Philips LatteGo 4400 Series: Two-minute review

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Series is a fully automatic bean-to-cup espresso machine that’s a great option for smaller households or anyone making their first venture into the world of one-touch coffee machines. It’s very similar to the LatteGo 5500 Series that my UK-based colleague, Cat Ellis, has previously reviewed, and just misses out on a few preset drink recipes.

Otherwise, the two machines adopt the exact same dimensions, meaning their bean hopper and water tanks are the same size at 275g and 1.8L respectively, and, as the name implies, the 4400 Series on review here also uses Philips’ LatteGo milk-foaming system. This sees a milk carafe clip onto a steam nozzle on the front of the machine, with the idea being that you fill it with just enough milk for your chosen drink(s) once it’s attached.

Given the two machines make coffee in the exact same way, you’d expect the review of the 4400 Series to read largely the same, then, wouldn’t you? Well, while I do agree with much of Cat’s review of the 5500 Series, and that the Philips espresso machine does produce good-tasting coffee, I picked up on a few niggles during my time using the 4400. These mainly relate to the LatteGo system and the steps required to brew a coffee. I’ll explain more about both in the performance section of this review.

Ultimately, the Philips 4400 LatteGo coffee machine is incredibly simple to use and offers everything you need to make a great coffee, whether it be a simple espresso or ristretto shot, a larger latte, cappuccino or even a few iced drinks.

As with the 5500 Series, the 4400 Series doesn’t offer cold coffee extraction. If you want to make an iced drink, you’ll need to add ice cubes to a glass or mug for the machine to then pour on a hot shot of espresso. This machine can’t make iced lattes, so if you do want a milk-based iced drink, you’ll need to make do with pouring cold milk directly into your glass or mug.

If you like cold coffee, then you may not like the flavor profile delivered by the 4400 Series, and, as Cat found in her review, once the ice melts it can make the coffee taste weaker. Personally, I enjoyed making iced drinks using the Philips 4400 Series, but it’s ultimately a matter of personal preference.

Furthermore, having previously reviewed the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Next automatic espresso machine, I found myself preferring the taste of the coffee produced by the Philips machine instead, and I appreciated the smaller footprint it took up on my kitchen counter.

However, as a plant milk drinker, I did prefer the level of milk foam produced by the De’Longhi’s LatteCrema system compared to the LatteGo milk-foaming system used by the Philips machine.

Philips LatteGo 4400 Series: Price and availability

• List price $799.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,199
• Available globally
• Often discounted

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Series is available globally with a list price of $799.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,199. At the time of writing, however, I was able to find it discounted to £499.99 in the UK and below AU$1,000 in Australia.

The 4400 Series sits one step down from the flagship 5500 Series, offering 12 hot and cold drink recipes compared to the 20 options found on its higher-spec sibling.

Its list price places it in a similar category to the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Next fully automatic coffee machine that I’ve previously reviewed.

The two machines are similarly specced, although the De’Longhi unit is much larger. The Philips 4400 Series would therefore be my recommendation if your kitchen is on the smaller side.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Philips LatteGo 4400 Series: Specs

Philips LatteGo 4400 Series: Design

• Compact, ideal for smaller kitchens
• Intuitive, button-based navigation
• Easy to clean and maintain but cleaning agents sold separately

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Series is a relatively compact bean-to-cup espresso machine, coming in at 9.7 inches / 24.6cm wide and 17 inches / 43.3cm long.

As a result, it makes placing it on a kitchen countertop quite easy, as it can be placed in a corner, for example and up against the wall, since the water tank slides out from the front. The brewing group head is accessed via the side behind the water tank, making maintenance just as simple.

The machine is controlled via a series of touch buttons on the front, which flank a 2.3-inch color display. A selection of popular coffee-based drinks have dedicated buttons on the front – including espresso, long black, cappuccino and flat white – while the remaining hot and cold drinks are accessed via a ‘More Drinks’ button.

You’ll also find a ‘Profile’ button on the front, which is used to cycle through two main profiles – Yellow and Blue – and a third guest profile to ensure your saved presets aren’t overridden.

The non-removable bean hopper is accessed at the top. All you need to do is remove the tinted plastic lid – by being tinted, it helps to prevent light from degrading the flavor of the beans – which is also airtight to maintain freshness. If you want to adjust grind settings, that’s done via a control dial set inside the bean hopper.

It’s not particularly large with a capacity up to 275g of beans, but this makes it a good option for single-person or couple households. Plus, the fact it’s airtight means you can leave beans in between uses and not worry about them spoiling, as opposed to pouring in just the right amount of beans for the drink you want to make.

As is the case with the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Next I’ve previously reviewed, Philips says to only operate the grind adjustment whilst beans are being ground. It took me a little while to figure out how to actually use the dial, and after consulting the user manual, I realized you have to first press down on it before rotating.

