I made a delicious bean-to-cup latte in 3 minutes which tastes way better than Starbucks (Image: Sophie Harris)
Purchasing a coffee whilst you are out soon adds up, and I realised I was sometimes spending £20 a week on them.
I’ve always had super cheap machines which do the job but weren’t satisfying the Starbucks craving.
This is why I was super excited to find Philips bringing barista-approved coffee into homes for the first time with the launch of its debut espresso machine.
The Philips Barista Brew claims to allow anyone to create cafe-quality coffee at home with its foolproof calibrated tamper, temperature perfection milk jug, one-touch americano button and a barista-grade steam wand.
Coffee machines are an investment and a must for coffee lovers as they allow you to easily brew barista-style coffees from your own kitchen, which is very tempting when the price of my coffee is £4.50 from Starbucks.
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There’s a simple single or double espresso option on the machine (Image: Sophie Harris)
With every purchase, shoppers can get free training sessions on how to perfect espresso, milk frothing and more.
Heidi Philio-Smith, who leads the training programme, said: “The art of being a barista is a difficult one to master, but creating delicious, high-quality coffee has never been easier with Philips’ Barista Brew.”
I was super excited to set this machine up, and it couldn’t have been easier, with all of the components labelled and detailed in the manual to show you how to set them up and use them
The machine looks sleek on the kitchen side and surprisingly doesn’t take up a lot of worktop at all, unlike some other machines on the market.
The machine’s conical burr grinder has 15 sizes, making it perfect for exploring different types of beans, which require different grind settings to get the best crema and flavour from them.
The roomy bean container situated on top of the coffee machine keeps the beans fresh and it’s super easy to see when they need a top-up.
There’s also plenty of room to store the essential tools, whilst the water container at the back of the machine is the biggest I’ve seen on a home coffee machine.
The coffee then simply brews into the mug below (Image: Sophie Harris)
The machine doesn’t take long to heat up and use and it’s surprisingly quiet when doing so.
There are several beans on the market to pick from but I opted for one which isn’t too strong in taste, and on the packet, it recommended a fine grind.
The appliance features a professional stainless steel portafilter and dual filter baskets, which allow for a larger dose of coffee grounds, delivering a richer, more robust brew.
I hadn’t pressed fresh coffee grounds for a number of years but the stainless steel calibrated tamper ensured the right tamping pressure and created the perfect leveled surface.
The 450ml stainless steel milk jug and powerful steam wand felt like I was a proper barista, and after watching a couple of quick videos online, I got the hang of it.
It only took a couple of attempts to achieve the velvety texture which tasted glorious in my caramel coffee.
It was also super easy to flick between the settings, and whether you wanted a double espresso or a single.
To make the best-tasting coffee ever, I simply ground beans for a double espresso before tampering with it and placing it above my mug. I then selected double espresso, as that’s what I go for in my coffees, and watched the magic happen.
To begin with, I would wait for that to brew and then steam the milk but after practising for a few weeks, I can now heat the milk at the same time. To get the best froth, it’s recommended to use fresh milk, preferably cow’s milk but I use barista-style oat milk.
The milk is super easy to froth with the steam wand (Image: Sophie Harris)
Next, I submerged the steam wand around one centimetre into the milk at an angle and heated the milk up.
The only downside I’ve found on the device is that my milk doesn’t get too hot, which is great for drinking straight away but I would prefer it to be slightly warmer.
Warm milk can be caused by not cleaning the steam wand or not heating the milk at an angle but I have tried different methods and the temperature remains the same.
However, this isn’t too much of an issue as it means you can drink your wonderful creation straightaway.
The hardest part is creating the latte art, one which takes a long time to master, and one which I am yet to master. This is why the barista training which comes with the device is an absolute must if you are thinking of investing.
However, it produces an absolutely delicious-tasting coffee, and I don’t think I will ever order one from a high-street chain again.
It’s silky and smooth and goes down a treat, not to mention how fun it is to build your own coffee from bean to cup.
The tools sit neatly on the top of the machine (Image: Sophie Harris)
I have also seen many stainless steel machines which get easily covered in fingerprints, however this machine I tried out is very different.
It features an anti-fingerprint metal housing to keep it clean and professional-looking at all times.
So is this a coffee machine you should invest in? A lot of it will come down to budget and space, although this is one of the smaller bean-to-cup machines on the market.
As someone who isn’t very familiar with barista machines and making their own coffee like this, I couldn’t have found the process easier, with washing up minimal too which is a bonus.
The Philips Barista Brew is available at Currys and John Lewis for £399.99, currently reduced from £579.99.
However, shoppers must be quick as the deal must end on Monday, according to the retailers.
It can also be purchased from John Lewis for the same price, and it has 20 five-star reviews.
Whilst this coffee machine is quite an investment, this appliance is built to last and if you were to order a coffee every day, you would easily make the money back in less than a year.
There are lots of other coffee machines on the market if you are looking to purchase one, with lots of Black Friday deals.
This includes Sage’s The Barista Express Bean to Cup Coffee Machine for £499.95, De’Longhi Magnifica Start Bean to Cup Coffee Machine for £299 and the Breville VCF126 Barista Max Coffee Machine in Stainless Steel for £299.
They all work in a similar way but in my opinion, Philips’ Barista Brew is the most aesthetic coffee machine I’ve seen and looks great on the kitchen side.
