I’ve tested dozens of coffee makers for TechRadar, but the Philips Baristina surprised me with a feature I’ve never seen before. Automatic espresso machines work by taking the coffee-making process out of your hands, but none do it as literally as the Baristina, which physically moves its own portafilter handle so you don’t have to touch it.
When I first heard about the Philips Baristina, I was intrigued. It combines the convenience of an automatic espresso machine with the easy cleanup of a manual one. Add your coffee and water, select your drink (espresso or lungo, with the option to increase the dose for a stronger brew), and the Baristina will grind the beans and tamp them down, then extract your shot using water at the optimum temperature and pressure. Easy.
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Unlike most automatic machines, however, this doesn’t happen within the machine’s case. Instead, the Baristina uses a portafilter handle like a manual espresso machine. When it’s done, just pull out the handle, knock out the puck of used coffee and clean the basket, then rinse the machine’s brewing group by holding one of its buttons for a few seconds. At the end of the day, empty and wash the drip tray.
Unlike brewing with a manual coffee maker, you don’t need to worry about weighing out the right dosage of beans, choosing the optimum grind size, avoiding spilling the ground coffee, or tamping it down correctly.
A typical automatic coffee maker is a lot more hassle to maintain. The whole brewing process takes place inside the machine’s chassis, which can become damp, warm, dirty — an ideal breeding ground for mold if it’s not thoroughly cleaned at the end of each day.
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To keep it fresh you need to empty and wash the waste coffee box and drip tray, remove and rinse the brew unit, and wipe out any stray coffee grounds from inside the case. To ensure everything can dry properly, it’s good practice to leave the side off the case overnight so any water can evaporate.
Look, no hands!
I was pleased to find that the Philips Baristina’s ‘one swipe’ system means it does exactly what I’d hoped, giving the convenience of an automatic coffee machine without the time-consuming (and messy) clean-up at the end of the day. What I hadn’t expected was that it also takes the brewing process out of your hands quite literally.
To start brewing with the Baristina, you need to position the empty portafilter basket under the grinder. To do this, just push it into the slot on the right, then slide it across. Now choose your drink and whether to boost the flavor with a larger dose of coffee, and the machine will get to work.
The instructions for the machine (which are available via a QR code provided in the box) use IKEA-style diagrams, and I assumed that I’d need to move the handle across to the brew unit myself once it had finished grinding and tamping, but no — once the coffee grounds are perfectly prepared, the machine whisks the handle into position itself. Call me easily amused, but I was surprised and delighted.
Despite its endlessly entertaining magic portafilter, the Baristina isn’t quite perfect. There’s not much scope for customizing your drinks, and it lacks a steam wand for foaming milk. If you’re into lattes and cappuccinos, look out for the bundle option, which also includes a standalone Philips milk frother.
It’s a fabulous entry-level espresso machine though, and far more affordable than your typical bean-to-cup coffee maker too. I’ll bring you a full review within the next few days, but I already feel confident recommending it if you’re shopping for your first espresso machine and wants something that will — literally — take the tricky parts out of your hands.
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