I have a confession to make. I didn’t set up the Senseo Latte Select myself. The day after it arrived I went to open the box and Alex had already pulled it out and put it together! Of course as I hadn’t done it myself, I had no idea where the instructions were (they were in the box next to my desk). At least now I can confidently tell you that it’s possible to use this machine without the manual.

Had I set up the Latte Select I would have had little drama. There are very few attachable parts (6 parts which make 3 components) and the instructions have a whole series of little diagrams to help you on your way – 50 of them in fact. Before you use the machine for the first time, it’s probably a good idea to flush it out first. All this entails is running water through before adding the milk and coffee.

The controls to run the machine are fairly simplistic as well. There is the on/off button, the one-cup button and the two-cup button. At the top of the Latte Select are the buttons to choose whether you have a black coffee, white coffee or latte. You can also choose the size of your coffee.

The Coffee is put into the Latte Select machine via their cleverly designed coffee ‘pods’. These pods are like round, flat tea bags – only they’re full of coffee. One of these pods can make a couple of lattes but they do lose strength. So far I’ve tried two different types of coffee pods and I like.

Things I like about the Latte Select:
• It has quite a large water container which means I don’t have to constantly refill.
• It comes with a rather nice Coffee recipe booklet.
• It’s easy to use if you are really rubbish at reading manuals.

Things I don’t like about the Latte Select:-

• It’s not easy to clean. I had to get a long handled brush to clean under the cup tray and the entire milk container has to be removed and pulled apart with every use.
• It doesn’t appear to have longevity as some of the parts seem quite flimsy.
• The Latte Select can only be used with Senseo Coffee pods, which is a bugger if you’re quite particular about your coffee.

If you’ve been wanting a coffee machine for a while but don’t want to pay top dollar then this could be the machine for you. It warms up quickly, it’s not too noisy and it makes a decent coffee. If you are a total coffee snob then stay far away.

With an RRP of £150.00, it's available from Amazon, Phillips and Comet.

For more details see www.senseo.co.uk