Written by Metin KARAL – Review Editor
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If you are looking for an automatic coffee machine for making your favorite coffee drinks with a few touches, the Siemens EQ500 Coffee Machine might be your first choice. It is a mid-range automatic coffee maker with great features. We have been using and testing EQ500 for about two years and this time is enough for a detailed coffee maker review. In addition, frequently, I’ll compare EQ500 with another Siemens coffee maker, EQ300 in terms of features and hands-on experience.
Before Starting…
Before starting Siemens EQ500 review, you should ask yourself a basic question: Do I need an Automatic Coffee Machine? Many people may answer as “Of course, why not?”. But sometimes, it is not the case.
Many coffee lovers want full control over the coffee they make. They want to customize and make fine tuning of Coffee strength, heat and brewing time which are very important for a delicious Coffee.
If you are one of them, Fully Automatic Coffee Machines might not be for you. That kind of customization options are usually limited at automatic Coffee machines. For this reason, it is a good idea to find a manual, semi-automatic Coffee machine or just a simple MOKA POT. They give you more fine-tuning options in the expense of quick “best” standard coffee taste.
But, if you want to make fast and above the average Coffee, Siemens EQ500 might be a good choice for you.
Overview and Specs
Siemens EQ500 is a mid-range automatic coffee maker. Siemens offers a range of automatic coffee makers, from premium models like the Siemens EQ900 to simpler options like the Siemens EQ300, and the EQ500 stays just in the middle of those models. What I liked about the EQ500 is that it combines high-value features with an affordable price. EQ500 coffee machine has an elegant and user-friendly design. All your customizations and settings are displayed on the TFT screen. Actually, Siemens EQ300’s TFT screen is also fine, but EQ500 is more feature rich and convenient. It has a WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) design.
Siemens EQ500 Coffee Machine – Key Features
| Feature | |
|---|---|
| Display | Colorful and TFT-touch |
| Bean Container | 270 gr |
| Weight (kg) | 8.5 kg |
| Water Reservoir | 1.7 Liters, side loading |
| Pressure | 15 Bar |
| Noise | 62 db (Grinder) |
| oneTouch DoubleCup | Yes |
| Max Cup Height | 13 cm |
| Auto off | Yes, programmable |
| Cup Warmer | No |
| Operation | Automatic |
| Milk Frothing | Tube |
| Grinder | Ceramic, 3 grind settings |
| Coffee Input | Ground + Bean |
| Wattage | 1.500 W |
 |
First Impressions & Build Quality
My first impression after box opening was “what an elegant coffee maker!”. The reason was, its piano black color, of course. That color makes it really cool! Beside impressive color, it has a stylish design. Neither big, nor small. All parts (grinder, screen, buttons etc.) are arranged in a convenient location and size. That makes it very compact. Build quality is also fine for a mid-range coffee maker.
Bean Container & Grinder
Similar to the Siemens EQ.300 model, Siemens EQ500 has a convenient bean container, at the top right of the coffee machine. To add coffee beans, simply remove the top cover of the bean container and fill it up. Siemens EQ500 has a 270 gr bean container. This is really enough for regular home usage.
Actually, it is not a good idea to fully fill that bean container with bean coffee. Reason is simple: it is best to store coffee beans away from open air and light, as they start to lose their aroma. For this reason, Keep the coffee beans, if possible, in their original packaging; if not, store them in a sealed, light-resistant container. As a rule of thumb, fill the bean container just for one- or two-days use of coffee, not much. Bean hoppers are not good places for long term coffee bean storage.
The EQ500 grinds the coffee beans just before brewing the coffee. For this reason, you can get fresh and tasty coffee. In contrast to Siemens EQ300 model, EQ500 can use ground coffee! It is located just front of bean container. If you prefer using ground coffee, you can easily switch the input source through the graphical interface. Although I prefer using bean coffee, option for ground coffee is a big plus.
EQ500 has a ceramic grinder. Ceramic grinders are superior to stainless-steel type grinders. Stainless-steel grinders tend to heat up quickly during use, causing coffee beans to burn and ruining the flavor of the coffee you make. Fortunately, Siemens EQ500 has ceramic grinder, and you will not meet such a thing.
What I love most about the EQ500 is its silent coffee bean grinder. Bean grinders are the noisiest parts of automatic coffee machines. With a noise level of 62 dB, it’s impressively silent for an automatic coffee machine (compared to 67 dB on the EQ300). Having used both the Siemens EQ300 and EQ500, I can confidently say that the EQ500 is significantly quieter. But don’t expect much! All coffee grinders are noisy! EQ500 is the second nosiest device in my home! (First one is my Shark StainStriker cleanler, which is really noisy). If you want complete silence, you can use ground coffee at Siemens EQ500. This is a big plus.
