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84 of 87 people found the following review helpful.
Fabulous coffee, some usability issues, read for cleaning tips
By S. Lionel
Pros:+ Makes great coffee+ Highly customizable for strength, size, temperature+ Energy saving featuresCons:- Serious usability issues- Low height of spout- More plastic than there should be in a product this expensivePlease forgive the length of this review, but for a product that costs as much as this one does, I think you deserve as much information as you can get.I have owned a Jura Impressa E8 for three years and have been very happy with it overall. The Impressa J9 is Jura's current top-of-the-line model and, at first glance, it looks the part. Gleaming silver body and chrome buttons and accents plus a color LCD screen make a positive first impression. This fades a bit when you notice that nearly all of what you see is plastic, including the chrome-plated spouts. Seriously, at this price point I expected stainless steel or chrome-plated brass here.In front center, above the drip tray (whose chrome grille is pretty much the only visible metal) is the dual coffee spout. This slides up and down and the dual spouts pivot apart for filling two cups. (Note that coffee comes out both spouts at the same time regardless.) The height of the spout is adjustable between 2.5 and 4.25 inches, with the maximum distance between the spouts being 2.0 inches. I found myself wishing for a taller opening.On the left side is another single spout which is used for milk and hot water. The standard spout serves as a mixer for milk, water/steam, and if you're making a latte or cappuccino, dispenses both the coffee and the milk, which is a nice touch. The height of this spout is adjustable between 4.0 and 5.75 inches. This spout has a dial that adjusts how much air/steam is mixed in with the milk, which enters the spout through a port on the left. Into this port you insert a piece of silicone tubing (supplied) which can be run into a milk container or connected to the supplied stainless steel insulated cup with siphon tube. This cup is said to be able to keep milk cold for up to 8 hours, though only when full. The port is covered with a red rubber plug when not in use.Below the center spouts are two LEDs, with a single LED under the frothing spout. These initially illuminate white but change to yellow while a brew is in progress. They go out after a short while after the serving is complete.There are four hinged doors on top of the unit. The door on the left side exposes the water carafe, which is tall and narrow. A handle swings up on the carafe to assist in removing, holding and replacing. An optional "Clearyl Blue" filter sits inside the carafe with an extender that snaps on to bring it up to full height. You cannot see the water level once the carafe is in place - an issue made especially annoying as the "refill water" indicator doesn't come on until there is less than 8 ounces of water remaining, meaning that your last cup may not be full. The door on the right side covers a storage compartment which holds a spoon for pre-ground coffee, a hot water spout that can be swapped in for the milk frother, and the adjustment for the coffee grinder.A small door in the center is where you would spoon in ground coffee if desired - lifting that door triggers the pre-ground coffee cycle which is then started by pushing one of the buttons at the sides of the LCD panel within two minutes. A large door at the top rear surface exposes the bean hopper, which has an "aroma saver" inner lid and a plastic grille preventing you from getting your fingers near the grinder opening.These doors on the top of the J9 are a problem for me. I have the J9 on a counter with cabinets above. The cabinets, and the moulding below them, are low enough that I can barely open any of the doors. I am able to, with some manipulation, get the water carafe out and access the storage bin, but the bean hopper is inaccessible unless I swing the whole unit around and out on the counter. Luckily I don't have to do that every day. The side doors on my old E8 were narrower and easier to deal with, though I still had to pull the E8 out a bit to refill the beans which, on that model, were on the right side. Of course, if you have the J9 on an open counter, with unimpeded access to the top, none of this will be a concern to you.The drip tray has four components. The large tray itself has two electrical contacts on the end that tell the machine the tray is inserted. The chrome grille (with a plastic grille underneath) sits on this. A secondary tray sits on the large tray and a plastic grounds container sits on this secondary tray. I noticed that the grounds container was made of a softer plastic than the one on the E8 and grounds tend to stick to it more.Above the center spout is the LCD display with three buttons on each side. This is your primary interface to the J9. In normal mode, it presents six choices: Espresso, Coffee, Cappuccino, Latte macchiato, Hot water and 1 portion milk. Pressing the button by one of these choices immediately starts dispensing the selected item. On the top front surface