L'OR Barista System Coffee and Espresso Machine Combo by Philips, Matte Black

Bought one of these machines two years ago. Two weeks after the warranty expired, the machine had issues with a computer chip. I called the company, sent them a video of the issue and they, in fact, replaced the machine with no questions asked. Being nice on the phone helped as I am sure any customer service people get reamed on most calls. The operator was gracious and followed up and through to ensure we were satisfied. I just do not see the poor reviews as we had zero issues. Read all the instructions. The coffee is terrific, flavors of the L ' OR are over the top, including the best decaf ever, unbelievably great and the brew time is less than a minute for a great, hot and enjoyable European style coffee. if you like deep flavorful coffee, this is your machine. We dislike the franchise coffees as they are over roasted. Not this coffee. If you are a coffee lover, this machine is for you. The stainless steel, recyclable pods, run about sixty cents to 75 cents per cup which is well-below the 6 to eight bucks you will pay for a coffee at the chains. Never had a leak and durability is great. Our issue was a bad computer chip. Buy the Phillips descaler, as recommended. It is citrus based and other brands with vinegar will damage the machine. This is spelled out in the warranty. It is more expensive to buy this descaler but like your vehicle, you use top quality oil to maintain your vehicle. Use what the manufacturer recommends! There are NO issues here with the quality of the machine, coffee or taste. We use filtered water, which makes descaling less frequent. Highly suggest you do this. We drink a lot of coffee, prefer a good, bold cup, not the watery cup from most coffees. This coffee maker brews under very high pressure, which yields a fantastic cup of coffee. We are 1,000% pleased and the company stands by their products.

I have been wanting an espresso maker like this for a very long time, but since I am on a tight budget, I really could not justify the splurge -- not just for the cost of the machine itself, but for the cost of pods as well. Recently, an Amazon account credit, gift certificate and Amazon sale resulted in my being able to finally order the L'OR. It did not come with instructions, which maybe most people don't need, but as a neophyte espresso machine person, I would have appreciated some basic "how to's". I did watch a video on the L'OR website, which was helpful, as it included how to get the spigots off in order to clean the machine properly. Not having a basic instruction booklet is the only complaint I have about the machine. I am in LOVE with it!! I am currently enjoying the samples that came free with my order, and so far the Onyx is my favorite. I had researched both this machine and the Nespresso equivalent trying to decide which would be the best for me, and the deciding factor is that this L'OR can make both espressos and a regular size cup of coffee. You can make small, medium and large espressos as well as small, medium and large coffees. The large coffee is LARGE! I had put a regular size coffee cup under the spigots, then had to switch it out. I used a soup cup instead as it was what I could quickly reach, and that cup was filled. Obviously the more water you use, the weaker the brew is, but with the stronger intensity of coffees this is a great option to have. I registered my machine with L'OR and can order the pods directly from them or from Amazon. I have not yet tried to use the Nespresso pods that are supposed to fit this machine, primarily because the L'OR espresso and coffee options are plentiful. I will still use my regular old coffee maker to make pitchers of iced coffee when needed, but my L'OR is perfect for those mornings when you need a good cup of coffee quickly or need a shot of espresso to start your day -- or after dinner! I used the espresso pods on small to add to some espresso martinis I recently made for company, and the shots were perfect! This machine is very easy to use, very easy to clean and so far I have not had any trouble with the pods sticking as some reviewers have had. You do need to be sure to pull the top up all the way before the pods will pop out, so if you have the machine located in an area with a lot of "head" space above the machine, I can see pods getting stuck. There is nothing blocking the top of my machine, so I am able to open the top all the way. While the water tank is easy to take out and put back, since it is a the back of the machine and I am somewhat lazy, I just leave the tank attached and fill it using a small pitcher of filtered water (not required, I just prefer to use filtered water as it helps keep build up to a minimum). I am very happy with my L'OR and while I had a wait a while to get it, it was well worth the wait. Enjoying a nice cup of coffee has quickly become a part of my lazy Sunday morning routine, as well as a quick espresso treat here and there. I am learning how to make lattes, cappucinos and espressos, and how to "properly" froth milk -- which honestly, I don't care how the froth looks, as is just for me! :) If you have been on the fence about buying this machine, then do yourself a favor and go for it!!