Grind Adjustment
On top of the bean container, there is a grinder adjustment knob. You can change size of grinded beans with this manuel knob between three grinder option. Not frequently used feature, but you can make more customised coffee with this knob.
User Interface
At the upper center of EQ500, there is a colored TFT screen. All controls and managements are seen at this clear screen. It is not touchable; it is designed only for display purposes and does its jobs.
At the upper part of the touch panel, there are four buttons—two on the left and two on the right of the central TFT screen. These buttons primarily provide additional customization options.
Upper Buttons
Select two-coffee button is for selecting either one or two cups of coffee. If you need two of the same type of coffee quickly, the two-cup option can be very convenient. (Though I don’t use it anymore, to be honest!)
Adjust coffee hardness button is for adjusting hardness of coffee. As you change hardness of coffee, it is displayed at the middle of TFT screen. Actually, I like changing hardness of coffee with different coffee beans, and this easy option is very convenient. In addition, not all coffee beans are equal! Some coffee beans give softer, and some other give harder coffee. In that case, you can easily adjust the hardness according to your pleasure.
Adjust quantity (ml) of coffee button is for changing amount of coffee (in ml). For example, if you choose Espresso, it starts from 30 ml. and as you press the button, it increments 5-ml each time up to 50-ml at most. At Coffee Crema (Americano), amounts change accordingly. This is absolutely one of the best features of Siemens EQ.500.
Menu button for extra options. There are many more options under that Menu.
Lower Buttons
In the lower part of control panel, there are four predefined buttons for coffee brewing options and one button for milk heating option.
Predefined coffee drink options:
- Espresso
- Coffee Crema (Americano)
- Cappuccino
- Latte macchiato
As you switch coffee types, images of the selected type are displayed on the upper colored TFT screen. Additionally, a blue LED light illuminates just above the chosen coffee. That’s really useful.
Drink Options
Similar to Siemens EQ300, Siemens EQ500 have 4 predefined one-touch coffee options. If you prefer default values, you just choose coffee picture and press start/stop button. That’s all! EQ500 do the rest.
If you want to make a custom coffee, you have extra options. One of them is, hardness. Some people like softer coffee, whereas others prefer harder one. Fortunately, changing coffee hardness is also very easy. Just press coffee bean button as you wish. Other option is coffee amount in milliliter. You can change coffee amount just by pressing ml button. In Espresso mode, each pressing increase amount 5 milliliter (30-35-40 etc.) but in Caffe Crema mode each pressing, increase amount 20 ml (80-100-120 etc.). This increment is different in other coffee modes. This property was not available at Siemens EQ 300, and I loved it very much 🙂
>> Read Real AMAZON user reviews for Siemens EQ.500
There are 4 predefined coffee drink options:
Espresso – Espresso is the base of other coffee types. Most of the other coffees are derived from one shot espresso, which is about 1 ounce (around 25-30 ml and adjustable) and usually extracted from 6 grams of coffee. With the Espresso program you get 1 shot espresso. It is a bit strong coffee. If you are not familiar with espresso you may find it very hard to drink but it is usually the best coffee for coffee lovers!
Coffee Crema or Americano – When you see “Crema” word you may think that it is a milky coffee, but it is not! If you chose this program, you will get diluted espresso with aromatic froth. That is somehow similar to filter coffee or americano but a bit more intense and smells remarkable. Try it!
Cappuccino – There are two stages in preparing Cappuccino: Firstly, you must pour some (around 2/5 of a cup) milk to a cup. Then place it under the spout. In order to froth the milk, you should place the milk nozzle into the milk. Rest is straight forward. Super-automatic Siemens EQ500 will froth and heat your milk. Consequently, your coffee is added and you get delicious Cappuccino.
Latte Macchiato – Preparing Latte Macchiato with Siemens EQ500 is same as preparing Cappuccino, except you must use less milk. Personally, I prefer Latte Macchiato. Milk foam of Macchiato is denser than cappuccino. Spread of coffee over milk is also great.
Milk Froth – Although it is not related to preparing coffee, you can prepare only milk froth by Milk Button. With Milk Froth option, you can prepare many more other coffee types.