of the J9 is a large rotary dial with a central push button. This is used to select additional beverage choices and to make adjustments. Flanking this dial are the power button and a P button used for programming.If you spin the dial, you are shown all the standard beverage choices plus these: Ristretto, 2 Ristretti, 2 Espressi, 2 Coffees. You push the central button to make your choice, though if you choose a standard offering; it just takes you back to the main screen. Otherwise, pushing the button immediately starts dispensing the beverage. The double-portion choices double the amount of water used, but don't double the amount of coffee ground, so don't think, for example, that you can brew two 8-oz cups of coffee and get something good. However, it would probably work well for two of the smaller products such as espresso.(By the way, in case you don't know what a Ristretto is - I didn't - the J9 makes it out to be a very strong espresso. Originally it was a "fast pull" of the espresso machine's handle.)No matter what choice you make, you can individually customize your cup, though the process of doing so I found awkward. On my old E8, I could select cup size before brewing and got mild, normal or strong by pushing the start button once, twice or thrice. On the J9, you use either the push buttons by the LCD or the dial to make adjustments, but your opportunity to do so is limited. For coffee and espresso, you can select one of five strengths only in the few seconds while the coffee is grinding. Then when the brewing starts, you can adjust the amount of water to be used in .5oz increments up to 8oz. For drinks that use milk, you instead select the number of seconds it will pump milk. For hot water you can select three temperatures; the manual says that "Extra Hot" corresponds to 203 degrees F, but I measured it at 170 in the cup.You can, however, preset the customizations for each drink type using the programming menu and the "Expert Mode". These presets are used as defaults but can still be overridden while the beverage is being prepared.When you first turn on the Impressa J9, the screen indicates that the water is heating and then it prompts you to press the dial's button to initiate a rinse of the coffee system. This rinse uses far less water than the E8 did. Then you can make your selections. When you power down, it rinses again.Ok, that's a lot of words about the machine, but how good is the coffee it makes? Great! I found the coffee even more flavorful than what the E8 could prepare, and I had not even selected the strongest setting. The latte and cappuccino preparation was pretty good, though I found the milk foam to be no thicker than I ever managed to get from the E8. Earlier I got the Capresso frothPRO, which not only makes thicker, richer foam but is a heck of a lot easier to clean up afterward. However, if you're making a lot of milk drinks in a row, you'll appreciate the all-in-one convenience of the J9 - just position your cup under the spout, push the button, and it does the rest.Jura touts the energy-saving features of the J9, so I tested these. When the J9 is heating water, it draws 1300W, but I was amazed at how quickly it came up to temperature from a cold start, only about 15-20 seconds. When it is sitting ready to brew, it draws 3-5W. When powered off normally, Jura says that it draws 0.1W, but my "WattsUp" meter read zero, so it must have been even less than 0.1. There is also a rocker switch by where the power cord comes in (on the bottom right) that completely disconnects the power.You can set an EnergySave mode. What this does is, once it has brewed, it does not keep the water at brewing temperature. This is indicated on the display. If you then want to brew a cup, you press a button and it takes 15-20 seconds to reheat, then you press the button again to start brewing. I watched my power meter when the EnergySave mode was disabled and didn't see the heater come on too often. Jura says that this can reduce energy consumption by up to 40%, but if you want your coffee NOW, you will probably choose to leave EnergySave disabled. You can also set an auto-turnoff time which will shut the machine down after a period of no use that can be selected from 15 minutes to 15 hours.The coffee and milk systems get cleaned independently. The machine will remind you to run a brewing cleaning cycle every 200 cups or so. This is done using a Jura cleaning tablet that is inserted into the ground coffee funnel. The machine then soaks, sprays, and rinses the system and then flushes with water - this takes about 20 minutes. When you do this, you must place a cup under each of the coffee and milk spouts. About 8 ounces of solution get discharged into each of these cups.The milk frother is supposed to be cleaned after every use. The usual way of doing this is to add a small amount of cappuccino cleaner (an initial bottle is supplied) in 8oz of water and let the milk tube suck it up into the system. There's a cleaning option in the programming menu to do this. By default, it won't remind you to clean the frother, but you can enable that if you wish.On my E8, I discovered that the stainless steel