There are 12 grind settings to choose from, with the halfway point setting 6 being the default. Philips says this should be ideal for most users, and recommends not adjusting it until you’ve made 100 to 150 drinks. I found during my review period that I did have to adjust to a finer setting – I settled on 4 – to achieve a thicker crema and a more flavorful coffee.

The Philips 4400’s LatteGo milk-frothing system comprises a small carafe that attaches to a steam nozzle on the front of the machine. It’s designed to be filled with just enough milk for whatever drink you want to make, as opposed to being stored in the fridge with leftover milk between uses. You can still store the milk in the fridge if you wish, but just note the lid isn’t airtight.

I liked the idea of this, but in reality I came across a couple of slight niggles.

The carafe has markings on the side for a single cappuccino, a single latte macchiato or two cappuccinos. I filled the carafe with oat milk to the line for the single cappuccino and poured one, and found it didn’t use all the milk.

Plus, when you’re selecting a coffee to make, you can adjust the volume of coffee and milk that goes in. If you adjust the volume of milk, for example, then you’ll need to ensure enough is in the carafe, making the markings somewhat redundant.

I’ll speak about it more in the performance section, but I also wasn’t overly happy with the level of (or lack of) milk foam produced by the system. Full-fat dairy milk did fare a lot better than plant milk during my tests though.

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Series does have some other design features that I found useful, including a deep grounds container bin and a decently sized drip tray. The machine will let you know when the ground container needs emptying, but this won’t be that regular since it’s capable of storing a good amount of waste.

Another positive I noticed was how well-packaged the machine was, and that Philips used predominantly recyclable cardboard.

One thing worth noting is that you aren’t supplied with any cleaning tablets or descaling solution. Having reviewed coffee machines from De’Longhi and Australian brand Sunbeam, both of which do supply some cleaning products with their machines, I had expected the same from Philips.

Cleaning tablets can be bought online from stores such as Amazon, but it’s an extra cost you’ll need to consider. While the AquaClean filter should last some time – it will cease working once 95 liters (around 625 coffees) of water has flowed through it – it will also be an additional expense to replace.

As long as you keep replacing the filters on time, then you won’t need to descale the machines for 5000 coffees – 8 filters worth. At $20 / £12 / AU$29 per filter, that’s about $160 / £96 / AU$232 to delay the need to descale, but slightly less if buying in bulk.

In comparison (depending on your water hardness), without the filters, you would typically need to descale up to about 10 times for 5000 cups, with the total cost around half of buying new filters.

Finally, another thing I noticed was when removing a sticker on the front of the machine referencing the fact it can make 12 different coffee-based drinks, it left some adhesive behind (the white part to the right of the coffee spout in the pictures).

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Philips LatteGo 5500 Series review: Performance

• Great-tasting coffee with some grinder adjustment
• Good level of personalization
• LatteGo milk-foaming system not without fault

The Philips LatteGo 4400 Series is an incredibly easy espresso machine to use. Once you’ve got it set up – this involves testing your water for hardness and installing the supplied AquaClean filter if required – you’ll be brewing a coffee in seconds. The central color display provides information clearly, and buttons are logically laid out to navigate through menus and drinks to adjust settings.

There are 12 drinks to choose from:

• Espresso
• Coffee
• Long black
• Cappuccino
• Latte macchiato
• Caffè crema
• Caffè latte
• Ristretto
• Flat white
• Iced espresso
• Iced long black
• Iced coffee

Once you’ve selected a drink to make, a secondary screen allows you to adjust the strength and volume. In some cases, increasing the volume of coffee will mean the machine will have to grind beans twice, which can increase the speed you go through a bag. I increased the volume of my daily flat white from the default 80ml to 100ml, for example, and I had to wait for the machine to grind a second dose of beans before it was finished.

If you tweak the settings for a drink, whether it be strength or volume, the machine will save them for the next time. Each time you make an adjustment, it overrides the previous settings. If two people in the same household want the same drink but with different settings, I would recommend taking advantage of the two individual profiles to store personal drink preferences. Switching between profiles is simple thanks to a dedicated button on the front panel.

If there are more than two people in your home and each has their own preference, you’ll be better served by stepping up to the 5500 Series model, which has 4 profiles plus a separate guest profile.

The machine doesn’t provide feedback regarding grind size or whether it’s ideal for the beans you’ve used – something you will find on De’Longhi machines that have BeanAdapt technology such as the Rivelia – but you can manually adjust the grind setting to produce a well-extracted espresso. The default setting of 6 should be fine for most use cases, although I did find for the beans I used, the crema wasn’t as thick as I would like, and it dissipated relatively quickly. As mentioned previously, I was much happier with the result once I adjusted the grinder to setting 4 for a finer grind.

Where I experienced a bit more of an issue was when using the LatteGo milk-foaming system. Having read about it on the Philips website and in my colleague Cat’s review of the more feature-packed 5500 Series model, I was expecting great results from the company’s take on automatic milk frothing. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the performance, although I think some leniency should be applied.