I had not had any plans to buy a pod based coffee maker again. I have a major brand that starts with a K and was never very happy with it. I prefer strong coffee and I always found the coffee from this machine to be weak and not pleasing to my taste. This machine popped up in my Black Friday deals and it had a sizable discount so I was a bit intrigued. The product description really went out of their way to tout the robust coffee flavor and brewing method. When I asked about the flavor strength the vendor again went out of their way to stress their brewing method and pods which they assured me gave good strong flavor. The reviews were uniformly very positive. Given Amazon's liberal return policy I thought I would give it a try. Set up was a bit quirky. The instructions provided did not cover all the pieces to the machine and I was left trying to figure out how several of the pieces fit together. Specifically the empty pod collection container. I had no idea what it was and where it fit until I saw a completely unrelated diagram that gave me a clue of where it fit. In case you are wondering what I mean - there is a large hollow gray piece that is meant to fit behind the coffee output nozzles. There was also another smaller grey piece that was not detailed in the main instruction page and was referenced on a small separate piece of paper I am almost missed as it was stuck in the bottom of the box. So make sure you look for that. As for the main instructions it felt like they were designed to be language free and only use pictures so that they did not need to have a bunch of different versions. To sum all of this up - the instructions need a separate comprehensive section that details ALL of the pieces and how to properly install them. I also think that the usage instructions might need to be revisited and consider adding some writing in addition to the pictures. (No need to try and be like ikea with their 'it will take you all day to figure it out instructions'.) Once I got everything put together and running I was impressed with how quickly it got up to temp and ready to brew. Very very pleased with the taste of the coffee. Even the medium strength pods brewed a reasonably robust cup. The strong version was excellent. It also makes a very nice Crema (froth layer) on the top of the cup. I have yet to try the espresso pod, saving them for when I run out of the others as a treat for myself. A nice little touch is the aforementioned used pod receptacle - when you lift the top to put in a new pod it automatically ejects the used pod into the receptacle. Nice usability design. So overall as a coffee maker I think it is fantastic. Minor downside is that because it is so easy to brew a quick cup I might end up drinking too much coffee. Update after one week: (Important) - as mentioned above, used pods are ejected down into the grey container. You need to pay attention how quickly the container fills up because it is easy to lift lever and have it try and force a pod into it and possibly getting stuck. (totally did not happen to me….) I think the water reservoir should be larger. I am getting about 3 cups of coffee before I have to fill it up again. Personally I think it should be large enough to hold 5 cups of water. Thankfully it’s right next to the sink so refilling it’s not really a problem. I just think it will be more convenient with a larger reservoir. Oh BTW - Make sure you grab the coupon that gives you a bunch of free pods. I almost missed that. (Funny side note: I saw the Vine reviews and I am a Vine reviewer, and unfortunately this had not popped up on my available to get list. -We don't all get the same list of products available for review. So I ended up paying for it.)

UPDATE TO UPDATE: i'm don'e with L'or. The machine is not available in the states anymore, and the price of the pods is borderline fraudulent. Very disappointed in Peet's Coffee and L'or for gouging the consumers. UPDATE TO PREVIOUS REVIEW. As of 10/24/2025, this unit is unavailable at Amazon, and so are most of the coffee pods. Yes, many espresso pods available, probably left overs like the last coffee pods I purchased here. It's either that or L'or is controlling inventory and forcing you to buy from them at a higher price. As stated in previous review, the system is awesome, the company is awful, and this just further confirms how horrible they are. Now I have a machine and can't buy the L'or Coffee pods so easily here. AVOID L'OR. WORST COMPANY EVER. STICK WITH NESPRESSO WHERE YOU CAN EASILY FIND THE COFFEE PODS. Let me say first I replaced my Nespresso machine the this. The L'OR machine is good as far as coffee/espresso brewing and quality. The drip pan is too close to the nozzles if you regularly use coffee cups, it's fine for tiny espresso cups. When brew is finished, nozzles continue to drip unlike the Nespresso machines that never drip. After receiving the machine, I made the mistake of ordering pods, both coffee and espresso, from L'OR. Big mistake....do NOT order direct. It's more expensive (even with their discount) and unreliable. 6 days later, and i get an email saying it's taking longer than expected and that I may have recd my order and I may not have recd my order. Well, no I didn't receive my order (can't make this up, they really seemed not to know). I go to website and it says unfulfilled. I call and rep says she's not sure why, but she "thinks" one of the items I ordered may be out of stock. Really, 6 days later and they haven't restocked and are just barely telling me they are out. Rep couldn't tell me when product would ship. If I had bought through Amazon, I would have had product in 2 days. Not sure I really like the idea of dealing with L'OR and now wish I had kept my fool-proof Nespresso machine. So hear I sit, a nice coffee/espresso system and no pods thanks to L'OR. Keep your Nespresso if you like reliable and easy to purchase coffee pods. This company sucks. Oh, and representative acted like she could have cared less. She obviously doesn't drink her own product or would have realized being out of coffee pods is not a joke.