filter/strainer, inside the machine, would get gunked up with coffee grounds and oil over time. Eventually this would prevent coffee from flowing and what coffee you did get tasted bad. I know a lot of people griped about having to send their E8 back to Jura for "repair", but I think many of them could have fixed the problem themselves. The J9 seems a bit less prone to this problem as the clean cycle does a halfway-decent job of cleaning the filter, but I'm going to show you how you can help.I have attached three photos to the product page. The first shows the view inside the opening when you have removed the drip tray. Notice the brown plastic flap with a slanted edge hanging from the top of the opening. This flap is hinged and spring-loaded. Up behind it is the brewing mechanism and the filter disc - see the second photo. In this photo you can see the disc after just a few days of use. The third photo shows the same area after a cleaning cycle has been run - much better, but not perfect.What I recommend is: once every couple of weeks or so, take a damp paper towel. Reach into the opening, and with your fingers (and the towel), reach up behind the flap (you can pull it forward a bit - don't force it) and wipe off the strainer and surrounding area. You may need someone with long fingers (or small hands) to do this. You won't be able to see what you are doing, but you will be able to feel the disc with its central screw. Cleaning this regularly will keep the quality of the coffee consistent and reduce the chance of problems down the road.Some miscellaneous stuff you should know. The J9 comes with one filter plus a water hardness testing strip. If you choose to not use the filter, you are supposed to test the water hardness and set the value in the programming menu. This controls how often the machine will prompt you to run a descaling process. The descaling tablets must be purchased separately. If you use the filter, you don't need to descale, but do need to replace the filter every two months. Make sure you get the right kind - Jura has two incompatible types of "Clearyl" filter. The one you want is Jura 67879 Clearyl Water Care Cartridge for ENA.Also in the "Welcome Kit" are two cleaning tablets, a bottle of cappuccino cleaner and manuals in multiple languages. I highly recommend visiting Jura's web site and downloading the manual so you can go over it before purchase.I hope you found this review helpful - if you have additional questions, ask in the comments and I'll do my best. The J9 is expensive, to be sure, but if you buy it, you'll get a machine that makes fantastic coffee in multiple styles, and quickly. I do have some quibbles with the design as far as usability is concerned, notably the positioning and size of the top doors and the quick reflexes you'll need to make adjustments when brewing a cup. With proper care, it should last for years.
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Works great
By Jennyjane
I have had a Capresso C3000 super automatic for many years that I was starting to have some minor problems with (small water leak, tray sensors corroding) and decided it was time to get a replacement. I work from home and tend to drink coffee most of the day so I'm looking for something that works reliably and for a very extend period of time. I started looking at the new super automatics from the Jura Capresso based on the longevity of the old C3000. I will admit, it's the TFT display that really caught my eye on this one. I started looking thinking that I'd end up with a Z series, but the TFT display was what veered me over to this one.It comes pre-loaded with default recipes for latte macchiato, cappuccino, an espresso shot, a ristretto shot, coffee, coffees, hot water, and steamed milk. All of the recipes can be customized via "Expert Mode". You can adjust the strength (1 - 5 beans), volume in ounces or mL's), steamed milk amount (based on time in seconds). You can also adjust all of the parameters while making the drink without saving, which is great for guests. Basic operation is very simple and straightforward. The TFT display makes this super user friendly. Anyone can easily scroll thru using the wheel on top of the machine and pick whatever type of drink they want. Or, you can select most drinks directly from the TFT screen as well. For two shots or two cups of coffee, hit the button twice. You can also enter the recipe modification mode by holding the drink selection button as well. Grind adjustment is via a knob under the back right top cover. It also displays graphics of your drink while it's being made.The coffee seems to be a bit stronger on this than on my old C3000, but I love the fact that you don't have to move the cup for lattes and cappuccinos. And, the insulated milk container (included) really does keep the milk cold all day.I was a bit disappointed when I first got the machine and went looking for the "Auto On" function that turns on the machine at a set time to warm up. After I really started using the machine, I realized this was really not needed. It's typically heated up and ready to go by the time I get the milk container out of the fridge and connected.Maintenance