Firstly, the milk carafe is a little awkward to attach to the steam nozzle. Not frustratingly so, but it requires a more steady hand compared to the approach taken by De’Longhi, whose LatteCrema milk carafe easily inserts into a cutout on the front of its machines.

Secondly, there are markings on the side of the carafe to indicate how much is required for a particular drink. In practice, I found these to be inaccurate, and I always had some leftover milk in the carafe. Because the lid isn’t airtight, I had to pour this away if I knew I wasn’t going to have another coffee soon after the first.

Finally, despite using a barista-level brand of oat milk, which has a higher protein content to assist with producing a thicker foam, the milk pushed out into my coffee mug lacked any real resemblance to proper foam. It was certainly foamier than if I just poured milk from the carton, but when I compared the results to using my Nespresso Aeroccino 3 milk frother, it was a clear win for Nespresso. I also tested the LatteGo system with full-fat dairy milk and it did produce a much thicker foam.

Where I want to give some leniency is the fact that I wasn’t super satisfied with the results of the De’Longhi LatteCrema system when I reviewed the Magnifica Evo Next automatic coffee machine. I’ve yet to try similar systems from the likes of KitchenAid or Smeg, but I do wonder if the way they – creating steam and mixing with milk to aerate it – is that effective on the whole. In my mind, if you enjoy cafe-quality levels of milk foam, then you’ll be better served by an espresso machine with a steam wand.

I also experimented with iced drinks using the 4400 Series, although as Cat discovered in her review of the 5500 Series, the 4400 Series machine doesn’t actually produce cold coffee. Instead, you’re instructed to put ice cubes into a mug or glass, which then cools the coffee down. Philips does say water and coffee produced for iced drinks is “warm” rather than hot, so it will cool down quicker when poured over ice. I didn’t necessarily mind this approach, but it did make me wonder why there are iced drink recipes in the first place. I could just as easily place ice in a mug and run a regular espresso shot, rather than select iced espresso.

The 4400 Series only has three iced drink presets: iced espresso, iced coffee and iced long black. I like an iced latte and so poured cold milk into a glass with ice cubes and ran an iced espresso shot. For my tastes, the result was superb, and my partner enjoyed his iced long black. The 5500 Series does have a preset for iced latte, which pours cold milk via the LatteGo system.

Finally, the Philips 4400 LatteGo uses what the company calls SilentBrew technology to keep noise levels to a minimum. It’s also Quiet Mark certified, meaning it’s among the quietest in its product class. Knowing this, I assumed I’d hear near-silence from the machine during use, but in reality it was louder than I had expected. Using the Decibel X app on my iPhone and standing next to the machine, I recorded a measurement of 69dB when the machine was grinding beans and around 60dB when espresso was being poured. That’s louder than the KitchenAid KF8, which is also Quiet Mark certified. We recorded a measurement of 66dB when grinding and an average volume of just 44dB in our KitchenAid KF8 review.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Philips LatteGo 4400 Series?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Philips LatteGo 4400 Series: Also consider

If you're not sure that the Philips LatteGo 5500 Series is the right coffee maker for you, here are two other options for your consideration.

How I tested the Philips LatteGo 4400 Series

I tested the Philips LatteGo 4400 Series over a period of two weeks with some coffee beans from a local supermarket that I had used before. I tested the water hardness using the strip supplied in the box and fitted the water tank using the instructions provided.

I tested the LatteGo system of the 4400 Series coffee machine using fridge-cold full-fat dairy and a barista oat milk. I tested the machine's ability to produce a variety of hot and cold drinks.

For more details, see how we test, rate, and review products at TechRadar.

Terra Kaffe TK-02: two-minute review

Who knew excellent coffee could be so easy? Fill up the water tank and pour your bag of whole coffee beans into the hopper. If you like milk-based drinks, put your milk of choice into the milk carafe and attach it to the machine. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 will craft your favorite drink that rivals your local coffee shop with just a tap.

Choose from a limited menu on the Terra Kaffe TK-02's screen, or select from a longer list in the app. Create custom beverages to suit your personal taste. You can also teach (Amazon assistant) Alexa to brew your drink of choice on your voice command.

While it's certainly not perfect, this is the be-all, end-all coffee maker that replaces the two Nespresso machines, drip coffee machine, and coffee grinder I had in my coffee nook. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is an expensive machine, though one could argue that if this gets you to eliminate your daily coffee shop runs it could pay for itself in a couple of years or less. The footprint is pretty large, though not nearly as big as the four machines it replaces for me. And like any coffee machine, it does require regular cleaning and maintenance, though none of it is difficult.

The bottom line is this: I've tested a lot of coffee machines in my personal and professional life, but I have never made better-tasting coffee and espresso drinks more quickly and easily than I have with the Terra Kaffe TK-02.