Espresso Quality
EQ500 espresso taste is rather good. But, I must admit that the taste of coffee mainly depends on the quality and freshness of the coffee beans you use. If you use lower quality beans, you may get soar or acidic brewing. In my experience, %100 arabica coffee beans do not produce best coffee. It is usually acidic taste. Best espresso is produced by arabica and robusta blends. Usually, medium and dark-roasted coffee is the best for espresso also. For this reason, I prefer blended espresso coffee beans. In addition, as I expressed before, you can increase or decrease the coffee amount at EQ500. Keep in mind that as you increase the amount, the coffee becomes more diluted. That’s why I prefer a 30 ml espresso, which I think strikes the perfect balance.
Milk Frothing Drinks
The Siemens EQ500 provides two creamy coffee choices: Cappuccino and Latte Macchiato. If you’re a fan of this kind of coffee, you’ll likely enjoy these beverages. The milk texture is quite satisfactory but not as good as semi-automatic Breville Barista Express Impress Espresso Machine. But don’t forget, EQ500 is an automatic coffee machine and makes “best standart” coffee with minimal effort.
Milky Coffee and Cleaning
Siemens EQ 300 has an external Milk Nozzle for milky coffees. It is very convenient and best thing with that nozzle; its cleaning is very easy. You just wash that external nozzle. That’s all!
On the other hand, Siemens EQ 500 has a completely different milky coffee preparation mechanism. It has an external pipe. When you want to make milky coffee, you dip that nozzle to milk container. EQ 500 pulls milk from that milk container and makes milky coffee at the end. Actually, it works fairly well. Some Siemens EQ 500 models, includes a milk container (like TQ505R09 model) but EQ 500 classic (TP505R01 model) is also fine.
One of the most boring things with automatic coffee machines is cleaning. In Siemens EQ300, milk does not enter to the coffee machine. No internal pipeline = Very easy cleaning + Hygiene. But, in Siemens EQ500, milk enters to coffee machine, to some extent. For this reason, you must make a fully automatic steam cleaning of milk system. Not as practical as EQ300, but not difficult at EQ500. Just be careful about hygiene.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Silent
- Easy to Use Menu
- Tasty Coffee
- Big Water Reservoir
Cons
- Non-Adjustable Coffee Temperature
What We Liked
- One of the most silent automatic coffee machine in the market with 62 db grinding noise
- Colored screen and easy-to-use menu makes it very convenient. You can make all adjustments with a few button-touch
- Predefined four types of coffee drink options makes tasty coffee
- Adjustable drink quantity
- Ceramic grinder
- Big water reservoir and bean container
- Good price for premium quality
What Would be Better?
- Adjustable coffee temperature would be good, but not common at that price range.
- After milky coffee drinks, you must clean milk system (fortunately not difficult!)
Siemens EQ500 Review Summary
After using 3 years of Siemens EQ300 use, Siemens EQ500 was a real big JUMP! It has many improvements and new features over EQ300.
The most I loved in EQ500 is, its silence. It has a more silent coffee grinder (62 db) and this is really great for such an automatic coffee machine. You can use it even in the morning, without disturbing others. (Almost 🙂 ).
In summary, the Siemens EQ500 Classic Automatic Coffee Machine is a solid mid-range option loaded with great features. It makes quality coffee in a short time. The price is pretty reasonable and affordable, especially when you take its unique features into account.
Compare Popular Budget Automatic Coffee Machines
| Siemens EQ500 | Siemens EQ300 | Philips 3200 | Melitta Solo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | TFT | LCD | Touchscreen | None |
| Bean Container | 270 gr | 250 gr | 275 gr | 125 gr |
| Water Tank | 1.7 L | 1.4 L | 1.8 L | 1.2 L |
| Pump | 15 Bar | 15 Bar | 15 Bar | 15 Bar |
| Grinder Prog. | 3 | 3 | 12 | 3 |
| Grinder | Ceramic | Ceramic | Ceramic | Steel |
| Cup Warmer | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Input | Ground + Bean | Bean | Ground + Bean | Bean |
| Noise | 62 db | 67 db | 70 db | – |
| Weight | 8.5 Kg | 7.3 Kg | 9.57 Kg | 8.1 Kg |
| Watt | 1.500 | 1.300 | 1.500 | 1.400 |
| | | |
Where to Buy?
Buy From Amazon
Alternatively, buy From Producer, Siemens
Siemens EQ500 Automatic Coffee Machine Review
Summary
The Siemens EQ500 Classic Automatic Coffee Machine is a mid-range model packed with impressive features. Having used the EQ300 for over three years, I can confidently say that the EQ500 is a significant upgrade from its predecessor.
Written by Metin Karal
Metin Karal is a Computer Engineer and He is interested in reviewing products that He used or liked. He also likes programming in C#. Currently, He is developing a really challenging memory game, PairMem which is available at Official Microsoft Store for free download.
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