and Cleaning: If you use steamed milk, I highly suggest changing the setting to display the "Rinse Milk System" prompt to appear right after using. The default is 10 minutes, and you cannot select this rinse from the Maintenance menu. The quicker you rinse out the milk residue, the less likely you are to get clogs. The manual also suggests to use the Jura Cappuccino Cleaner daily. I tend to rinse often and do a breakdown cleaning of the milk system and frother about every other day.The drip tray on the J9 TFT is very different that what I was used to on the C3000. It has 4 parts (bottom tray, top tray, grinds container, and grill) but the material seems much easier to clean that the drip tray on my C3000.There is a bar graph style indicator in the Maintenance menu that shows you when cleaning and filter changes are due. I've always cleaned my old one as least once a month with a tablet and about once a week using a cleaning cycle with just water. This machine does use the new Clearyl Blue filters.One other thing, the coffee only dispenser does not rise up high enough to use with any of the travel mugs that I have, but the milk frother/coffee dispenser side does.Overall, very happy with my purchase so far. It has the Jura quality that I'm used to, makes great coffee, everything can be customized, easy to clean, and has a neat screen on the front :-)
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Not Just a Gimmick
By Nerd Alert
If you are reading this, you are likely both a gadget lover and a coffee enthusiast, or are considering the J9 as a gift for someone who fits that description. Having tested it for a month and a half, I am still finding surprisingly thoughtful aspects. For example, I found that holding down any button while coffee or milk is pouring prompts you to let it know when you have as much as you want. This is perfect for those odd size cups you can't estimate the volume of, or adding milk foam to the top of a cup of hot tea. It is this attention to detail that really defines the experience with this coffee machine.Because others have given very good lengthy reviews, with even more available on Youtube, I will give my brief thoughts:FLAVORAs expected from the Jura brand, the flavor is excellent. More accurately, the flavor is finely tuned to the user, as the way it is brewed, including strength and grind, is very customizable. Regardless of how you like your coffee, the J9 will likely make it just right and consistently. I have used both very high end and standard beans, and was pleased with both, in the sense that the best flavor and consistency was brought out of both. Of course, the better bean gave the better coffee. Different coffee types are all produced equally well, with black coffee being something beyond the typical office brew and espresso having a beautiful crema and serious punch. A filter is integrated to give better water quality as well, though it can be left out if you want to avoid the cost of replacing it.INTERFACEThe screen, which seems to add a hefty sum to the price, could be considered a gimmick. For some reason, they brag that it is TFT in the product name, though that is not an impressive screen technology. However, having a screen and buttons (no touch interface) allows for simple and intuitive customization. You can set every parameter of each coffee type quickly and without ever looking at the manual. This makes customization something everyone can have fun with, rather than a daunting task for the professional. If you purchase this unit, I recommend playing with the settings and creating your ideal coffees rather than sticking with the presets. It is a primary reason to own a fancy coffee machine. Some changes can also be made on the fly, such as the above mentioned ability to change the volume of coffee and milk.CLEANINGThe machine includes some consumables for the cleaning, of which extra will need to be purchased (or DIYed) as needed. Other than this issue, cleaning is a breeze. The machine lets you know when it needs to run self-cleaning modes, if you don't do it first, and they are automated. The coffee grounds are ejected as cute pellets and can be thrown away more regularly. The tray will not let itself overflow, because it has sensors to let you know it is time to empty it.DESIGNThis is my only real sticking point with the machine. For something in this price range, it is sub par. Other than the front plate and tray lid, it is largely made of plastic. The silver color is painted on and easily scratched off, revealing the black plastic underneath. It is strange that they did not at least use silver plastic to avoid scratches showing. Those scratches might occur while trying to open the top flaps, since the unit is a bit too tall to fit under a standard kitchen cabinet. The spouts on the front are chrome plated and feel cheap. Also, the chrome plated wheel on the top for menu navigation does not have smooth movement and feels very plasticky.Other than the strange design compromises, the J9 is a really wonderful coffee machine. I can not imagine anyone being disappointed with it in that regard.
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