Terra Kaffe TK-02: price and availability

• Available at Terra Kaffe and several high-end online and brick-and-mortar retailers
• Retails for $1,995 (£1,461 / AU$2,991)
• Terra Kaffe has a rental program

You can purchase the Terra Kaffe TK-02 directly from Terra Kaffe's website, where it retails for $1,995 (£1,461 / AU$2,991). Currently, there is a $300 discount offer if you pair the machine with a coffee subscription. You can also rent the machine from Terra Kaffe for $119 per month.

Other places you can purchase the machine include high-end retailers like Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, CB2, and Seattle Coffee Gear. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is available in two colors: black and white.

Terra Kaffe TK-02: specs

Terra Kaffe TK-02: design

• Modern, sleek design
• Everything you need except coffee and cups included
• So easy to use

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is sleek and modern, basically a giant rectangular cube with a drip tray sticking out the front. It's not immediately identifiable as a coffee machine, on looks alone. I tested the white model, but it also comes in black. I'd recommend the black version if you don't have a strong preference, since white shows the coffee spatters. The touchscreen on the top left front of the machine comes awake when you tap it.

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is pretty big and heavy, at 17.5” (D) x 10.4” (W) x 14.3” (H) / 44.45 cm (D) x 26.42 cm (W) x 36.32 cm (H) and weighing in at 29.5 lbs / 13.38 kg. Still, it easily fits into my coffee nook with plenty of room to spare. And it takes up a lot less room than the four machines I had in there previously. My husband likes to use his own beans, so his coffee grinder and drip machine, plus my two pod machines (both coffee and espresso) were previously filling up that entire nook. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 eliminates the need for all the other machines.

It comes with a milk carafe that hooks up to the Terra Kaffe TK-02 to make lattes and other milk drinks, a wooden spoon for measuring ground coffee, a water filter, cleaning solution, and descaling solution.

There are two coffee compartments on top. The main hopper holds up to 16 ounces (a typical bag) of whole bean coffee. A smaller, secondary compartment is for pre-ground coffee. If you use this option, add just one scoop of ground coffee and select the pre-ground coffee option from the brewing menu. Note that Terra Kaffe does not recommend using oily or flavored coffee beans.

A dial on the right side of the machine adjust the amount of steam you get in your milk. Dial it to the top to just heat your milk, or dial it to the bottom marker to froth.

The water tank sits behind a door on the front of the machine. As with all maintenance, the Terra Kaffe TK-02 will alert you when the water is running low, though the water level is visible even with the door closed.

The touch screen is the brain of the machine, and it will also let you know when the grounds container (which holds nine pucks) or drip tray needs to be emptied, when you need to descale or deep clean the machine, and when you need to refill the coffee hopper.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Terra Kaffe TK-02: performance

• Crafts amazing coffee and espresso drinks
• Steam or froth your milk of choice
• Could not be easier to use

What you really want from a coffee machine is delicious coffee, and the Terra Kaffe TK-02 delivers. You probably also want flexibility to create different kinds of beverages, easy/quick brewing, and easy clean-up. You get all of that with this machine. There are definitely some quirks, but overall, this machine's performance is excellent.

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 has lots of pre-set coffee and espresso settings, but any of them can be altered to your tastes. You can adjust the grind size, the amount of coffee, the amount of water, and the amount of milk. When making espresso, you can choose between "TK Standard" and "TK Specialty" brew. The TK Specialty tastes slightly stronger to me, so I reached out the company and they confirmed that it is indeed a stronger brew.

You can create your own custom beverages to your exact specifications, so the possibilities are nearly endless. You can only put 10 drinks at a time on the machine's touchscreen menu, but it's easy enough to add and remove your favorites in the Terra Kaffe app.

I brewed an iced coffee, which comes out at a slightly lower temperature and is specially designed for drinking over ice. I found it a bit weak, so I just changed the recipe, reducing the amount of water and increasing the amount of coffee. That made it perfect for my tastes. I also created a drink just for my husband, which is basically a standard Americano with an extra two shots of espresso. You can literally create anything and make it an option on your touchscreen menu.

The touchscreen menu is limited to ten drinks, so put your ten favorites there. You can still access plenty more (or create more anytime) easily with the Terra Kaffe app. You can teach your Alexa Amazon Assistant to work your Terra Kaffe TK-02, but I found that connection to be rather inconsistent.

The machine has to be on already; Alexa won't turn it on. Then you have to ask Alexa to launch the machine, because if you just ask to brew right away, she won't get it. Even then, sometimes she doesn't do what you ask. And she keeps asking you questions when you're done brewing, which is kind of annoying. Frankly, I found myself not really using Alexa much; both the touchscreen and the app are so easy to use. I open the app and wake the machine while I'm still in bed; by the time I get downstairs, the Terra Kaffe TK-02 is ready to brew.

Though I'm not really a milky coffee drinker, I did test out a number of milk-based drinks such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and flat white. They were all quite good, the milk frother heats and froths the milk as you'd expect. How much foam you get can also depend on the sort of milk you use. I used 2% dairy milk.

