At the end of last year we got ourselves a new coffee maker: the Philips LatteGo 5500. This is a lovely machine. It’s a super-automatic espresso maker that grinds beans, pulls espresso shots, and steams milk all on its own. If you fill it with good beans, it can make delicious coffee drinks at home with little effort.

The 5500 can make a lot of drinks. I couldn’t find a description of what the differences are, so I made my own list. It took months for me to try every drink. This was partially because I prefer iced drinks in hot weather, but also because I didn’t want to waste good coffee.

Front Panel

Drink Description Espresso Steamed Milk
Espresso Just espresso Normal
Coffee A long pour Long
Americano Espresso and hot water Normal
Cappuccino Steam milk followed by espresso. It might just by my imagination, but it seems that the milk is being steamed to be more airy than for than the Latte Normal Before Espresso
Latte Macchiato Steamed milk followed by espresso Normal Before Espresso
Iced Coffee A long pour, poured slower at a lower temperature Normal
Iced Latte Steamed milk into ice followed by espresso Normal Before Espresso

More Drinks → Hot

Drink Description Espresso Steamed Milk
Caffè Crema This seems the same as the Americano Normal
Ristretto A shorter (stronger) shot of espresso. It doesn’t seem that much smaller than a normal espresso shot… Short
Espresso Lungo Slightly bigger than a normal espresso shot Long
Café au Lait A long pour followed by a small bit of steamed milk Long After Espresso
Caffè Latte Espresso followed by steamed milk Normal After Espresso
Flat White A little bit of steamed milk followed by two espresso shots Normal Before Espresso
Travel Mug Two long pours (or more), with an adjustable temperature Long
Milk Froth Just steamed milk None Yes
Hot Water Just hot water None

More Drinks → Iced

Drink Description Espresso Steamed Milk
Iced Espresso Espresso, poured slower at a lower temperature Normal
Iced Americano Espresso and hot water Normal
Iced Caffe Crema Long pour, poured slower at a lower temperature Long
Iced Cappuccino Steamed milk followed by espresso Normal Before Espresso
Iced Cafe au Lait Long pour followed by steamed milk Long After Espresso
Iced Cafe Latte Espresso followed by a bit of steamed milk Normal After Espresso

All of the drinks with Iced in the name ask you to put ice in the cup before you can adjust the settings and press start.

One of the most significant differences between some of the drink variations is when milk is steamed, either before or after the espresso is pulled. All of the drinks which steam milk after the espresso are in the More Drinks menu. This is a bit annoying for me, since I prefer the Caffè Latte to the Macchiato.

(I realize complaining about the order of espresso and milk is pretty snobby, even for me.)

It was a fun experiment. I was most surprised by the Iced Latte setting. I thought it would be weird steaming milk into ice, but it worked great. The foam was nice and cold by the time the espresso was done, but it still kept a fair bit of its froth. This is now my favourite iced drink.