PHILIPS 3300 Series Fully Automatic Espresso Machine

I purchased this because the other one that I had just wasn’t making a good cup of coffee. After having to descale it every 50 to 100 cups was becoming a problem. This one I haven’t had to descale yet. Bee using it about 3 months now and no problems. No matter what kind of coffee you like, it comes out great. Love the iced coffee feature. First using it I was disappointed with the taste of the coffee. Was weaker than I expected. But after making a few cups it got much better. I’ve seen a few very low ratings from some people, I feel that they didn’t give it a chance or really didn’t know how to use it. They say it makes a lot of noise when grinding the beans. Show me one that doesn’t. Starbucks machines make just as much noise as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, after setting it up and running a few days, it makes a great cup of coffee. In my house we make about 8 cups a day if not more. No complaints! Take the time to read the manual before using and you will find out just how easy it is to use. I would highly recommend purchasing this product if you want an excellent cup of coffee!

Muy buena máquina para café, es la segunda de esta marca que compro

Ive had this machine for a little over 2 weeks. Still trying to get used to it over my single cup cuisinart. I will bust this down by pros and cons.

Drinks this model can make are :
Espresso
Cappuccino
Latte Macchiato
Iced Coffee
Regular Coffee ( Can use pre ground coffee from the store or beans)
Hot water for tea

What you get in the box:
1 level measuring spoon
1 hard water test strip – used to set the sensor that determines the life of the included Aqua Clean filter.
1 lattego 3200 machine
1 Lattego Milk frothing container
1 Aqua clean filter

PROS:
* Love the fact that it has a built in grinder, all you do is load the hopper up with beans and you’re ready to go, that is after you’ve filled the machine up with water and ran through preliminary first use setup instructions.

* Virtually no clean up after making each cup of coffee – All you do is turn the machine on and it runs through a self clean cycle – takes about 1 minute. Then you are ready to start making coffee.

* Coffee is VERY flavorful – tastes like I went to Starbucks or some professional coffee shop.

* You do have the ability to also load the machine with 1 spoonful of preground coffee if you run out of beans or you just want to use pre ground beans by default – although not sure why you would as I can tell you the flavor is vastly different between preground and Fresh ground. I also notice that with the fresh ground option I get the caffeine pick me up without the bitter coffee taste or caffeine jitters and sour stomach I usually get with pre ground coffee.

* The included frothing cup is awesome at making specialty coffees and really is a game changer. Its great when you want something different from a plain old cup of coffee. For some zing, I mix 1/2 cup International Delight Sweet cream creamer with fat free milk to get a flavored froth. Works great!

CONS
* The water system is a little wonky. Ive ran into this a couple of times already – when your water reservoir is almost empty – you will still have 1 inch of water left in the reservoir and the intake of the aquaclean filter is still fully submerged – you would think you should still be able to make at least 1 more cup of coffee or finish the cup you are currently brewing – but no – the sensor will trip and the machine will stop brewing or not let you brew a new cup until you fill the reservoir back up again. Making large cups of coffee will drain the reservoir fast. Even at 1-2 cups a day you will be filling the reservoir up probably every 3-4 days. Small inconvenience. Phillips should have made an option for a water line to be ran to the unit. Ive read some users were looking at installing a float valve in the reservoir but if you do that, know that it will void your warranty.

* Default amount of liquid machine dispenses – on its lowest setting – it dispenses around 4 oz. of liquid , medium and large appear to be very close to about 8 oz of liquid. If you want a regular size cup of coffee you know anything over 8 ozs you have to press and hold the coffee button for the x2 light to light up which tells the machine to brew 2 cups in a row. However be mindful of your liquid setting in relation to the actual size of your mug. My mugs are about 12 ozs. So if I hit the coffee x2 and use the highest liquid settings.. it will overflow the cup – which you can stop manually by pressing the stop button. You can change the amount of default liquid the machine dispenses via the setup which you enter by holding the button of the drink for 3 seconds then you press the volume button to change it from small to medium to large- then press play. The machine will then brew coffee and start filling the cup. The instructions are vague in this area as it says you can adjust the highest setting of liquid dispensed. Ive tried this multiple times and the machine is preprogrammed to know how many ozs to dispense at its highest setting. So you are not able to go beyond it. The instructions make it sound like you can breach the high setting, but it does not appear you can during setup. My advice to you on this – so you are not wasting beans or coffee- press the hot water button so the machine only dispenses hot water, then select your water level then press play. To get an idea of how much water the machine will dispense for each water level in relation to how big your mugs are.

