Philips 5400 espresso coffee maker with LatteGo review

Coffee is an important part of many people’s days and owning a coffee maker that you love allows you to make your favourite drinks at home, saving you time and money. I’ve been testing out the Philips 5400 with LatteGo Coffee Maker and my husband and I have both fallen in love with the versatility, ease of use and simplicity of the clean-up. Read on to learn more and see what I’ve loved about the Philips 5400. 

Inside the box of the Philips 5400 with LatteGo 

First, I must mention the innovative packaging of the Philips 5400 with LatteGo as it has a sturdy plastic wrap with handles that allows for safe and easy removal of the coffee maker and accessories from the box.

Once you’ve removed everything from the box you will find the coffee maker with the LatteGo, a coffee scoop, the safety and user manual, a registration card, warranty and AquaClean information, a water hardness test strip and grease for maintenance of the brew group.  

Features and specifications 

• Control panel with 12 drink options, coffee, americano, espresso, café latte, macchiato, cappuccino, café au lait, flat white, ristretto, espresso lungo, café crema, travel mug, and frothed milk.  
• Easy to read customizable touch screen for coffee strength, size, and amount of milk. 
• Minimal maintenance with only 2 parts and no tubes to wash. 
• Adjustable ceramic grinders to personalize taste. 
• Option to use coffee beans with the bean hopper or the pre-ground coffee compartment.
• AquaClean filter for the water tank allows you to brew up to 5000 before needing descaling.  
• Forward loading water tank makes refills a breeze in tight spaces. 
• Adjustable double coffee spout. 
• Bean hopper with grind setting knob and Aroma Seal. 
• LatteGo milk container. 
• Drip tray with cover. 
• Coffee grounds container. 
• Hot water tank and spout. 
• LED lights pointing to your cup while brewing.  

Testing the Philips 5400 

After unpacking the Philips 5400 and reading the safety and user manual I plugged in the power cord and followed the directions for preparing the AquaClean filter. I washed the LatteGo and filled the bean hopper and water tank. I powered on the machine and did a quick browse through all the drink options and other features. When you first turn on the Philips 5400, you’ll notice it says guest profile on the top of the screen, to have your own profile with your favourite drinks saved, choose the profile button on the left-hand side of the control panel. The profiles are sorted by colours, blue, green, pink, and yellow and then the guest profile for when you have visitors over.  

On the front control panel there are 6 drink options to choose from, espresso, coffee, americano, cappuccino, café au lait and latte macchiato as well as a “more drinks” button. When you select that button, you can scroll down for more options such as café crema, ristretto, café latte, espresso lungo, flat white, frothed milk, or hot water. Once you select your drink you can adjust your bean strength and choose extra shot if you like a two-shot drink. Then you can choose the size of your espresso and if you’re doing a milk-based coffee you can adjust the milk amount as well. Once you have your drink preferences chosen and the LatteGo in place should you need it, you simply touch the start/stop button, and you have your favourite coffee drink in less than a minute. I did also try brewing a coffee with pre-ground beans, and while I love that you can use beans or grounds, I much preferred the taste with fresh ground coffee beans.  

I first tried a couple black coffees at different strengths and cup sizes and had my husband act as taste tester with me. I prefer a milky coffee so I needed his taste buds and opinions. One thing to note if you are using pre-ground coffee is don’t add the coffee grounds before the machine has run the cleaning cycle or your grounds will get cleaned out and you will simply brew yourself some hot water. I learned this as my husband woke me up at 6 a.m. asking why only hot water was coming out the machine instead of his espresso.  

As the days continued, we tried all the drink varieties: trying them all in one day would have been a caffeine overload, and I’m not sure my husband or I would have gotten any sleep! My favourite overall is the café latte, and my husband’s is the cappuccino, most often with an extra shot.  

I did also open the service door located behind the water tank and was able to remove the brew group easily. The user manual suggests that you lubricate the brew group every two months to ensure the moving parts move smoothly.  

Final thoughts on the Philips 5400 with LatteGo 

There are a lot of things to love about the Philips 5400 with LatteGo starting with the design and how user friendly it is. Besides brewing delicious drinks, it requires little maintenance and is so easy to keep clean. The drip tray, coffee grounds container and LatteGo are all dishwasher safe but are so easy to wash with a little hot soapy water that I didn’t find it necessary to put them in the dishwasher. The design of the bean hopper lid has a freshness seal keeping your beans fresher for a longer time and there are a pair of LED lights pointing down into your mug which means you can make your favourite drink in the dark early hours without bright overhead lights on.  

My husband and I were both happy with the flavour of the coffees and I was so impressed with the temperature of the drinks and the amount of foam. Lastly, I have to mention the little waste that the Philips 5400 produces. The used coffee grounds are dispensed into the container as small round pucks that can go in your food waste bin or out back in your compost if you have one.  

After testing out the Philips 5400 with LatteGo my husband and I both agree it will have to be our next coffee maker. My husband went from a medium roast coffee with a little cream guy over to a cappuccino guy within a day and I’m sticking with my café lattes. With the Philips 5400 we both get our favourite coffees, and we can make our guest’s favourite coffees, too.  

Find the Philips 5400 LatteGo coffee maker at Best Buy Online.