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Philips LatteGo 5400 – EP 5447/90 review

The Philips LatteGo 5400 is just 25 cm wide and 38 cm high. This means that the bean to cup coffee machine is hardly bigger than a normal coffee machine, but it prepares a total of 12 different beverages for you. Due to the particularly simple milk system (without hoses) and intuitive operation, the Philips LatteGo 5400 is one of the bestsellers in the mid-range for good reason.

only 25 cm wide – ideal for small kitchens

Philips LatteGo 5400 milk system

It is definitely the simplest milk system of all the fully
bean to cup coffee machines we have tested so far.
The milk foam is completely prepared in the LatteGo milk container and does not even enter the inside of the bean to cup coffee machine. The milk container consists of only two parts and comes completely without hoses. This is particularly practical for cleaning, as you will see later.

innovative milk system in the milk container

easy cleaning because only 2 parts

The two parts of the milk container can be easily clicked together. You should definitely make sure that they also snap into place properly. For our tests, we always use the same milk with a fat content of 3.5% so that the milk foam is nice and creamy. You can, of course, use plant-based alternatives or low-fat milk. 250 ml of milk fit into the milk container, which is enough for 3 cappuccinos or 2 lattes. The milk container is hooked into the front left of the bean to cup coffee machine.

250 ml

Milk container is simply received

Bean compartment

The bean compartment of the Philips EP 5447/90 can be found at the top center of the bean to cup coffee machine. We really like the darkened and airtight lid. This ensures that the flavor of your beans is optimally preserved.

large bean compartment with darkened lid

In the compartment fit just under 300 g of coffee beans which are then enough for a good 30 drinks. The large opening makes it easy to fill and since there are hardly any corners, the beans always slide well after. A message even appears in the display when the compartment is empty.

Space for 300 g of coffee beans (approx. 30 drinks)

Water tank

The water tank is located on the right side of the Philips LatteGo 5400. You can simply pull it out to the front. This is especially convenient for wall cabinets. Up to 1.8 liters fit into the tank, which is enough for about 12-15 drinks. This is also the optimal size as the water should always be as fresh as possible. You can also remove the tank completely and fill it up under the tap.

Coffee and milk spout

If you place the coffee spouts all the way up, 14 cm high latte macchiato glasses will also fit underneath. Even our to-go cup was no problem. By the way, the milk spout cannot be adjusted in height . It is fixed to the milk container and is also 14 cm high. Smaller glasses must therefore be well placed so that nothing splashes off.

the coffee spouts can be adjusted up to 14.5 cm in height

the milk spout cannot be adjusted in height

Preparation times

After switching on, it takes pretty much exactly one minute until the Philips LatteGo 5400 is ready to go. This is a little slower (about 10 sec.) than other bean to cup coffee machines. The bean to cup coffee machine uses this time to preheat and flush the lines. This also works very reliably – the first drink was already quite hot. Not every bean to cup coffee machine can claim that 😉 In the preparation time of the drinks is the LatteGo 5400, compared to
other bean to cup coffee machines in our test, the LatteGo 5400 is relatively
relatively average.

Display of the Philips EP 5447/90

You operate the bean to cup coffee machine via a modern touch display. This is slightly slanted so you can read it well from above. The most important drinks will give you displayed as images. Under“More Drinks” you will find more drinks (like Flat White, Café Crema,…).

Touch Display

When you select a beverage, you can make settings for coffee strength and beverage quantity. You can adjust everything using the arrow keys. The keys respond quickly and reliably. The menu is deliberately kept simple and almost self-explanatory. The instructions are rarely necessary. If the bean compartment or water tank is empty, a message also appears in the display.

Next, we want to show you the drinks. For this we will prepare an espresso, coffee, cappuccino and latte macchiato. In the meantime, we’ll explain what you can set up on the LatteGo 5400.

Adjust grinder setting

You will find the grinder control directly in the bean compartment. Here you have 12 levels to choose from. Level 6 is set at the factory. The lower the level, the finer your coffee beans will be ground. You should only adjust the grinder during the grinding process and only by a maximum of one level. For our test, we have already set grinder setting level 4 . We have achieved the best results with this.

