Philips LatteGo 4400 Series review: a near-perfect coffee machine option for newbies and smaller households

Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection: Two-minute overview

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection is a totally automated bean-to-cup espresso machine that’s an excellent choice for smaller households or anybody making their first enterprise into the world of one-touch espresso machines. It’s similar to the LatteGo 5500 Collection that my UK-based colleague, Cat Ellis, has beforehand reviewed, and simply misses out on a couple of preset drink recipes.

In any other case, the 2 machines undertake the very same dimensions, that means their bean hopper and water tanks are the identical dimension at 275g and 1.8L respectively, and, because the identify implies, the 4400 Collection on overview right here additionally makes use of Philips’ LatteGo milk-foaming system. This sees a milk carafe clip onto a steam nozzle on the entrance of the machine, with the concept being that you just fill it with simply sufficient milk on your chosen drink(s) as soon as it’s hooked up.

Given the 2 machines make espresso in the very same manner, you’d anticipate the overview of the 4400 Collection to learn largely the identical, then, wouldn’t you? Effectively, whereas I do agree with a lot of Cat’s overview of the 5500 Collection, and that the Philips espresso machine does produce good-tasting espresso, I picked up on a couple of niggles throughout my time utilizing the 4400. These primarily relate to the LatteGo system and the steps required to brew a espresso. I’ll clarify extra about each within the efficiency part of this overview.

Finally, the Philips 4400 LatteGo espresso machine is extremely easy to make use of and affords all the things it’s worthwhile to make an excellent espresso, whether or not or not it’s a easy espresso or ristretto shot, a bigger latte, cappuccino or perhaps a few iced drinks.

As with the 5500 Collection, the 4400 Collection doesn’t supply chilly espresso extraction. If you wish to make an iced drink, you’ll want so as to add ice cubes to a glass or mug for the machine to then pour on a scorching shot of espresso. This machine can’t make iced lattes, so if you happen to do need a milk-based iced drink, you’ll must make do with pouring chilly milk instantly into your glass or mug.

Should you like chilly espresso, then it’s possible you’ll not like the flavour profile delivered by the 4400 Collection, and, as Cat present in her overview, as soon as the ice melts it will possibly make the espresso style weaker. Personally, I loved making iced drinks utilizing the Philips 4400 Collection, however it’s finally a matter of non-public desire.

Moreover, having beforehand reviewed the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Subsequent automated espresso machine, I discovered myself preferring the style of the espresso produced by the Philips machine as an alternative, and I appreciated the smaller footprint it took up on my kitchen counter.

Nonetheless, as a plant milk drinker, I did desire the extent of milk foam produced by the De’Longhi’s LatteCrema system in comparison with the LatteGo milk-foaming system utilized by the Philips machine.

Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection: Value and availability

• Checklist value $799.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,199
• Obtainable globally
• Usually discounted

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection is accessible globally with a listing value of $799.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,199. On the time of writing, nevertheless, I used to be capable of finding it discounted to £499.99 within the UK and beneath AU$1,000 in Australia.

The 4400 Collection sits one step down from the flagship 5500 Collection, providing 12 cold and hot drink recipes in comparison with the 20 choices discovered on its higher-spec sibling.

Its listing value locations it in an identical class to the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Subsequent absolutely automated espresso machine that I’ve beforehand reviewed.

The 2 machines are equally specced, though the De’Longhi unit is way bigger. The Philips 4400 Collection would due to this fact be my suggestion in case your kitchen is on the smaller facet.

Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection: Specs

Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection: Design

• Compact, preferrred for smaller kitchens
• Intuitive, button-based navigation
• Simple to scrub and preserve however cleansing brokers offered individually

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection is a comparatively compact bean-to-cup espresso machine, coming in at 9.7 inches / 24.6cm broad and 17 inches / 43.3cm lengthy.

Because of this, it makes putting it on a kitchen countertop fairly straightforward, as it may be positioned in a nook, for instance and up towards the wall, for the reason that water tank slides out from the entrance. The brewing group head is accessed through the facet behind the water tank, making upkeep simply as easy.

The machine is managed through a collection of contact buttons on the entrance, which flank a 2.3-inch coloration show. A choice of widespread coffee-based drinks have devoted buttons on the entrance – together with espresso, lengthy black, cappuccino and flat white – whereas the remaining cold and hot drinks are accessed through a ‘Extra Drinks’ button.

You’ll additionally discover a ‘Profile’ button on the entrance, which is used to cycle by two major profiles – Yellow and Blue – and a 3rd visitor profile to make sure your saved presets aren’t overridden.

The non-removable bean hopper is accessed on the high. All it’s worthwhile to do is take away the tinted plastic lid – by being tinted, it helps to stop gentle from degrading the flavour of the beans – which can also be hermetic to take care of freshness. If you wish to regulate grind settings, that’s carried out through a management dial set contained in the bean hopper.