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 automatically grinds your beans to the correct size for the type of coffee you're brewing. For drip coffee, the beans will be ground on the coarser side. For espresso, you'll get a finer grind. Both of those can be adjusted to your preferences. Like all the best espresso machines, the Terra Kaffe TK-02 brews espresso at 9 bars of pressure.

If you prefer to use pre-ground beans, you put them in a separate designated hopper and select the pre-ground beans option before brewing. This is helpful for the occasional cup of decaf or using gifted grounds, but otherwise I'd stick to fresh whole beans.

Cleaning is pretty simple, but the machine does require regular attention. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 self-rinses frequently. I got in the habit of keeping a cup under the spout when not in use to catch the majority of rinse cycles. You can expect the machine to rinse out a few ounces of water when warming up, and again when shutting down. It also just rinses itself at random times.

We drink four cups a day on average, and even with the cup under the spout, I still have to empty the drip tray roughly daily. This is because water comes out directly into the drip tray sometimes too. If you froth milk, you'll need to run a rinse of the milk system right after. As you might expect, the water tank needs to be refilled pretty frequently as well.

Cleaning up the grounds couldn't be easier. All of the grounds end up as pucks in the grounds bin, you just have to pull it out and dump it roughly every nine brew sessions.

At some point, I'll need to do a deep clean and a descale. But in several weeks of use, it has not come up yet. You do not have to guess when to do any of this maintenance, as the machine will let you know when to do it and offer guidance if you're not sure how to go about it.

• Performance score: 5/5

Should you buy the Terra Kaffe TK-02?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Terra Kaffe TK-02: also consider

How I tested the Terra Kaffe TK-02

Over the course of two weeks, I brewed multiple variations of coffee, espresso, iced coffee, and Americanos. I also made espresso-based milk drinks such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and flat white using cold 2% dairy milk. I performed maintenance on the Terra Kaffe TK-02 as directed by the machine: emptying the drip tray, refilling the water, emptying the coffee grounds, and adding new coffee beans.

First reviewed September 2025

La Pavoni Europiccola: one-minute review

Few coffee makers have caught my attention quite like La Pavoni and its range of manual espresso makers, which feature a lever-operated piston that generates the pressure required to brew delicious espresso shots. Little did I know when I signed up to review one of its machines that I was lining myself up for a months-long quest to manual mastery.

We write about a lot of very accessible coffee makers here at TechRadar, from some of the best espresso machines to the best bean-to-cup models, but La Pavoni machines sit in an entirely different arena.

I’ve had the La Pavoni Europiccola Lusso for over six months, spending much of my time experimenting with different beans, various pressure levels, treated water, as well as generally learning the machine’s temperament. I’m not simply anthropomorphising the machine for effect when I talk about its temperament, either. While I don’t have children, I’d wager learning to wrangle a La Pavoni machine is as close to parenthood as you can get with a coffee maker, and just as rewarding when you get it right.

That, or you could compare it to a workout machine; you’ll need a strong arm to pull your daily dose with this coffee maker, since the results are best when highly pressurized. Unlike a workout machine, though, it comes with limited instructions. In particular, when you’re using a basic model such as the Europiccolla Lusso, which comes without any helpful features such as a pressure gauge, things can be pretty trial and error.

I toyed with a slightly higher score of 4.5 stars for La Pavoni’s classic lever machine, but its steep learning curve, middling milk frothing and some small inconveniences owing to the all-metal design set it back a half-star. However, for a real coffee enthusiast, a higher score is more than justified.

Coffee lovers with a real appreciation for the craft and science of coffee extraction will surely appreciate the hard-earned results, but also its sleek, art deco design, which makes it a fantastic centerpiece for any javaphile’s kitchen. It isn’t for the faint of heart, nor are the often rocket-fuel strength results, but for those wanting the supreme manual experience, look no further.

La Pavoni Europiccola: price and availability

• Price: €699,00 (roughly $800 / £600)
• Available directly from La Pavoni, or third-party retailers such as Amazon.

La Pavoni’s Europiccola Lusso is the simplest lever coffee machine made by the Italian brand, starting at €699,00 (roughly $800 / £600). It’s very basic, and lacks useful features (a pressure gauge and temperature indicator, for example, which is actually rather problematic while you’re learning), as well as some of the neat design accents that feature on the pricier models in the range. Fundamentally, though, it’s all the same machine.

Compared to its biggest competition, La Pavoni is in the mid-range of lever coffee makers. New brands, such as Flair, have emerged in recent years to capture some of the entry-level market, while more premium brands, like the Olympia Cremina, round out the top end. Nevertheless, with a long history in the game La Pavoni is a safe bet and offers pretty great value for money, especially if you back yourself to learn the ropes without the assistance of pressure and temperature gauges.

However, I must say I was very disappointed by the accessories included; in particular, the measuring spoon and tamper. Aside from being cheaply made, the included tamp gets stuck in the portafilter, which feels antithetical to the premium build quality in every way. It also includes two basket sizes for the filter holder.

