Miele CM 6360 vs CM 7750: is the flagship worth it?

Miele CM 6360 vs CM 7750 at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on my testing and the manufacturer specs. Rows where the two machines are identical have no winner.

Keep in mind that the tally is not my verdict. Some rows matter far more than others, and which ones matter depends on how your household drinks coffee.

Design, size and build

This is where the decision starts for many kitchens, because the two machines are not the same size class.

The Miele CM 6360 measures about 9.9 inches wide, 14.1 inches tall and 16.8 inches deep and weighs about 22 pounds. Its low-profile bean hopper keeps it short enough for most cabinets.

The Miele CM 7750 is about 12.25 inches wide, 16.6 inches tall and 17.5 inches deep, and at about 31 pounds it felt like a permanent fixture. Lifting it to clean underneath was a two-handed job.

The CM 6360 packs eight profiles and a glass milk container into a compact body.

Width on the counter

Both need a few extra inches beside them for the glass milk container.

Both are well finished. The CM 6360 comes in white and two black versions, and its top is a heated cup warmer.

The CM 7750’s top is a heated and illuminated cup warmer, and a magnetic door on its side hides the pre-ground chute, the grind adjuster, the milk tube holder and the brew unit. That door flexed a little as I pulled it open, the one spot that felt less solid than the rest.

The CM 7750 is the bigger, heavier machine, with three hoppers under one lid.

Our tip: Leave a few inches above the CM 7750, because all three bean hoppers open from the top and you’ll want to refill them without dragging a 31-pound machine forward.

Setup and the first week

Setup followed the same pattern on both. You choose a language, test your water hardness with the included strip, enter it, fill the tank and the hopper and let the machine rinse.

The Miele CM 6360 took about ten minutes, plus another evening spelling out four profile names. The Miele CM 7750 took about 20 minutes, mostly because I filled three hoppers and named each one after the bean inside.

I called mine Crema, Espresso and Decaf, so the touchscreen always showed exactly what each hopper held.

My first two or three drinks on both were weaker than they should be, while the grinder cleared test coffee from its path. After that, the only thing I had to fix was the factory espresso, which was too long on both.

Our tip: Name each CM 7750 hopper after the bean inside during setup, so everyone in the house picks the right coffee on the touchscreen.

Bean hoppers, decaf and CoffeeSelect

This is the CM 7750’s headline feature and the main reason it exists. Miele calls it CoffeeSelect✕CoffeeSelectMiele’s three-hopper system. Three separate bean containers feed one grinder, and you pick the bean on the touchscreen or lock a bean to a drink.: three separate bean hoppers feeding one grinder, plus a pre-ground chute.

I kept an everyday medium-dark blend, a darker espresso roast and a decaf in the three hoppers. If a drink isn’t assigned to a hopper, the touchscreen asks which bean you want before it brews.

A blower clears leftover grounds from the grinder path between drinks. I switched from espresso roast to decaf and back many times and never tasted the previous bean in the next cup.

The Miele CM 6360 has one hopper of about 300 grams and a pre-ground chute. Decaf means a level scoop of pre-ground coffee, which works fine but is a step you have to remember every evening.

If nobody in your house drinks decaf and you stick to one bag, this whole section doesn’t matter, and the CM 6360 makes the same quality drinks.

Bean capacity

Manufacturer capacities. A standard US bag holds 12 oz, or about 340 g.

Our tip: Choose beans with similar roast levels for the CM 7750’s three hoppers, because they share one grinder and one grind setting.

Controls, profiles and smart features

The Miele CM 6360 uses seven direct buttons on the front for espresso, coffee, long coffee, espresso macchiato, cappuccino, latte macchiato and tea water. Next to them sit DoubleShot, OneTouch for Two, Wi-Fi and the extra drinks menu.

It has eight profiles, and you spell each name letter by letter. It sounds like a gimmick, but every person seeing their own name on screen meant nobody pressed the wrong number again.

The Miele CM 7750 uses a color touchscreen that works like a phone. You swipe through drinks, tap to choose and tap again to change settings, and each person’s profile only shows the drinks they’ve saved.

Its CupSensor✕CupSensorA sensor that detects the rim of your cup and moves the coffee spout up or down to meet it, so espresso doesn’t splash and crema stays intact. lowers the spout to meet your cup, from a small espresso cup to a tall latte glass. I switched it off for a week to compare and missed it.