It’s not significantly massive with a capability as much as 275g of beans, however this makes it choice for single-person or couple households. Plus, the actual fact it’s hermetic means you possibly can go away beans in between makes use of and never fear about them spoiling, versus pouring in simply the correct quantity of beans for the drink you need to make.

As is the case with the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Subsequent I’ve beforehand reviewed, Philips says to solely function the grind adjustment while beans are being floor. It took me a short time to determine how you can truly use the dial, and after consulting the consumer guide, I noticed it’s important to first press down on it earlier than rotating.

There are 12 grind settings to select from, with the midway level setting 6 being the default. Philips says this must be preferrred for many customers, and recommends not adjusting it till you’ve made 100 to 150 drinks. I discovered throughout my overview interval that I did have to regulate to a finer setting – I settled on 4 – to attain a thicker crema and a extra flavorful espresso.

The Philips 4400’s LatteGo milk-frothing system contains a small carafe that attaches to a steam nozzle on the entrance of the machine. It’s designed to be crammed with simply sufficient milk for no matter drink you need to make, versus being saved within the fridge with leftover milk between makes use of. You possibly can nonetheless retailer the milk within the fridge if you want, however simply notice the lid isn’t hermetic.

I favored the concept of this, however in actuality I got here throughout a few slight niggles.

The carafe has markings on the facet for a single cappuccino, a single latte macchiato or two cappuccinos. I crammed the carafe with oat milk to the road for the one cappuccino and poured one, and located it didn’t use all of the milk.

Plus, if you’re choosing a espresso to make, you possibly can regulate the amount of espresso and milk that goes in. Should you regulate the amount of milk, for instance, you then’ll want to make sure sufficient is within the carafe, making the markings considerably redundant.

I’ll discuss it extra within the efficiency part, however I additionally wasn’t overly pleased with the extent of (or lack of) milk foam produced by the system. Full-fat dairy milk did fare rather a lot higher than plant milk throughout my assessments although.

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection does have another design options that I discovered helpful, together with a deep grounds container bin and a decently sized drip tray. The machine will let you recognize when the bottom container wants emptying, however this gained’t be that common because it’s able to storing quantity of waste.

One other optimistic I seen was how well-packaged the machine was, and that Philips used predominantly recyclable cardboard.

One factor price noting is that you just aren’t equipped with any cleansing tablets or descaling answer. Having reviewed espresso machines from De’Longhi and Australian model Sunbeam, each of which do provide some cleansing merchandise with their machines, I had anticipated the identical from Philips.

Cleansing tablets could be purchased on-line from shops resembling Amazon, however it’s an additional price you’ll want to contemplate. Whereas the AquaClean filter ought to final a while – it is going to stop working as soon as 95 liters (round 625 coffees) of water has flowed by it – it is going to even be a further expense to switch.

So long as you retain changing the filters on time, you then gained’t must descale the machines for 5000 coffees – 8 filters price. At $20 / £12 / AU$29 per filter, that’s about $160 / £96 / AU$232 to delay the necessity to descale, however barely much less if shopping for in bulk.

Compared (relying in your water hardness), with out the filters, you’d sometimes must descale as much as about 10 occasions for 5000 cups, with the overall price round half of shopping for new filters.

Lastly, one other factor I seen was when eradicating a sticker on the entrance of the machine referencing the actual fact it will possibly make 12 completely different coffee-based drinks, it left some adhesive behind (the white half to the appropriate of the espresso spout within the photos).

Philips LatteGo 5500 Collection overview: Efficiency

• Nice-tasting espresso with some grinder adjustment
• Good degree of personalization
• LatteGo milk-foaming system not with out fault

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection is an extremely straightforward espresso machine to make use of. When you’ve obtained it arrange – this includes testing your water for hardness and putting in the equipped AquaClean filter if required – you’ll be brewing a espresso in seconds. The central coloration show supplies info clearly, and buttons are logically laid out to navigate by menus and drinks to regulate settings.

There are 12 drinks to select from:

• Espresso
• Espresso
• Lengthy black
• Cappuccino
• Latte macchiato
• Caffè crema
• Caffè latte
• Ristretto
• Flat white
• Iced espresso
• Iced lengthy black
• Iced espresso

When you’ve chosen a drink to make, a secondary display lets you regulate the power and quantity. In some instances, growing the amount of espresso will imply the machine should grind beans twice, which may improve the pace you undergo a bag. I elevated the amount of my day by day flat white from the default 80ml to 100ml, for instance, and I needed to look forward to the machine to grind a second dose of beans earlier than it was completed.

Should you tweak the settings for a drink, whether or not or not it’s power or quantity, the machine will save them for the subsequent time. Every time you make an adjustment, it overrides the earlier settings. If two individuals in the identical family need the identical drink however with completely different settings, I might advocate profiting from the 2 particular person profiles to retailer private drink preferences. Switching between profiles is straightforward because of a devoted button on the entrance panel.

If there are greater than two individuals in your house and every has their very own desire, you’ll be higher served by stepping as much as the 5500 Collection mannequin, which has 4 profiles plus a separate visitor profile.

