PHILIPS 3300 Series Fully Automatic Espresso Machine – 5 Hot & Iced drinks, 40% Quieter SilentBrew, Ceramic Grinder, Aquaclean Filter, Black Chrome (EP3326/90)

Great at-home espresso machine
I have worked with coffee for over 15 years of my life. In that time I’ve used all brands of manual and super automatic machines. The Philips 3300 is a great at home option that delivers a solid tasting shot of espresso in a timely manner. I broke the machine in by grinding through 2-3# of coffee on the first day.Positive observations:- The Philips 3300 pulls me a great tasting shot in about 15-20 seconds. The machine produces a flavorful shot that has a solid body, and nice crema.- There are 6 options: Espresso Shot, Long Shot, Coffee, Iced Coffee, Steam and Hot Water. Each of the coffee options can be pulled 1X or 2X.- Grind can be adjusted manually.- Dose, water, and temp can be adjusted individually from 3 options: Low, Medium, High. This allowed me to dial in my preferred taste. This allows up to 27 different types of shots. I enjoy a high dose, medium water, and high heat. It’s the closest that I can get to a solo espresso shot on a commercial machine. In my opinion, high water has yielded a weak espresso shot every single time. It’s a lot of water.- The steam wand produces a nice velvety milk foam for hot beverages.- It has a small footprint, and doesn’t require much space above the machine, so it’s great for being under low cabinets.What could be better:- Bean hopper is OK. I understand it’s designed in a manner to keep the machine low profile, but it has opportunities when I’m pulling several shots. The beans don’t always move towards the grinder, and often times I am required to push the whole beans towards the grinder. I need to do this every 4-5 grinds.- Espresso shot is good for at home, but the body and crema go dark incredibly quick. Almost immediately, so be prepared to mix/drink the espresso shots immediately. The more flavorful beverages that I have made are approx 5-6 oz total liquid (including the 1.5oz-ish shot).- The steam wand is fair and gets the milk hot at a reasonable pace, but it is finicky. I’ve learned two things: Steam the milk first, as you can’t steam and pull shots at the same time, and once you hit the “steam” button, make sure your wand is breaking the surface of the milk, and leave it. It will take anywhere from 30-50 seconds to start steaming. Leave it, it will eventually turn on and start steaming.- Dispensed hot water comes from the steam wand, and it is a strong, narrow stream of hot water. I should have read the manual, because that one was a surprise. I was expecting it to come out of the spout.- A single serving of espresso, long shot, coffee, or ice coffee will grind and pull one time. If you select a double serving, it will complete the same process, two times, one after another. So, grind, pull and dump followed by another grind, pull and dump.- With Brewed Coffee at max water, 1 serving will yield about 6 ounces. Max dose and water has yielded a satisfying cup of coffee for me.- The espresso machine primes a bit of hot water out of the pour spout before each shot. If I’m not paying attention to it, I’ll get a splash of water into my cup before the machine pulls a shot.- The discarded pucks are pretty dry, have a consistent grind, are well extracted, and have solid water saturation throughout. The machine is efficient at extracting shots.Overall, for the price it’s a very solid at-home machine. I’m ok with what could be better because the machine does produce great tasting espresso/coffee. If it holds up with the regular use in my household, it will pay for itself in about 2 months. Very pleased with the purchase.

I love this machine
I am thrilled with my new coffee machine! This automatic marvel not only grinds the coffee instantly but also prepares the milk perfectly. Every morning, I enjoy a fresh and frothy coffee with no effort. The build quality is excellent, and the modern design fits perfectly in my kitchen. Moreover, it is very easy to use and clean. The size is perfect, fitting neatly on my counter without taking up too much space. It has truly enhanced my daily routine, and I recommend it to all coffee lovers. A perfect purchase!

Stopped working after 3 days
Didn’t even have enough time to get the trash broken in. Stopped working. Empty grounds light stayed on. Phillips customer service tried to help but they couldn’t get it fixed.Returned this and bought a DeLonghi Magnifica Smart and not only does with work, it produces great espresso, the brew group is a simpler design and it was cheaper.Don’t waste your time or money with a Phillips 3300.

Easy to use
This espresso machine is very user friendly and so easy to use and clean. This machine is quiet, which is a plus bc I know some can be loud. I can make a cup of coffee quietly, since I wake up super early to have my coffee and don’t want to wake my family up. The milk frother is a nice addition and makes my hot drinks taste even better. I love the touchscreen and the different options for my favorite hot beverages. The speed in which it makes coffee is amazing. I love my new espresso machine. It produces great coffee every time.

I purchased this item thinking I upgraded from lower models it was bad from the beginning, tried everything, coffees are like water.