Adjust grinder setting in 12 levels

Coffee strength & coffee powder tray

You can adjust the coffee strength in 5 levels. The higher the level, the more coffee beans the bean to cup coffee machine uses. At level 0, you can activate the coffee powder compartment . To do this, put a spoonful of coffee powder in the compartment near the bean hopper. But the coffee tastes better with freshly ground coffee beans 😉

Coffee strength in 5 levels

Activate coffee powder compartment

Coffee powder compartment

Set beverage quantity

With the beverage quantity you set how much water is pressed through the coffee puck. Here you also have 5 levels to choose from. In the case of espresso, for example, these are 30 ml, 40 ml, 55 ml, 70 ml and 90 ml. For coffee, the ratios are correspondingly higher.

Beverage quantity in 5 levels (in ml)

For cappuccino and co. you can also adjust the milk foam quantity. Also in 5 levels with concrete milliliter specifications. The concrete milliliters are a real advantage, because with the
LatteGo 3200
we only had 3 levels for small, medium and large cups. Then we never knew exactly how many milliliters we were getting at which level.

Comparison to
LatteGo 3200
Only 3 levels (without ml)

Espresso

To obtain a strong espresso, we set the coffee strength to level 5. Then the bean to cup coffee machine uses the optimal 7g of coffee powder. By the way, we found this out by weighing the coffee pucks. For the water/beverage quantity, actually only the 30 and 40 ml are relevant. The more water is pressed through the coffee puck, the more bitter substances are released from the coffee powder. Therefore, we now prepare an espresso in the standard size of 40 ml.

7g coffee powder to coffee strength 5

Espresso

After a good 40 seconds he also already finished. We measure 68 °C – the perfect temperature. You see the crema has an even, light brown color. It’s also nice and dense and not too runny. When we dip a spoon into it, it closes right back up. Flavor-wise, the espresso is aromatic and balanced. It could be a tad more intense for our taste.

light brown, dense crema

Set temperature

The first espresso was already at the optimal temperature. If that is not hot enough, you can set the temperature to “high” under ” Settings “. Here you have 3 levels to choose from (low, medium, high). We prepared all drinks at medium levels – which is also perfectly adequate. Keep in mind that this will only affect the water temperature of the coffee/espresso and not the milk foam.

Temperature in 3 levels

Double cup option

If you want to prepare 2 cups at the same time, you can activate the double cup option in the menu. Then the machine performs 2 grinding & brewing operations . You can use the double cup option for all coffee/espresso drinks (Americano, Ristretto, ..). Since the bean to cup coffee machine has only one milk spout, drinks with milk foam can only be prepared one after the other.

Activate double cup option

Double cup option for all coffee beverages possible

Our tip: If you like to prepare 2 cappuccinos or latte macchiato at the same time, you should buy the Saeco GranAroma take a look. Since Saeco has been part of the Philips Group since 2009, the two devices are relatively similar. Among other things, they have the same brewing unit and the same grinder.

Coffee

For the coffee, we set the coffee strength to level 4. For the amount of water, you again have 5 levels to choose from: 100 ml, 120 ml, 150 ml, 185 ml, 220 ml. As with espresso, the more water that is forced through the coffee puck, the more bitter substances are released. For as many flavors as possible, the amount of water should therefore again be as small as possible. We recommend a maximum of 120 ml per coffee puck.

Coffee settings

Tip: If you want to prepare a large cup of coffee, you can simply activate the double cup option. Then the machine automatically performs a second grind and you get a second coffee puck for your drink. For our 250 ml cup here we prepared 2x 120 ml.

Coffee

The bean to cup coffee machine needs 56 secondsfor a cup of coffee. The double cup option takes just under 2 minutes. We measure optimal 71 degrees. Taste-wise, the coffee is also good and even has a nice crema. The flavors come out well and thanks to the short extraction, there are hardly any bitter substances.

Cappuccino

For the cappuccino, we adopt the settings of the espresso. To do this, we set the coffee strength to level 5 and the amount of water to 30 ml. For milk foam quantity, we can choose from 100, 120, 150, 180, 210 ml. This refers to the volume of the frothed milk. By the way, a cappuccino consists of an espresso and 100 ml of milk. Since the volume of the milk approximately doubles during frothing, we select 210 ml of milk foam here. This also makes our 250 ml glass nice and full (30 ml espresso + 210 ml milk foam).