The CM 7750’s touchscreen shows hopper names, so nobody guesses which bean is which.

Both apps took patience to set up. On the CM 6360, I learned to finish the machine’s own setup first and only then connect the app.

Our tip: Finish the machine’s own setup, including water hardness and profiles, before connecting the Miele app, because connecting first took me three attempts.

Espresso quality

Both machines brew in Miele’s AromaticSystem✕AromaticSystemMiele’s expanding brew chamber. It gives the coffee room to swell as water flows in, so the water reaches all of the grounds more evenly., a brew chamber that expands as water flows in. Both use steel conical burrs and a 15-bar pump.

With a medium-dark blend, the CM 6360 gave me a hazelnut crema, cocoa and toasted nuts, and very little bitterness. But at the factory setting, its espresso was too long and slightly thin.

I shortened it to about 1.2 ounces in the parameters menu, raised the coffee amount, chose the highest temperature and long pre-brewing. After that, it was excellent.

The Miele CM 7750 pulled the better straight shot, but mostly because of the beans, not the brewer. With a dedicated espresso roast one step finer in its own hopper, I got a thick crema, a round body and flavors of dark chocolate, roasted nuts and a little dried fruit.

My espresso ratings

My scores out of 10 for body, crema and flavor.

Once shortened, the CM 6360’s espresso was every bit as good as the flagship’s.

Our tip: Shorten the factory espresso to about 1 to 1.5 ounces on either machine, because the default pour is too long for a proper shot.

DoubleShot and the long coffee

Both machines share Miele’s best trick for mug drinkers, and it worked equally well on each.

Normally, a bigger coffee means more water through the same coffee, so the cup gets weaker. With DoubleShot, the machine grinds and brews once, pauses, grinds again and brews a second stage into the same cup.

I made two long coffees of the same size side by side on each machine, one standard and one with DoubleShot. Both DoubleShot cups were visibly darker and tasted fuller, with more chocolate and less watery bitterness.

Same-size long coffee, standard vs DoubleShot

My scores out of 10 for body and flavor, same beans and cup size.

The CM 6360’s single coffee tops out at around 8 ounces, and the CM 7750’s adjustable portion runs from about 25 to 250 ml. For very big travel mugs on either, use DoubleShot plus a larger portion, or two runs into the same mug.

OneTouch for Two is a different button for a different job. It makes two complete drinks at once, including cappuccinos, and two took a little over two minutes on both.

Our tip: Use DoubleShot for every mug over 6 ounces on either Miele, because a single dose starts to taste thin once a long coffee passes that size.

Milk drinks

Milk is the reason most people buy a Miele, and neither machine disappointed.

Both draw milk through a tube from a glass container that comes in the box, heat it and froth it. Cappuccinos had a thick, glossy cap of fine foam on both, flat whites were silky and latte macchiatos layered neatly.

The CM 6360 uses a two-tube milk line with a magnetic connection to the spout that works the milk twice to build dense microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It feels silky and glossy, which is what a good flat white or cappuccino needs.. The CM 7750 comes with a larger glass container of about 0.7 liters.

How each milk foamed

My ratings out of 10 for texture, stability and temperature.

Milk drinks finished at about 140 to 149°F on both machines. That is hot without tasting scalded, and the milk stays sweet.

The one practical difference is storage. On the CM 6360, the new two-tube milk line doesn’t fit the storage spot inside the machine, so I left it coiled beside it. The CM 7750 has its own tube holder behind the side door, so nothing dangles on the counter.

Cappuccino foam on both Mieles was dense, glossy and long-lasting.

Our tip: Fill the glass container only for the morning round and put it back in the fridge straight after the rinse, because milk that sits warm for an hour doesn’t foam as well.

Tea, pots and drink temperature

The Miele CM 6360 has six tea programs: black, fruit, herbal, green, white and Japanese. Each dispenses water at a suitable temperature, and a tea timer beeps when it has steeped.

The Miele CM 7750 has tea programs too, plus a teapot function for a larger volume of hot water. When family visited, I made a full coffee pot and a pot of hot water for tea without standing at the machine for twenty minutes.

