Startup with the venting and cleaning cycle is effortless thanks to the well-illustrated and clearly formulated manual. The only catch: There is hardly a vessel having a liter, yet fits under the spout. So one should for flushing from the outset ready hold two cups, which are then placed under alternately empties and subordinated again. One can by a unit for around 350 euros, of course do not expect any technical finesse and lots of comfort, as there is to price range to 1,000 euros but significant differences. It is at the Philips HD8651 for example not possible to adjust the amount of beans per grinding process, you can only by the amount of water that passes through the machine, affecting the strength of the drink. Since the outlet is not movable, the commercial coffee cups can not be used a maximum of 9 cm of height are possible. How much coffee is output per cup, one adjusts during initial setup - but this may change at any time. There is a button for espresso cups and one for regular coffee - ie two different output levels. The mill is in the center position (the machine is delivered) set correctly for our favorite coffee (organic coffee from Alnatura). The adjustment succeeds quite well with the operating instructions and the included plastic tool. The noise level is kept within limits, our "big" Melitta CI makes significantly more noise during grinding. The coffee tastes. Of course, it is only as good as the beans that have been purchased. The temperature is high enough, who are cold milk for coffee, still has a hot coffee. The frothing milk succeed with a little practice and patience, but the subsequent purification (disassembling and washing the items of the foamer) is quite cumbersome. In the long run you will probably want to avoid the hassle. After approximately 15 minutes, the machine switches off - that may help save power, but is sized a bit too short for my taste. After all, it only takes a brief two minutes for the coffee machine is ready for operation after switching on and the preparation of the beverage is then progressing quite rapidly. The cleaning of the brewing unit and the interior including nozzles (weekly recommended) works well using the instructions - unfortunately there is in this machine not automatic cleaning program, not even for the (monthly recommended) descaling. Since it is then a while busy to push little buttons and turning and emptying vessels under the spout. because a 1-liter beaker does not fit now times. Well, once a month is reasonable. Relatively compact this coffee machine, which naturally results in that the water tank with a liter capacity is quite small, if you like, and often reaches for the coffee. Frequent fetching water remains insufficient, about 4 to 5 cups are possible per fill as a coffee cup holds up to 0.2 liters of fluid and the machine already requested water when still a significant residue in the tank. My conclusion: All in all, the Philips should come HD8651 / 01 coffee machine especially for small households in question, if space is available. Or for the office. Or for people who are already satisfied with one or two cups of coffee per day. Whether the machine will justify the significant price for long term remains to be seen. I would, however, in a little more expected for 350 euros from the beginning of comfort, especially as cleaning and descaling programs concerned.
