Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Let me first state that I have only had this for two days and that this is my first espresso machine. I say this so readers will understand that this quick "review" is to point out a couple of details that may be overlooked when researching this machine, not as an indication of the quality of drink produced.
I began doing research on home espresso machines several years ago after drinking coffee prepared by my dad on his Jura Cappresso E8. It was a revelation to drink such good quality coffee outside of a coffee shop. At the time my wife didn't care for coffee so it was only me drinking a single cup in the morning with breakfast so I was put off by the high prices and ended up buying a grind and brew automatic drip coffee maker by Cuisinart. I bought it "open box" at a kitchen store for a hundred bucks and I was pleased enough with it. Fast forward a few years and now my wife enjoys cappuccinos and lattes and drinks coffee with me daily, albeit with a lot of cream and sweetener. She also stops at the local coffee bar for a flavored cappuccino with some regularity. So I started looking into a quality espresso machine for the home again.
I spent a lot of time educating myself on the various makers, such as Jura, DeLonghi, Gaggia, Saeco, etc. I knew that I wanted to get a superautomatic as we aren't purists, nor do we have the time usually to pull our own shots, froth our own milk, etc. At the end of the day, it came down to the various Jura Onetouch models, the Gaggia Accademia Espresso Machine, and the DeLonghi ESAM5500M Perfecta Digital Super-Automatic Espresso Machine, Metallic Blue. My research led me to have a little less confidence in the DeLonghi's reliability, although I liked their milking system. The Gaggia was just too much for me to spend on my first machine (or last for that matter more than likely). My dad has never had the first problem with his Jura and it's more than 5 years old and likely has not had much maintenance or cleaning I suspect so I feel it will hold up to the reasonably light use we will give a machine. The Jura-Capresso 13422 Impressa C9 One Touch Automatic Coffee-and-Espresso Center, Black and Jura-Capresso 13423 Impressa S9 One Touch Automatic Coffee-and-Espresso Center, Platinum are older models, larger and more expensive than the ENA series. So due to the features, the quality, and the fact that it was the least expensive, I decided to purchase this machine.
Now, to the machine. The first thing I should point out is that it is a unique design for Jura. The other one touch machines work differently, which I didn't realize when I made my decision. The key point to this is that THERE IS NO EXTERNAL FROTHER. If you want to froth milk manually you can't do it. And it is not equipped with their Connect System either, which would allow you to change out the external wand with a frothing wand. The wand on the ENA9 is only a hot water spout. I would have preferred to have the option for manual frothing, both for experience and as a backup. The other nice thing about manual frothers as they are easier to clean. I mention this in case you, like me, didn't notice the lack of a frothing steam wand. The internal frother does microfroth, which is a pleasure. You can purchase a Capresso frothPRO for less than steam wand would cost if you really want to froth manually (but it's a different method of frothing.
This machine is really designed to optimize the one touch functionality. It works best when you set your preferences and store them. The preferences you can store are water volume (up to 12 oz), strength of espresso, duration of milk froth and temperature. You set these for espresso, cappuccino and coffee individually. If you want more or less of any of these parameters I think you have to go in and change the preferences. I may be wrong about this as I'm still getting my preferences set but I haven't found a way of pulling a one off variety yet. Honestly, I pretty much want the same thing every time anyway so it's not that much of an issue.
The one touch feature is nice. All you have to do is put the sialastic hose into your milk source, slip your cup under the nozzle and push the cappuccino button on top of the machine. A few minutes later, depending on your chosen froth duration, there is your cappuccino. Of course don't bother with the milk for coffee or espresso.
There have been criticisms of the ENA series regarding the small capacity of the water tank and bean hopper. One of the compromises of having a smaller machine on your counter is that the capacities are smaller. My dad loves his large capacity water tank because he can drink coffee all day without refilling it. I personally like to have fresh water and beans so having to fill them up frequently doesn't bother me in the least, but as I stated, we are not high volume drinkers either.
The last point I would make is that there is a fair amount of maintenance with this machine, IF YOU USE MILK. I don't think it is unique to this machine but is typical of the superautomatics in general. My dad only drinks espresso or coffee which is probably why he can get by without cleaning his often. You are supposed to rinse or preferably clean the cappuccino portion after each brewing session. It is very simple to do but may get to be a pain on a daily basis. You just run the machine through it's cappuccino cleaning cycle, using water or Jura's proprietary cappuccino cleaning liquid Jura-Capresso 63801 Auto Cappuccino Concentrate, 250 ml and manually rinse the frothing tube and a few rubber pieces inside. It's a small hassle but likely necessary as milk will cake on the internals and I'm sure halt the function of the frother if neglected like any other milk frother. Another reason for an external frothing option. Using filtered water, or the in tank Jura filter will cut down if not eliminate the need to descale the machine supposedly.
The ENA series boasts an energy efficient option of auto shut down, the timing of which you can customize. So, if you like to save energy, the machine will automatically turn off after a set period of time. This would not be an attractive feature if you are like my dad and enjoy walking up to the machine any time of day and pulling a cup of coffee. You would have to turn it on each time. It doesn't take long to heat up again but it does prompt you to rinse on each start up. You don't have to use the auto shut off but it's there if you want.
All in all I believe this will be an excellent purchase. I got what I wanted but wish it had an optional external frother like the C9 and S9. The frothXpress system added to an ENA5 might be a little cheaper and a little more versatile but not as convenient and the frothing may not be as high quality. I hope this has helped you in your research of this high quality machine.
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