I've had this Barista system for about a month now and find that the espresso is delicious! I use it daily and am glad that I made the purchase. However, the system isn't perfect, so I'd like to go over a few pros and cons. Overall, though, as much as I enjoy the espresso capsules, I find the coffee capsules to be harsh and bitter. And I am talking really harsh and bitter. I will investigate whether Nespresso coffee capsules are compatible with this machine, as I will not be reordering any of the L'OR coffee capsules--and I purchased all of the flavors. All of the espresso pods, though, are rich, tasty, and worthwhile. Pros: Great tasting Espresso pods. I've tried all the intensities, including Ristretto Or Absolu, and Columbian and find the taste(s) outstanding. I like that the intensity levels are listed on each box. The machine is attractive and warms/heats up very quickly. The system is also very, very quiet compared to my Keurig coffee maker that I have. The system recognizes the difference between the espresso and coffee pods, which is great for measuring automatically the amount it dispenses for either small, medium or large cups. I think the pricing per capsule is actually pretty reasonable. Savvy and value shopping can make the pricing even more affordable. Cons: The coffees are bitter and harsh. They have clever names like Bonjour, Provocateur and Le Tigre, but they don't tell you anything about the coffees except for light, medium or dark. I don't know if they are 100% arabica beans or robusta, or if they are blended, or really what they are. The vanilla flavored coffee is so harsh, that I was surprised it was actually vanilla, which is one of the smoother spices out there. In a blind taste test, the vanilla flavor was so overpowering, I actually thought it was cinnamon. If you have a Keurig or other coffee maker, don't throw it away. You'll still need it. The L'OR system excels in everything except the taste of coffee. Also, since it is designed as an espresso machine, there is not enough room on the bottom platform for a decent sized coffee cup. The platform can be removed for taller cups, which I pretty much need to do every time I use it to make a cup of coffee. One reason the price is relatively affordable (for what it is), is that the unit includes no milk foamer/frother. There are a lot of these available separately for purchase on Amazon through different vendors, at very reasonable prices, and it is absolutely a must have if you like to make cappuccinos or lattes or creative tasting coffees. If you don't have one, it is imperative that you order one at the same time you order the L'OR barista system, or you will be missing out on most of the machine's capabilities. The machine is attractive and lightweight but made entirely out of plastic. It looks more substantial than it really is. I hope it will hold up over time because it appears to be very flimsily made. Also, it has a reservoir to hold the empty capsules, but you still have to empty the reservoir about once every 7-10 uses. Nice idea, but only a bit of a time saver. The reservoir that holds the water isn't very large either but it is more than sufficient for making espresso, which doesn't use a lot of water (compared to coffee). You won't get very far with the water reservoir if you're using the machine primarily for coffee (you can get about two to three large cups of coffee out of it, before refilling). The pods are labeled at the very bottom/underneath of each pod with smooth unlabeled aluminum on top. This makes it very difficult to differentiate one pod from another--especially if you are storing them in a pod/capsule holder. I keep them in the cardboard boxes them come in, so I can differentiate one flavor from another. All of the pictures of the L'OR barista system (in the marketing, on the boxes, etc.) display the L'OR branded coffee mugs or espresso cups. Sadly, none of them are available for purchase. I was hoping to buy these separately, as they look so good with the system but they cannot be purchased at this time. The lungo (coffee) and espresso mugs/cups are available for purchase in England and in Australia, but they are not available for purchase in the United States. Also, the agreements the manufacturer has with each country does not allow the mugs to be shipped overseas, so if you live in the United States, you simply cannot get them. Too bad, as I would buy a set, and they are actually very reasonably priced (overseas). L'OR is missing out on a huge add-on marketing opportunity by not making their branded double-thermal espresso cups and coffee mugs available for purchase. In summary, the L'OR system is terrific for espressos, and lattes and cappuccinos (with separately purchased milk frother/steamer). For coffee, the taste is acidic and bitter, and there are better options out there for making coffee. Recommended. Espresso System made in Romania. Coffee(s) made in France.

In short, just fantastic. Easy to use, it makes a great cup of coffee. Looking just like the pictures. The XL capsules, are L'OR exclusive as far as I can tell. For the other ones, any regular-shaped "nespresso shaped" capsule will work. Not the new virtuosa. The machine offers a small, medium, and large selection for each size capsule. The large size on a small capsule will let you pull it through long and press it again to stop. In the morning I use an XL capsule, with the medium size and it fills up a good size cup. For the XL I have only been able to find L'OR exclusive capsules and no other brands that fit. It is easy enough to order from their website, with freebees, and free shipping. Flavour profiles are good enough for me. If you want different flavours, there are more choices out there from many different brands in the small-size capsule. Easy, to put together and operate. It does not make any "milk" drinks i.e. cappuccino etc. It makes a great cup of coffee, consistently from small to large. The end result looks just like the pictures displayed, which is rare. I have been using it for about 2 months and still love it. There is some expected noise when brewing, but nothing too loud. I use it in the kitchen, early in the morning and it does not wake anyone up when their doors are closed. So, if you like coffee without the milky stuff added, it is just fantastic!!!