Settings for cappuccino

Cappuccino

For the cappuccino, we measured 70°C (min. 67°C) – very good for the first milk foam drink. The cappuccino has a nice head of foam. The milk foam is quite even and fine-pored. This also makes the milk foam slightly creamy and a bit sweet in consistency.

fine pored creamy milk foam

The consistency of the milk foam cannot be adjusted, as we know it from e.g.
DeLonghi bean to cup coffee machines.
know. Those who choose a LatteGo model should therefore be into voluminous milk foam 😉

In terms of taste, the cappuccino can definitely convince. The slight sweetness of the milk and the aromas of the espresso form a round overall picture. It could be only minimally more intense, but that is a matter of taste.

Latte Macchiato

For the latte macchiato, we chose the Extra Shot this time. So we get an extra shot of espresso which makes our latte macchiato even more intense and stronger . Optimal for all those who need the extra caffeine kick in the morning! We set the amount of water (of the espresso) to 30 ml again. With the Extra Shot, we thus obtain 2 x 30 ml of espresso. The device automatically performs a second grinding process for this purpose.

For the milk foam amount, you again have 5 levels to choose from: 80, 140, 200, 270 and 340 ml. Unfortunately, intermediate sizes cannot be set – but you won’t be overwhelmed with too many setting options. To make our large latte macchiato glass full, we select 340 ml of milk foam.

Settings for latte macchiato

Latte Macchiato

With the ExtraShot, the bean to cup coffee machine takes just under 2 1/2 minutes. Without Extra Shot about 2 minutes. This means that the LatteGo 5400 is somewhat slower than other fully automatic
bean to cup coffee machines in our test (average: 100 seconds).
(average: 100 seconds). However, we can overlook this, since the milk foam is always properly hot .

The latte macchiato also reaches the required temperature of 66°C (min. 65°C). The milk foam is a little airier than in the cappuccino, but still relatively even and fine . The taste of the latte macchiato is also convincing. The espresso flavors come through the extraShot wonderfully.

nice head

Milk foam

Create profiles

As is well known, tastes are different. Therefore you have the possibility to create your own profiles. This allows each family member to save personal settings. For each beverage, coffee strength, amount of water and, if necessary, amount of milk foam can be stored. A total of up to four color profiles are available (blue, green, yellow, pink). Also, you have a guest profile where you can customize everything at will, but these settings are not saved.

Create up to 4 profiles

More drinks

In total, we have up to 12 drinks to choose from in the Philips LatteGo 5400. Besides the standard drinks (espresso, coffee, cappuccino, latte macchiato), there is also Americano, latte, caffe crema, flat white, caffe latte, ristretto, espresso lungo and a to-go cup function.

more drinks under “More Drinks

Latte

The To-Go cup function allows you to prepare a larger quantity of coffee at once. For this purpose, the device performs several grinding and brewing operations. In addition, you simply have milk foam (e.g. for cocoa) and a hot water function.

Housing & Material

Overall, the quality is convincing for a mid-range device. With the entire LatteGo series, Philips offers fair value for money. You get many features for which you would have to spend 100 to 200 Euros more with other manufacturers. Therefore, it is logical that the Lattego models are mainly made of plastic .

All parts are robustly processed and make a good impression. We like the small gap: The drip tray and water tank close exactly with the casing. The touch display responds quickly and reliably to our inputs. The stainless steel cup tray gets minus points because it scratches easily. You should be careful here or apply a protective film.

the device is mainly made of plastic – all parts are robustly processed

the stainless steel cup tray is susceptible to scratches

brewing unit

The brewing unit is made entirely of plastic. The appearance of the coffee pucks says a lot about the quality of the brewing unit. The coffee pucks are cleanly pressed and dry – just as they should be:

clean pressed coffee pucks

Brewing unit

Philips LatteGo 5400 grinder

Not only the Philips EP 5447/90, but all LatteGo models known to us are equipped with a ceramic disc grinder. Ceramics are commonly associated with high quality. Philips believes the grinder is capable of at least 20,000 impressions. At 5 cups a day, that would be a useful life of over 10 years. But it probably creates more grinding.

the ceramic disc grinder grinds the coffee finely and evenly

At level 3, the coffee powder is already ground very finely and evenly. We measured an average of 67 decibels during the grinding process. This puts the LatteGo 5400 in a class of its own, compared to other
bean to cup coffee machines in the test.
relatively average.