I’ve now had the opportunity to try two of these automatic espresso machines over the last couple of weeks. This time it’s the Philips 3326/90.This is a really attractive machine. It definitely looks nice on the counter top. From the product listing I thought that maybe the main display was LCD, but it’s actually printed on the machine with LED indicators around each of the images. Still looks really nice and modern.I did encounter an early problem with this unit. There is no manual in the box. There is a light picture card that provides some instruction, through pictures only, or how to do various things like insert and activate the filter, or froth milk. There are no instructions on how to fully prepare the machine or operate it. The picture card had a QR code on its front with two images that suggested there was information and videos to be found if you follow the QR code. In my case, the QR code brought me to the Philips website with a partial product code — and a code that the Philips website didn’t recognize. When I tried to specify EP3226, EP3226/90, or even just 3300 the website came up blank — no products found. So basically, I had to hope the machine was intuitive enough because I wasn’t finding any written help.NOTE: I later found a third-party website with a manual for a different 3300 model (a Latte-To-Go version). Inside the manual it listed the 3326 as one of the possible variations. The manual seemed to match my unit except for the automatic milk dispenser.Loading coffee beans was easy and this unit has a nicely sloped bean container that directs the beans to the grinder. The grinder only has a small plastic mushroom cap above it so there aren’t too many places for the beans to get stuck. The beans seemed to travel under the cap easy enough. The bean compartment is quite large in comparison to my other automatic, and I also like the fact that the lid to the bean compartment has a gasket that seals it in and reduces the amount of air exposure (for freshness it claims).The bean compartment also has a knob for adjusting the grind size. The range for grind size seemed pretty wide and it defaults to the middle. I personally felt the coffee was a bit weak at that setting so I felt it needed to go finer.Water container is a good size. The water container is very light and it is removed and replaced very smoothly with guides to help it line up properly. Remove it from the machine and fill it from your tap. The container, like many of these new coffee machines, comes with its own “Aqua Clean” filter. I use filtered water to begin with (that didn’t register any hardness at all) so I didn’t bother using the included filter.The unit will often dispense water cleaning itself — a little bit automatically on startup and shutdown — so that water will collect in its rather large drip tray. I personally keep a little container nearby to collect this water to help keep the machine clean. If you rely on the drip tray it can warn you when it needs emptying.This unit has a steamer with no milk dispenser so it’s not *fully* automatic. Select the steam option and after about 10 seconds (the first wait was a bit long) it starts producing steam. I think it will continue to produce steam until you manually stop it. This was my first time using a manual steamer and it was much easier than I thought and the results were pretty good. I can see it takes a certain finesse to get the best results. I was picturing myself splattering milk everywhere but thankfully that didn’t happen.Operating the machine is very easy. Choose from one of the drinks — Espresso, Espresso Lungo, Coffee, Iced Coffee, Hot Water, or the Steam function. Hot Water and Steam are both dispensed from the side arm. Once you’ve selected a drink, you can choose to set the strength, quantity and temperature — each having 3 levels. I always used the default middle options.You’ll then hear the machine grind the beans and within a few seconds it will start dispensing the espresso. The machine claims to be extra quiet but I found that it’s just as loud as my other automatic. I’d say it’s still pretty loud but it’s only for seconds at a time. If you’re trying to make a coffee while the household is sleeping they might hear it.The coffee nozzles glide up and down nicely so you can keep them as close to your cup as possible to minimize splashing.I really enjoyed the end result. I find these automatics produce a slightly more authentic tasting espresso compared to capsule-based machine like Nespresso — and frankly, they’re now almost as easy to operate. I was proud to say that I was able to make a half-decent froth with the steamer too. The froth wasn’t as thick compared to the many automatic frothers I’ve used, though the steamer did a really good job of heating the (fridge cold) milk.There isn’t much to clean on this Philips machine. I disconnected the milk steamer and rinsed it out. Although the machine didn’t alert me yet, I emptied the grounds container by pulling the front tray forward. The tray completely detaches from the machine and this is how to can empty the grounds compartment and dump and water that has collected in the drop tray. Just like the water container, it’s smooth and easy to remove and replace.Overall, this is a well made and well designed machine. I like how it operates and I like its aesthetics. We, however, like milk-based drinks like lattes and cappuccinos. For that reason, I would probably look into one of the models with the automatic milk dispenser. I have that on my other automatic machine and it makes things just that much faster and easier. The steamer on this machine IS easy to use and, frankly, there’s also less to clean but I like the consistent results of the automatic dispenser.My biggest complaint is that the Philips websites don’t seem to be ready for this product yet. It was frustrating being sent to a website for more information, and the website doesn’t know my product. I had lots of questions and no answers at the time. It’s possible I didn’t take full advantage of the machine. I was probably able to navigate the machine a little easier because of my experience with my other automatic machine.Easy to setup, mostly intuitive to operate, and it produces a decent espresso. Milk based drinks are a bit more work but not much. However, a successful froth depends on knowing what you’re doing.