Philips 5500 Series Bean to Cup Coffee Machine – 20 Hot & Iced drinks, LatteGo Milk Frother, Fastest-to-Clean, 40% Quieter, Ceramic Grinder, Fully Automatic Espresso & Cappuccino maker – EP5546/70

I have been really enjoying the daily use of my Philips 5500 Bean to Cup machine. Two months in, still loving using this every day and maintenance so far has been minimal. The machine will let you know when it is time to empty the grounds, or the drip tray, or add more water. The container at the top seems reasonably air-tight to me, the beans smell fresh a couple of weeks after adding them. There is a bypass chute which is very handy if you want to use pre-ground coffee e.g. Someone may want some decaff, or a different type of coffee than the beans that are in the machine. I have enjoyed a hot coffee every time without having to worry about pre-heating the cup or the milk. The ability to fine-tune how much coffee is used, how much water or milk is added really allows a bespoke preference for anyone using this machine. There are 4 user profiles that can be saved for each of the 20 drink types. Very handy if there is more than one main coffee drinker using this. A 5th profile for guest users which allows for different people to drop by and have their own taste. The milk jug is great, enough for perhaps two milky drinks. It is small enough to be kept in the fridge if there is any left and because of the way milk gets sucked through, there is hardly any risk of spilling the milk. The machine comes with one AquaClean filter already provided. This slots into the bottom of the water jug. Very easy to install that and it says it may be around 5000 cups later before that needs changing. This helps keep the water fresh and clean, so no need to change the water daily. One small downside is that the machine asks to add more water even if there is visibly a reasonable amount left in the jug. A tiny quibble for an otherwise excellent machine.

Ordered this despite reading some reviews saying the drink isn't hot (I have two commercial bean to cup machines and am used to hearing customers moan about temperatures) so thought, the ones moaning are probably the same people to expect coffee to be boiling like from a kettle. This machine on it's hot setting is the correct temperature, a Caffè latte, cappuccino etc should be between 55°c and 65°c, then the coffee isn't burned, then milk not scorched, and you can drink it straight away, and actually taste it. This machine does that. The first few drinks weren't quite right and the coffee grounds pucks were soggy. About 10 grinds in, the pucks were solid and drier, the coffee excellent. Factory settings produce a great coffee, customising to produce a bigger cup also yielded great results. My only minor gripe, on maximum volumes for espresso, water milk, you can't quite get a 12oz drink, more like 10oz. It's a small machine, so the grounds bin and drip tray need emptying very often, not a bad thing, stops you being lazy and leaving the grounds in for days and letting them rot. Being used to commercial machines, I'm pleased with the build quality, many domestics feel cheap, the milk jug fitment seemed a bit flimsy but, it's actually fairly solid once in place. Very pleased with it and my concerns about temperature were as I thought, people wanting a boiling coffee. If you want your drink too hot, don't buy this, buy one with a steam wand.

Got this as a seconds. No instructions but you get these on line easily. Good unit - gets used 10 times a day on average. The different milk coffees settings are very good. Youngest started using the ice coffee. He likes it. Tried it with different brands of beans, no burnt taste yet. Easy to clean.

This is the worst and extremely expensive mistake I’ve made. Do not buy this!! The machine only delivers tiny half cup drinks. I’ve tried everything, and watched countless videos to see if I can make it brew a full cup of coffee, but to no avail. Customer support is pathetic and I wish I’d chosen another make of machine. Take my advice and avoid making the same expensive mistake as I have done!!!

Bought this to replace an old, and finally broken, deLonghi with the 5500, mostly because of the comments on it being quieter than the 5400 - and because they were a similar price. I guess the main thing is that we like the coffee - but there are a few niggles. It would be nice if you could choose which of your favourite drinks appeared on the main screen. As it happens, our favourite factory-set drink is cafe au lait, which is several (seven) presses into the 'more drinks' menu (but which incidentally is on the 5400 home screen). Yes, you can re-program one of the home screen icons but the parameters are not always infinitely variable, depending on which drink style you want. And the temperature control is system wide rather than by profile - not so useful if different users prefer different temperatures. Although it advertises a 1.8L water capacity, it stops feeding when there is still about 250ml in the tank - so actually there is only just over1.5l available to use. This seems to be a common issue which means you have to fill it more frequently than you might expect, and also that about a third of your descaling solution gets wasted. The drip tray fills quite quickly even if we use an empty mug under the spouts to catch most of the rinsing water, so there must be a fair amount of overspill water coming from elsewhere into the drip tray. Beware also, that if you use a mug as described, it will hide the pop-up float in the drip tray so you might not know just how much water there is actually in there. The milk system is simpler than the previous machine but the quick clean is not totally effective. It may clean all the internal milk pathways but it doesn't fully clean the spout which ends up with bits of dried milk around it. Overall it is a good machine if you can get it for the right price.

I've only used the machine for a week but I can say I'm happy with it, very easy to use and clean, and it makes several types of good drinks.

Absolutely the best, quietest grinder. Easy to clean and a real pleasure to have. Makes great coffee

Machine is okay. Nothing extra ordinary. Very big down is that coffee is not as hot as I would like it to be, even worse with milk. It is just my preference and persinal opinion. I woild rther buy basic coffee machine with less drinks and save some money. All coffees are very similar to each other (f.e. americano and filtered coffee)

Heerlijke koffie

Kompaktowy i piękny design. Chyba nie widziałem ładniejszego ekspresu automatycznego ostatnimi czasy. Znacznie usprawniono pracę młynka - jest stosunkowo cicho. Opcja kaw mrożonych do miły dodatek, jednak nadal są one podgrzewane przez termoobieg, tylko do niższej temperatury. Trzeba dodać kostki lodu bo inaczej to nie ma sensu. Ekspres bardzo prosty w samodzielnej naprawie i banalny w czyszczeniu (system lattego) - dlatego od lat jest to mój wybór.

Excellent coffee machine

Superbe machine, rien à dire !

Trudno mi napisać cos złego o tym ekspresie. Robi dobra kawę. Porcje kawy są małe 12-13 gramów, ale jest opcja robienia szotów 2x! Łatwy w czyszczeniu spieniacz do mleka. Bardzo polecam !