The machine doesn’t present suggestions concerning grind dimension or whether or not it’s preferrred for the beans you’ve used – one thing you will discover on De’Longhi machines which have BeanAdapt know-how such because the Rivelia – however you possibly can manually regulate the grind setting to supply a well-extracted espresso. The default setting of 6 must be wonderful for many use instances, though I did discover for the beans I used, the crema wasn’t as thick as I would really like, and it dissipated comparatively shortly. As talked about beforehand, I used to be a lot happier with the end result as soon as I adjusted the grinder to setting 4 for a finer grind.

The place I skilled a bit extra of a problem was when utilizing the LatteGo milk-foaming system. Having examine it on the Philips web site and in my colleague Cat’s overview of the extra feature-packed 5500 Collection mannequin, I used to be anticipating nice outcomes from the corporate’s tackle automated milk frothing. I wasn’t totally glad with the efficiency, though I believe some leniency must be utilized.

Firstly, the milk carafe is a bit awkward to connect to the steam nozzle. Not frustratingly so, however it requires a extra regular hand in comparison with the strategy taken by De’Longhi, whose LatteCrema milk carafe simply inserts right into a cutout on the entrance of its machines.

Secondly, there are markings on the facet of the carafe to point how a lot is required for a selected drink. In observe, I discovered these to be inaccurate, and I all the time had some leftover milk within the carafe. As a result of the lid isn’t hermetic, I needed to pour this away if I knew I wasn’t going to have one other espresso quickly after the primary.

Lastly, regardless of utilizing a barista-level model of oat milk, which has a better protein content material to help with producing a thicker foam, the milk pushed out into my espresso mug lacked any actual resemblance to correct foam. It was actually foamier than if I simply poured milk from the carton, however after I in contrast the outcomes to utilizing my Nespresso Aeroccino 3 milk frother, it was a transparent win for Nespresso. I additionally examined the LatteGo system with full-fat dairy milk and it did produce a a lot thicker foam.

The place I need to give some leniency is the truth that I wasn’t tremendous glad with the outcomes of the De’Longhi LatteCrema system after I reviewed the Magnifica Evo Subsequent automated espresso machine. I’ve but to attempt comparable techniques from the likes of KitchenAid or Smeg, however I do surprise if the best way they – creating steam and mixing with milk to aerate it – is that efficient on the entire. In my thoughts, if you happen to take pleasure in cafe-quality ranges of milk foam, you then’ll be higher served by an espresso machine with a steam wand.

I additionally experimented with iced drinks utilizing the 4400 Collection, though as Cat found in her overview of the 5500 Collection, the 4400 Collection machine doesn’t truly produce chilly espresso. As an alternative, you’re instructed to place ice cubes right into a mug or glass, which then cools the espresso down. Philips does say water and low produced for iced drinks is “heat” somewhat than scorching, so it is going to quiet down faster when poured over ice. I didn’t essentially thoughts this strategy, however it did make me surprise why there are iced drink recipes within the first place. I might simply as simply place ice in a mug and run a daily espresso shot, somewhat than choose iced espresso.

The 4400 Collection solely has three iced drink presets: iced espresso, iced espresso and iced lengthy black. I like an iced latte and so poured chilly milk right into a glass with ice cubes and ran an iced espresso shot. For my tastes, the end result was very good, and my associate loved his iced lengthy black. The 5500 Collection does have a preset for iced latte, which pours chilly milk through the LatteGo system.

Lastly, the Philips 4400 LatteGo makes use of what the corporate calls SilentBrew know-how to maintain noise ranges to a minimal. It’s additionally Quiet Mark licensed, that means it’s among the many quietest in its product class. Understanding this, I assumed I’d hear near-silence from the machine throughout use, however in actuality it was louder than I had anticipated. Utilizing the Decibel X app on my iPhone and standing subsequent to the machine, I recorded a measurement of 69dB when the machine was grinding beans and round 60dB when espresso was being poured. That’s louder than the KitchenAid KF8, which can also be Quiet Mark licensed. We recorded a measurement of 66dB when grinding and a median quantity of simply 44dB in our KitchenAid KF8 overview.

• Efficiency rating: 4.5 / 5

Ought to I purchase the Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection?

Purchase it if…

Do not buy it if…

Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection: Additionally take into account

Should you’re unsure that the Philips LatteGo 5500 Collection is the appropriate espresso maker for you, listed here are two different choices on your consideration.

How I examined the Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection

I examined the Philips LatteGo 4400 Collection over a interval of two weeks with some espresso beans from a neighborhood grocery store that I had used earlier than. I examined the water hardness utilizing the strip equipped within the field and fitted the water tank utilizing the directions supplied.

I examined the LatteGo system of the 4400 Collection espresso machine utilizing fridge-cold full-fat dairy and a barista oat milk. I examined the machine’s skill to supply quite a lot of cold and hot drinks.

For extra particulars, see how we take a look at, price, and overview merchandise at TechRadar.