No Timer-Sorry folks there is no auto timer to start brewing before you wake up in the AM. There is not even a built in clock.

Things to be aware of:

Type of beans you can use-

Ive researched on the Phillips line from the 3200 all the way up to the new 5000 model. They do say this in their instructions – but in the 3200 instructions its listed under the cautionary section versus the other models where its listed under the brewing with beans sections. Bottom line – these machines can only handle light to medium roast beans. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT get dark roast beans or any type of espresso bean. Reason being for this is because – by default coffee beans are actually green in their natural state. When beans are harvested and then undergo the roasting process – beans begin to darken – as they darken they start to release their natural oils which gives us that coffee flavor we all love. However- the longer a bean is roasted – the darker it gets- the darker a bean gets.. the more oil it releases. So with dark beans- their oil content is much higher which can coat and ruin the built in grinder over time with regular use. Ive read several reviews where people did NOT read the instructions or do their research and have ruined their machines by using dark roast or espresso beans. There is a grinder cleaner you can get and run through the machine which is recommended in the maintenance section. I have been getting the Dunkin Doughnuts medium roast beans- they have rich dark flavor and give a nice smooth cup of coffee with a nice caffeine kick.

Output Temp of coffee-

Ive seen alot of complaints from people saying their coffee is not hot enough – Ok – Im not beyond accepting some units could have a DOA heating element. However mine makes my coffee pretty damn hot. To the point I cannot hold the mug directly- and thats perfect for me. To each their own I suppose. Not sure how much hotter one would need their coffee- I would prefer to have my taste buds left.

Turning the machine on –

Each time you turn the machine on when its been off and idle for several hours, it will run through a quick self clean mode- where it flushes the lines with about 2 tbsps of water. So I would advise not putting your mug under the dispensing head until the machine has fully cleaned itself which takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Puck Collection Bin-

There is a sensor that monitors this bin per se, it monitors it however by how many pucks have been made. Not by how many pucks are physically in the bin. If you remove the water collection tray to empty waste water. The puck sensor automatically resets, as the machine thinks you will be emptying both. If you dont empty the puck waste bin at the time of emptying the water waste tray. The puck bin inside will continue to fill with pucks and you may not get notified that the bin is full and risk an overflow. So my advice – anytime you remove the water waste tray – also empty the puck bin – even if there are only 1-2 pucks inside.

Noise level-

Ive seen people complain about noise.. Seriously People?? Its a freaking espresso / coffee machine with a built in grinder and a milk frother. So if you are expecting Pure Moods to magically start playing when you turn this machine on along with a masseur who has scented candles to gingerly wake you up with a massage and a nice cup of coffee rather than your typical grinder or frother sounds, this machine may not be for you.
If youve ever owned a bean grinder or used a milk frother or even gone into a starbucks.. You will know already that.. grinders and frothers are somewhat loud. Small price to pay for a very flavorful cup of coffee. More so than what you get from a standard coffee machine.

Side note –

Treat this machine like a car or a high end laser printer as in make sure you perform the suggested routine maintenance steps in the users manual. This machine is alot more complex than your standard 1 pot coffee machine. There are alot of moving parts that make this machine work and they DO require routine maintenance. Not cleaning out the brew group, or lubricating the brew group, or lubricating O-rings will shorten the life of the machine. Not to mention following the routine suggested cleaning schedule. After all, if you are going to spend $700 + on an appliance, why wouldnt you want to take care of it?

Final Take away –

This is a great machine, though, it could stand some improvements, although minor. I had saw one guys review on youtube regarding this model and he put it perfectly in saying that yes there are some drawbacks with this machine but they can all be overlooked as this machine does make one hell of a good cup of coffee. Plus the convenience of not having to load a coffee machine first thing in the morning OR clean it out immediately after making a cup. You can brew several cups in a row with no intervention. Its a simple matter of – press the power button – wait 1 min for self clean – select your drink and its strength and volume then press play and watch this machine go to work. You are getting a FRESH cup of coffee. You dont have to worry about dumping out a coffee filter daily – there is an internal puck bin which will collect your discarded grounds. This only needs to be dumped maybe once a week depending on how much coffee you brew. So if you have the extra cash and you want to spoil yourself, I cannot recommend this machine enough to you. You wont regret it. I have found myself drinking more coffee because of this machine. 1 bag of dunkin doughnuts beans has lasted me for 2 weeks and going. I just empted the last of it into the hopper, which is still pretty full. This machine knows how to make very good use of very little beans.

Muy fácil de usar.
Lo único malo es que al usar café molido, no queda bien el café.