Philips Baristina BAR300/03

Thanks to the user-friendly operation of the Philips Baristina, I can easily make a cup of coffee. The machine takes up little space on my countertop. I don't make cappuccino or latte macchiato without a milk frother. Compact and stylish device When I opened the box I saw a compact piston machine. Due to its compact size, the machine takes up little space on my countertop. The design is very modern, making it a stylish addition to the kitchen. Easy coffee making First I rinse the supplied portafilter and put it in the machine. After I put my favorite coffee beans in the built-in bean grinder, I get started right away. I choose from 2 coffee specialties; espresso and lungo. When I feel like an extra strong cup of coffee, I press the middle button. This gives my coffee an extra intense taste. When I have chosen my coffee specialty, I slide the portafilter to the right. The bean grinder grinds my favorite coffee beans directly in the portafilter. The filter automatically slides back to the left and the machine brews an espresso. For example, I don't put much effort into tasty coffee myself. The machine does not have a steam pipe or milk reservoir. As a result, I need a separate milk frother for milk specialties. Largely automatic machine When I put the portafilter in the machine, it automatically presses the coffee and I do not set the coffee strength myself. The machine works largely automatically. This is useful for the novice barista, because it means you don't have to worry about difficult settings. This is a disadvantage for the experienced barista, because you cannot adjust the coffee to your own taste. Easy maintenance The Baristina does not have a brew group that I remove from the machine. This means little maintenance is required. After each brew, I throw away the coffee grounds from the portafilter and rinse it. Then I put the filter back in the machine and it is ready for another brewing session. That's ideal, because I don't always have time for a big cleaning round.

I have been using this device for 2 months now. Initially satisfied. The taste of the coffee is fine, but in no way can it be matched to your beans. This means that you have to try beans until you have found one that fits the settings of the device. This is of course the world upside down. But after a while, problems also start to arise with the device. For example, coffee residues stick to the tamper and this is not easy to clean. The piston also blocks regularly from sliding to the right, which means that you cannot start the coffee making process. Sometimes this problem persists for 10 minutes before it works again. Coolblue's advice to solve this does not work. For example, the advice was to disconnect the power for 30 minutes, no improvement. I can also send the device for repair, but then I will be without a device for at least 3 weeks. And then it is questionable what the outcome will be. So my conclusion is cheap is expensive. It seems like a lot at first, but after a short time the problems start to arise, probably due to the cheap design, and Coolblue's solution-oriented approach is not great.

After 2 months of use, the device does not work properly. Pistol gets stuck or it throws half of the ground coffee out when shooting back, yes also in your coffee. Sent back 2x but problem not solved. Coolblue does nothing until it has been back 3x for the same repair. Now it is without it again for 4(!!!) weeks.