I gave LOR along with their pods this rating for 2 years of service to me in an over the road Semi truck. Loved the machine and the coffee. Pods became harder to get and my machine started leaking . Would have purchased another without hesitation but no longer available. Bought a Ninja specialty machine since I don’t care for Kureg or espresso. It’s a shame they couldn’t maintain .

I purchased my L'OR Barista in Dec 2023 and a year later I couldn't be happier with it. In the past, I have gone through the full gamit of buying pod and home espresso machines hoping to find one that could come close to replicating my iced coffee drink that I would typically buy daily from one of our many local coffee stands. I'm in the Seattle area so those stands are pretty much everywhere and the cost adds up. I've tried the fancier espresso machines but they were a bit cumbersome, time consuming, messt and inconsistent for me personally. I really just wanted a machine that could give me tasty crema espresso shots without all the hardwork, guessing, and mess. At the time I found the L'OR last year, my monthly coffee expense was averaging around $195.00. (I'm ashamed, trust me). I didn't have high hopes for this machine, having been through so many other machine breakups but thought I'd give it a try being it was through Amazon and I wouldn't have to donate it to another friend if things didn't work out. I ordered the machine where, at the time, it had the option to buy the barista with a heavily discounted multi flavor/intensity espresso and coffee "kit" which, I did. When it arrived, I quickly set it up added water to the tank and made myself 2 shots of their lungo espresso. Fitst thing I noticed was the amount of crema. It was unlike anything I was able to get when pulling shots by hand with my other machines. Again, I don't claim to be a barista so my past shot failure attempts were likely due to my own competence but the ease and simplicity at which the L'OR was creating these nice shots was exactly what I had been searching for for years! After playing around with the different flavors, strengths and types, I found that the perfect espresso pod for my particular drink was the #10 estremo so I added it my auto ship and never looked back! The machine itself has never caused me any issues. It's a work horse. I use it daily and it's never let me down. Are there a few design flaws that I think they could improve on ? Sure. 1. The water reservoir placement on the back might be more practical if it was on the side of the machine towards the front for those who keep their machine on the countertop but under cabinets. In order to fill the reservoir, you need overhead access to the back to fill it. You can fill it two ways. Either by lifting the tank straight up and off the machine or by removing the tanks lid to refill it while it's still attached. Either way, you'll need adequate space above the machine whenever you refill it if you don't want to slide the entire machine out from under lower cabinets everytime. 2. The tanks reservoir lid itself can be a bit finicky. The lid sits flush inside the top of the tank without any handle to grasp onto when taking it off or putting it back on. This poor design makes it very easy to drop the lid directly into the tank when either pulling the lid off or putting it back on. I've contemplated super gluing something to the top of the lid itself so I can actually grip onto it to avoid dropping into the tank. It's happened to me an annoying amount of times and I'd seen others complain of this in their reviews as well. 3. Design of the internal empty pod bin is sort of well...blegh, I guess? I have a couple gripes about it. It does fill up rather quickly and you won't realize you need to empty it until you go and pull up the lever to insert a new coffee pod and it "jams" which by design, the lever you lift up lowers and flips the pod basket upside down to empty the last used pod into the bin directly below it. However if the empties stack up too high, you'll pull up the lever and there won't be enough clearance below for the basket to drop and flip because it's crushing down onto the empty pods. On top of that, emptying out the bin can be quick but it's also a procedure. Basically you have to take off the removable tray base and then pull and slide the fixed tray towards you, which in turn pulls out the empty bin that sits on top of the internal drip tray. The empty bin can't be emptied on its own. The peek "hole" you see behind the nozzle is just that. It's to see how high your empty pods are. It's not there to pull the bin out when it's time to empty like many would assume. Once you have it pulled out you lift and empty out the old pods then you also will need to empty and clean the internal drip tray. Then you'll stack the tray and bin back up and slide it (all together) back into the unit where it lightly snaps into place. The internal empty bin design seems to be a bit overkill but I suppose since the drip tray is also hidden inside it's a way to make sure the old coffee and drip tray gets emptied and rinsed out regularly being that it's out of sight, outta mind. I would also like to reiterate that regardless of the "flaws" I noted above, I am still in love with this machine. What I believe to be flaws might be exactly what others like about it. For me, the importance of having a smaller machine that could consistently make me yummy shots of espresso by just a touch of a button was key. And my machine had fully paid for itself 6 weeks after I bought it. My normal drink is a 24oz iced, white chocolate, Americano topped with a splash of milk or cream (if I'm feeling fancy). Last year prior to buying the L'OR, I was paying $6.50 a day that includes a dollar tip. I use bulk Ghirardelli white chocolate powder, the