Now let’s take a look together at how easy it is to clean the LatteGo 5400. The most important thing is to clean the milk system, brewing unit and drip trays. If you make 20 or more drinks each week, cleaning the bean to cup coffee machine will take a total of about 20 minutes per week.

In addition, you should decalcify the bean to cup coffee machine every 1-3 months, depending on how calcareous the water is. If you always use water filters, you will need to descale less often. One
decalcification
takes about 30 minutes, while you only need to actively do something for 5-10 minutes.

By the way, we have listed the
most important care products
and linked you once the original and a cheaper alternative.

Clean milk system

After you have prepared all the drinks you want with milk foam, place an empty cup underneath. After that, you can press “Clean” in the display and select “Quick rinse”.

Now thoroughly rinse the milk container or milk spout with hot water. Unfortunately, the bean to cup coffee machine does not remind you to rinse the milk system. Nevertheless, we like the cleaning at the touch of a button, because unfortunately this is not possible with other LatteGo models.

Cleaning the milk system at the touch of a button

The cleaning program works reliably. Only at the front of the milk spout does a small amount of milk sometimes remain. It is best to wipe it with a clean kitchen towel.

If there is still milk in the container, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. We recommend that you clean the milk container thoroughly every two days at the latest. This is also very simple, because it consists of only two parts. Alternatively, you can put it in the dishwasher. It really couldn’t be simpler!

Clean milk container

Overall, cleaning the milk system is well thought out and done in about 7 minutes per week. It is the easiest to clean milk system that we have seen so far in our
bean to cup coffee machine test
have come to know.

Coffee grounds tray and drip tray

The coffee grounds tray is a good size, as it can fit up to 12 coffee pucks. When it is full, a message appears in the display. The drip tray is where the water from the rinses ends up. There are also a few coffee residues in it – this is the case with almost every bean to cup coffee machine. When the drip tray is full, a red float sticks up through the cup grate.

You can simply pull out both containers to the front, empty them and rinse them once a week.

Drip tray and coffee grounds tray can be pulled out to the front

If you want to save yourself some more washing up, you can also clean the containers in the dishwasher. Only the small screen in front of the coffee grounds tray must not be put in the dishwasher. We always use the dishwasher because the drip tray has a few corners that are not so easy to clean.

these items may be placed in the dishwasher

All in all, you’ll only need 2 minutes a week to clean the containers if you put them in the dishwasher. Cleaning by hand takes about 5 minutes.

Cleaning the brewing unit

The brewing unit of the Philips LatteGo 5400 can be removed in just a few steps. All you have to do is turn off the bean to cup coffee machine, pull out the water tank, and open the small service door. Now press the “Push” switch to the right and slowly pull them out.

We were positively surprised by the interior. We found practically no coffee residues there. On the brewing unit, however, there are a few coffee remnants from the last brews, as with any bean to cup coffee machine. Therefore you shall Rinse 1x per week with clean water. It is best to take a
cleaning brush
because the brewing unit has a few corners that are not so easy to reach.

Also, according to the instructions, you should lightly grease some moving parts of the brewing unit every 2 months. Once a month you should degrease the brewing chamber with a special cleaning tablet. You will be guided through the program via the display. Compared to bean to cup coffee machines from other manufacturers, the effort required from Philips is somewhat increased.

Overall, the effort required for cleaning and maintaining the brewing unit isaround 10 minutes per week.

In this video we show you how to clean, maintain and grease the brewing unit in the best possible way:

Philips LatteGo 5400 descale

How often you need to descale depends on the water hardness and the use of a water filter. If you have soft water and no filter, you will need to descale every 3 months, while if you have very hard water, you will need to descale every month. It is important that you use the test strip and set the water hardness on the bean to cup coffee machine so that you are reminded to descale in good time.

If you always use a water filter, you will have to descale after 5,000 cups according to Philips, so after a good year with normal use.

Decalcification takes about 30 minutes. You will be guided step-by-step through the program via the display. However, you don’t have to do much actively, so decalcification effectively only takes 5-10 minutes.

We have also created a detailed video for you and have shown you both the
original as well as cheaper care products
picked out.

You still have a question yourself or tips for other users about this device? Then feel free to leave us a comment.