Although it isn’t a Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, the Philips Senseo HD7860 is the latest incarnation of easy to use, relatively instantaneous real coffee makers, using coffee pads.
Upon opening the box to look at your new HD7860/60, you’re likely to be very impressed by its looks. The sales blurb describes it as being designed for people who prefer cubes to spheres. And it certainly has a very modern, sleek design.It comes in either white or black, and measures approximately 25 cm high, 22 cm deep and 17 cm wide.
The first thing that you need to do is to prepare it for first use by flushing the whole system. This is very straightforward, albeit rather noisy for a couple of minutes. It is very quiet in normal operation.
The most important considerations in reviewing the HD7860 are the ease of use and quality of the coffee it produces.
The model comes with two nozzlesand so can produce two cups at one time as well as just one. And has a height adjustable base for the cups, so different cup / mug sizes can easily be used. Mugs or cups up to 115 mm high can readily be accommodated..It takes around 30 seconds to brew one cup, or 50 seconds for two.
The HD7860/60 has a particularly large capacity, holding up to 1.2 litres. This can easily make 8 cups. The output for each serving is 120ml.
The HD7860 has an automatic shut-off feature after 30 minutes, which is very useful.
The coffee pads are much better value than the coffee pods that have been traditionally used in such machines. You can buy the recommended Douwe Egberts pads at around 15 pence each. However, there are many cheaper alternatives and it pays to shop around. You’ll need to get round ones.We have used original and substitute coffee pads and the coffee produced by each has been excellent.
This is a great coffee machine. Its unique selling point is its looks. The HD7860 will look particularly good in a modern kitchen with darker worktop - much better, we think than the traditional, more curvy machines.