• Value score: 4/5

La Pavoni Europiccola: specifications

La Pavoni Europiccola: design

• Beautifully designed manual machine
• Robust and well-made
• Lacks hellpful bells and whistles

La Pavoni’s lever coffee machines are, at least in my opinion, the most beautiful, elegant manual coffee makers you can buy – and it’s not just because the lever gives them an iconic look.

Lustrously chromed and robustly built, there’s little to critique when it comes to the design itself. The Lusso is fairly slim, especially compared to many espresso machines, at 12.6 x 7.87 x 11.42 inches / 20cm x 29cm x 32cm (w x d x h), and is fairly lightweight at 5.5kg, owing to its mostly steel and brass materials. The accents are – as standard – plastic, but you can opt to glow-up your La Pavoni with walnut wood handles and lids, which you can buy separately.

You can’t remove the boiler, which is inconvenient if you have leftover water in the tank that needs emptying after a brew. To the left of the base you’ll find the boiler power controls, and on the rear, the power supply cable.

The main body of the machine is its 0.8L boiler, which can make up to eight espresso shots in one sitting and features a screw-top lid. To the left of the boiler is the water level, and to the right are its safety valve and steam pipe. Mounted on the front of the boiler is the grouphead and the all-important lever controls.

One slightly puzzling inclusion, especially given frequent feedback from stalwart La Pavoni fans, is the dual-spout portafilter. A bottomless portafilter might have made more sense, especially given that it’s rare for espresso to pour evenly between the two spouts and you’ll generally need to pull the lever again for your second shot, anyway.

As mentioned above, the included tamper is also a rogue choice to accompany this machine, and not least because mine didn’t even appear to be the right size, getting stuck in the portafilter. I replaced it quickly with a basic 51mm alternative I found on Amazon – note that if you’re reading this as a prospective buyer of a second-hand model from before 2001, you’ll need a 49mm tamper.

The machine can also getvery hot to the touch, owing to its metallic build. The boiler is entirely exposed to the open air, and the heat quickly conducts to the grouphead; this means it’s less-than-ideal for households with children. You’ll also need to let it cool before refilling the boiler for your next batch, and given that it takes up to 10 minutes to heat, you could be in for a long morning if you’re serving more than two rounds.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

La Pavoni Europiccola: performance

• Heats up slowly, and very hot to the touch
• Steep learning curve...
• ... but mastering it leads to great results
• A little tricky to keep clean

Simple as it may sound, operating a lever coffee machine such as La Pavoni is hardly intuitive – and it doesn’t arrive with a wealth of information to help you learn the ropes. Among online communities, there are ample tips and tricks – which will vary slightly depending on the beans you’re using – that broadly help to make the machine more accessible. Really, though, this hyper-manual coffee maker requires you to understand the mechanics of what’s actually happening in every step of the extraction process, rather than relying on the device to guide you.

As with any machine, your bean choice is key, but the tactile experience of lever-pulling makes it all the more apparent that your prep work is crucial. Oily beans must be coarsely ground, but they offer excellent results, while medium and lighter roasts should be ground more finely and dosed higher. I found that around 14g worked well for the former, but up to 19g is necessary for lighter roasts.

In terms of pulling your shots, what I personally found worked best for my taste is the following process: fill and heat your boiler (you’ll know it’s done when the indicator light turns off), and then release the false pressure. Insert your portafilter and pre-infuse the coffee by lifting the handle just enough to hear the hiss as water enters the grouphead.

Allow it to warm through and build a little pressure above the puck, and then finish lifting the handle; if coffee is already running freely at this point, you likely need a finer grind, or to better tamp your coffee to allow that crucial final pressure chamber to develop above the puck. A few small drops should start to come through, though, and that’s how you know pre-infusion is complete and it’s time for the fun part – pulling the lever!

Slowly pull down the lever, maintaining as constant a pace as possible – even while pushing through the resistance – until the lever returns to its neutral position; the pull should take about 25 seconds all in all. Once you’re done, release the rest of the pressure using the valve and remove the top, which can be a little stiff after use. If you want to refill your portafilter and continue using the machine, it’s important to let the pressure dissipate first, lest you experience the unfortunate portafilter “sneeze”, where hot grounds catapult across your kitchen. I usually use the time to either grind more beans, foam my milk or wistfully admire the beautiful coffee machine in all its glory.

It sounds simple, but all the way through, you’ll be reacting in real-time to the feeling and responses from your La Pavoni – and that’s the real art of it. Once you’ve mastered it, though, the espresso shots are worth the effort. Rich in flavor and topped in a satisfying copper-hued crema, you can understand why La Pavoni has earned its fame.

