my coffee AND much more interesting. HAHA, even used one of those flavoured creamers and it worked great too.Hubby layers his coffee, makes a cappuccino then top loads with espresso/restretto and more steamed milk all in the same mug.Intuitive controls, easy to understand (for those who never read the manual). My only negative is temperature. Have it set to the hottest level, I still like my coffee, espresso etc., very very hot. That’s just my personal preference.

I own a high-end ($3,400) Jira and this unit is easier to use and makes better coffee. The LatteGo concept is brilliant and works very well. Most importantly, cleaning is lightning fast as you just take the carafe off, separate the two halves and rinse them. Since no milk goes into the machine, you don’t have to clean the machine. Only a wand would be easier and arguably not!! The other advantage to this approach is you can put as much milk in the carafe as you want and then return the extra to the jug — not the case if you steam your own. I find the temperature (set at highest) as excellent and will remind people that if you don’t heat the mug, you are going to instantly cool the drink. I heat it with boiling water from a kettle. This is a super easy machine to use at an amazing price and I plan to replace my Jira with it as I NEVER steam milk by hand with that machine.