Drink temperatures I measured

Probe readings straight after brewing on the highest coffee setting. Results were the same on both machines.

The heated cup warmer made a real difference with small drinks on both. My espresso was about 11°F hotter from a warmed cup than from a cold one.

The CM 7750’s spout lowers itself to meet small cups and rises for tall glasses.

Our tip: Keep a few espresso cups on the heated cup warmer of either machine, so the first shot of the day doesn’t cool in a cold cup.

Cleaning and descaling

Both machines rinse their milk pipework automatically after milk drinks, and both have a removable brew unit behind a side door. I rinsed it weekly on each and left it to dry overnight.

The big difference is descaling. The Miele CM 7750 uses AutoDescale✕AutoDescaleMiele’s automatic descaling. A cartridge inserted from the back dissolves scale on a schedule, so you never run a descaling program by hand., a cartridge inserted from the back that descales the machine on its own schedule.

On the Miele CM 6360, you run a guided descaling program with tablets when the machine asks. It is not hard, but it is the job most owners forget.

My daily hands-on cleaning time

My estimate of hands-on time per day, not counting automatic rinses.

Both Mieles hide a removable brew unit behind the side door.

Our tip: Let the brew unit dry overnight before you put it back on either machine, because a wet brew unit traps moisture inside the machine.

Noise

These are two of the quietest automatic machines I have tested, and they sounded almost identical.

I measured about 60 to 63 dB while grinding and about 55 dB while brewing on both, with my phone meter at about 20 inches. The CM 7750’s blower, clearing the grinder between beans, added a soft 58 dB whoosh.

Sound levels

Phone sound meter readings at about 20 inches. About 60 dB is normal conversation.

Both let you dim the display and turn down button tones for early mornings. On the CM 7750, you can also switch off the cup warmer light at night.

Water, beans and supplies

The CM 7750’s bigger tank and bin make a real difference in a household of four. Its 74-ounce tank lasted about a day and a half, while I refilled the CM 6360’s 61-ounce tank daily.

The CM 6360’s 10-puck grounds container needed emptying every day; the CM 7750’s 16-puck bin went every other day.

Drinks per full tank

Rough maths allowing for rinse water. Your numbers depend on cup size.

The CM 7750’s bigger tank and bin mean fewer interruptions for a family.

Our tip: Set your water hardness during setup on both machines, so descaling and filter reminders are accurate for your water.

Real-life scenarios

Specs only go so far. These are the situations where one machine clearly pulled ahead during my testing.

For most families, the CM 6360 gives you the Miele experience in less space.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10. The first four come from my single reviews of each machine, and I added counter fit and bean flexibility because they decide this matchup.

Miele CM 6360

Miele CM 7750

Overall, I rate the CM 6360 8.7 and the CM 7750 8.9. The flagship is the more capable machine, but the CM 6360 is the better value for the majority of homes.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: does your household drink more than one kind of coffee every day?

If the answer is no, the CM 6360 makes the same quality drinks in a much smaller machine. If the answer is yes, the CM 7750’s three hoppers change daily life more than any other feature in this comparison. If none of these is quite right for you, my guide to the best Miele coffee machines covers the rest of the range I’ve tested.

If you’re weighing the smaller Mieles too, my Miele CM 6160 vs CM 6360 comparison shows what the extra profiles and glass container add, and Jura vs Miele covers the other premium brand.

For regular-and-decaf households with space, the CM 7750 earns its place.

Miele CM 6360 vs CM 7750 specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as the everyday coffee maker for a household of four for four weeks, making espresso, ristretto, long coffee, cappuccinos, flat whites, latte macchiatos, café au lait and tea.

I shortened the factory espresso, compared standard and DoubleShot long coffee side by side, used OneTouch for Two and the coffee pot, kept three different beans in the CM 7750’s hoppers and ran an AutoDescale cycle.

Michael Reynolds and a second HouseholdMe tester shared both machines and wrote the notes together, measuring temperatures with a probe and noise with a phone meter, then compared them with Miele’s specifications, owner documentation and published data.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body and DoubleShot.
• Milk: foam texture, temperature and the glass container.
• Workflow: buttons, touchscreen, profiles, hoppers and apps.
• Ownership: noise, cleaning, descaling and footprint.