The steam wand is adequate for milk frothing; however, as per the rest of the machine, you’ll have to adapt to its specific needs. La Pavoni doesn’t supply a milk jug, so invest in one of those, too. Ensure there’s enough water in the boiler (the machine can rinse through a fair amount while steaming) before fully opening the steam valve, placing the head of the wand just beneath the surface of the milk and steaming for roughly 15-30 seconds. In my experience, milk alternatives such as oat or coconut milk aren’t great, but cold milk works fine.

Regular cleaning of your La Pavoni isn’t too onerous. The drip tray is easily removed, albeit a little sharp if you need to take the metal plate out for a deeper clean. It’s made of stainless steel, so as long as you’re not grubbying it up with dirty fingerprints constantly, it’s easily kept. However, you’ll need to upend the machine to empty out any remaining water you’d rather not leave stagnating inside, and advice on longer-term maintenance is scant online. You should descale the machine (there’s no La Pavoni-specific solution for this) four to five times per year with baking soda or white vinegar.

• Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the La Pavoni Europiccola

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

La Pavoni Europiccola: also consider

If you're not sure whether the La Pavoni Europiccola is the right coffee machine for you, here are two alternatives to consider.

How I tested the La Pavoni Europiccola

I spent six months with the La Pavoni Europiccola Lusso, which is the longest and most extensive testing I’ve ever done on a coffee machine. During that time, I learned the ins and outs of the machine and its best practices, tried a wide range of bean types and milk types, and pulled everything from a quick espresso shot to an eight-person batch.

I tested the machine in my home, navigating issues such as space and storage as well as cleaning and maintenance, just like a prospective customer would, and compared the results to my previous coffee-maker testing experience and against results using other types of coffee makers in my home.

I’ve been testing small appliances, including coffee machines, for three years, and I’ve been testing tech more broadly for five years. In that time, I’ve developed a good sense of what makes a great product.

First tested September 2025

Casabrews 5418 Pro: one-minute review

The Casabrews 5418 Pro espresso machine is compact, lightweight, and easy to operate via physical buttons and a simple lever to control all its functions. A pressure meter on the machine's face helps guide extraction; but the pressure can be inconsistent, leading to under-extracted espresso.

This inconsistency may well be down to the boiler, but it's further hindered by the lightweight plastic tamper, which makes it difficult to exert much pressure on the coffee puck. The portafilter also feels rather flimsy, and with no clip to keep it in place, the filter basket had a tendency to fall out when I was knocking out used grounds.

On the positive side, the 5418 Pro heats up quickly, and the shot volume can be manually configured to compensate for any drips once the pump has finished. The steam wand is also a highlight, with a good range of movement and a cool-touch silicone handle. The machine can also dispense hot water for tea, which is handy.

My first impressions were overwhelmingly positive, but the more I used this machine, the more it became apparent where corners had been cut to keep the price so low.

Casabrews 5418 Pro: price and availability

• Launching late August 2025
• List price $299.99 (about £220 / AU$460)
• About the same price as Breville/Sage Bambino

At the time of writing, the Casabrews 5418 Pro has yet to be officially launched. It will go on sale on August 26, 2025, with a list price of $299.99 (about £220 / AU$460). However, there will be a $120 launch coupon, bringing that price down to just $179.99 (about £130 / AU$280) – and, ahead of its launch date, Casabrews is offering pre-orders for an early bird price of $159.99 (about £120 / AU$250) at Amazon.

The Breville Bambino (known as the Sage Bambino in the UK) is a compact espresso machine sporting roughly the same specifications, and has a similar list price at $299.95 / £329.95 / AU$449.95. The Bambino has been around for several years, and can usually be found steeply discounted on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Check out our full Sage Bambino review for more details.

• Value score: 5/5

Casabrews 5418 Pro: specifications

Casabrews 5418 Pro: design

• Very compact and lightweight
• Physical buttons rather than touchscreen
• Accessories feel somewhat flimsy

The Casabrews 5418 Pro is extremely compact, and very light, making it ideal for small kitchens; you can easily tuck it in a corner and move it around, if necessary. It measures just 12 inches / 30.5cm tall, 5 inches / 13.5cm wide, and 11 inches / 28cm deep. That’s tiny enough to fit on my kitchen scale, which confirmed that it weighs around 7.2lbs / 3.27kg including its power cable and plug.

I was testing the North American version. The UK model, when it launches, will be slightly heavier as a result of the bigger fused plug.

The water tank lifts easily out of the back of the machine, and has a robust handle that makes it easy to carry to and from the sink. There’s no water filter provided, but I wouldn’t expect that for such an affordable espresso machine. Casabrews doesn’t currently appear to sell filters for this machine, but you could fill it with filtered water, if you like. Just don’t use distilled water; it’s not good for any coffee machine, and can cause problems with the water-level sensors.

There’s no touchscreen here; instead, all the controls are in the form of physical buttons arranged along the front of the 5418 Pro: power, single shot, double shot, and steam. The steam wand is operated using a lever on the right-hand side of the machine, which feels a little lightweight in the hand, but works perfectly well. The wand itself has a good range of motion, and a heat-resistant silicone grip, so you can adjust it safely without burning yourself.

On the front of the machine you’ll see a pressure meter, which is a helpful guide to help you see whether your espresso shot is likely to be extracted correctly. The pressure goes up to 20 bars, but you’re aiming to be around nine when pulling a shot. It’s worth noting that this is the pressure at the boiler, and will likely be higher than the pressure at the group (where the hot water is forced through your coffee grounds).

The Casabrews 5418 Pro comes with just a handful of accessories: the portafilter handle, a pressurized double-shot filter basket, and a plastic scoop with a tamper on the end. According to the instruction manual there should also be a single-shot pressurized filter basket, but this wasn’t present with my review sample.

The portafilter is different to any I’ve used before, because it doesn’t have a spring clip to hold the basket in place. Instead, you place the basket in the handle and rotate it to fasten it in place. This was presumably a design decision made to keep costs down.

The tamper is super light, and you may find it tricky to tamp your coffee grounds hard enough – although it helps that the portafilter handle has silicone ridges on the base that help stabilize it on your countertop. I have my own wood and metal tamper, which I would have tried for comparison, but it’s too large for the 51mm basket.

There’s no milk pitcher provided with the machine, so you’ll need to buy one separately. Look for one with a fine spout if you want to try your hand at latte art.

According to its Amazon listing, the 5418 Pro will be available in two colorways (Silver and Metallic Gray); but at the time of writing, only the latter is available to pre-order.

• Design score: 3.5 / 5

Casabrews 5418 Pro: performance

• Heats up very quickly
• Initial results were promising
• Inconsistent extraction (sometimes under-extracted)
• Lots of dripping after pouring a shot

I wanted to love the Casabrews 5418 Pro, and my initial impressions were very positive. My first attempt at brewing a shot with the 5418 Pro turned out well, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the espresso was extracted. Foaming milk was a piece of cake, and within a couple of minutes I was enjoying a very pleasant latte.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t always the case, and the 5418 Pro sometimes struggled to reach the optimal nine bars of pressure, leaving me with under-extracted espresso, even when I set my Sage Dose Control Pro grinder to its finest setting. I’m quite sure from experience that my grinder wasn’t the limiting factor, so it may have been the pump, or it may have been due to me struggling to apply sufficient pressure consistently using the plastic tamper. If you choose to pick up this machine, I’d recommend investing in something sturdier.

I also didn’t love the clipless portafilter, since the basket tended to fall out when I was trying to knock out the used puck. Fishing a hot filter basket out of a food waste bin is nobody’s idea of a good time.

On the plus side, Casabrews’ claims that the machine can reach temperature in just a few seconds proved accurate. The 5418 Pro comes with a sticker warning you to pre-heat the groupset by running hot water through it without the portafilter attached, and another note to the same effect in the instruction manual – but this is good practice with any espresso machine. I certainly didn’t experience any problems with cold espresso during my testing.

The double-shot pressurized basket certainly creates lots (and I mean lots) of crema, but I’d be curious to use the single-shot basket as well.

Like the Breville/Sage Bambino, the 5418 Pro tends to dribble coffee after the pump has stopped, presumably for the same reason – the lack of a three-way solenoid valve. If you own the Bambino, you can get around this problem by using the manual shot button. This lets you choose how long the pump runs, and you can stop it early so you don’t end up with too much espresso.

There’s no such button on the Casabrews machine, but if you’re finding yourself with too much espresso, you can configure the shot volume manually. To do this, press and hold either the single or double espresso shot button for three seconds (depending on which one you want to customize), then press it once to start the pump. Once you’ve reached the desired amount of espresso, press the button again to stop the flow. The machine will then remember this setting and re-use it next time.

You can also use the Casabrews 5418 Pro to dispense hot water for tea, which is a nice feature that you won’t find on all espresso machines.

My only other criticism is that the 5418 Pro’s beeps sound somewhat tinny, which is perhaps a strange thing to complain about, but it does add to the overall impression that this is an espresso machine made to a strict budget.

• Performance score: 3/5

Should you buy the Casabrews 5418 Pro

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Casabrews 5418 Pro: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Casabrews 5418 Pro is the right espresso machine for you, here are two alternatives to consider.

How I tested the Casabrews 5418 Pro

I used the Casabrews 5418 Pro for two weeks in place of my usual coffee machine, and brewed coffee using a blend of freshly roasted Brazilian and Colombian arabica beans. When my shot wasn't properly extracted, I adjusted the grind size of my Sage Dose Control Pro grinder to compensate. I used the tamper provided with the machine to tamp the coffee. I tested the steam wand with fresh, full-fat dairy milk and oat milk.

I flushed the machine with hot water before and after brewing (to preheat and cool it respectively). I purged the steam wand and wiped it with a damp cloth after making each drink.

For more information, see how we test, rate, and review products at TechRadar.

First tested August 2025