Jura E8 review

The Jura E8 is a premium, premium coffee machine. And it’s got a premium price tag to boot. The E8 will set you back $2,699 / £1,295, which is considerably more than other machines that do relatively similar things.

The E8 makes coffee after coffee, speedier than an F1 car with a jammed throttle. This is definitely a machine for the time-poor coffee-hungry amongst you, rather than the home baristas who love the routine of coffee brewing.

Is speed and convenience enough to make it one of the best espresso machines though? That’ll depend on what you look for in a coffee machine. I’ll go through everything in this Jura E8 review.

Jura E8 review: Cheat sheet

• Who is it for? People who want hot coffee STAT
• What does it do well? Makes a mean hot bean juice in literal seconds
• What are its weaknesses? That price just feels… wrong
• Anything else to know? This makes the tastiest coffee out of all the Jura machines I’ve tried. I massively enjoyed the drinks. The price? Not so much.

Jura E8 review: Specs

Jura E8 review: Price & availability

The Jura E8 is $2,699 from Amazon U.S. or $2,799 from Seattle Coffee Gear. As usual with Jura machines, U.K. customers are getting a much, much better deal: it’s just £1,295 from John Lewis U.K. Yes, the E8 is extremely expensive. While superautomatic coffee machines are pricier than traditional espresso machines anyway, Jura takes the expense to the next level.

The KitchenAid KF8 and the De’Longhi Rivelia — $1,999 and $1,499 respectively — are considerably more affordable than almost any Jura machine in the U.S. The KitchenAid and De’Longhi offerings are just as competent as the Jura E8, so I’d recommend checking out those if you’re on a tighter budget. If you’re in the U.K., I’d recommend the Rivelia — it’s just £749.

If you’re dead set on getting a Jura machine, though, the E8 will serve you well. I much prefer the E8 over the basic Jura C8 (£899, which pales in comparison to the E8’s $2,699, but the E8 makes world-apart coffee). If you are a black coffee fanatic, then the $999 Jura ENA 4 would be a more wallet-friendly purchase.

Jura E8 review: Design

As with other Jura machines, the E8 is massive, heavy, and pretty. The machine is a whopping 22.5 pounds and 13.6 inches wide, so you’ll need to have a large space free in your kitchen. I tested this in the office, but it would never fit in my kitchen.

As it’s such a large machine, the water tank is a huge 64 ounces, which I found I needed to refill after about 8 drinks. Like the ENA 4, the E8 alerted me to refill the water tank when about 10% remained. I used Jura’s water filter in the water tank, which was very easy to slot into place.

The E8 comes in white or black. I tested the black version, which would have been my choice had I been purchasing this machine for myself. While the black colorway looks more modern than the white (in my opinion), it was a complete dust magnet. I had to wipe it every day, lest it look like an ancient artefact in an abandoned Victorian mansion.

Dust magnetism aside, the E8 is easy to maintain. The machine alerted me every time I needed to empty the drip tray (about every 4 or so drinks, so quite regularly). The drip tray is made up of a few parts: a small grounds drawer (I emptied this whenever I emptied the drip tray), a cover, and a silver plate that rests on the exterior of the machine. These parts all slot perfectly into one another — I have no reservations about saying that the E8 is a well-made machine.

The E8 has a little LED screen you can select your drinks from. Like the C8 and the ENA 4, this isn’t a touchscreen. I wish it had more color, like the De’Longhi Rivelia, but this isn’t a serious complaint. This screen is where you control everything, from drinks to cleaning routines. It’s easy to use and clear.

As with other Jura machines, the E8 is compatible with the ‘J.O.E’ app… if you buy a Wi-Fi dongle adapter, sold separately. Jura did not provide me with a dongle, so I was unable to test this. You can buy a Wi-Fi dongle for $70. If you have the adapter, you can link the E8 up with your phone.

Also as with other Jura machines, the E8 doesn't come with a milk carafe. I think this is pretty ridiculous — nearly insulting — for a machine that costs as much as this. You’re telling me I’m spending nearly $3k on a coffee machine and you can’t throw in a plastic jug? You can buy a milk carafe for $90. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with Jura machines.

Anyway, the E8 is easy to use and designed well. I just wish it was a touch more modern and innovative for a machine that costs this much — and also came with a milk jug and a Wi-Fi dongle.

Jura E8 review: Espresso

As it’s a superautomatic machine, I didn’t have high hopes for the E8’s espresso brewing. It’s a known fact that automatic machines can’t make ‘true’ espresso. Unfortunately there’s nothing the user can do about this — it’s just an occupational hazard with having an automatic coffee machine.

The default size of an espresso on the E8 is 45ml. This is about 10ml more than the usually accepted size of a double shot — 36g. You can adjust the espresso dose from 25ml to 90ml. You can also adjust the intensity, but as the E8 grinds the beans inside the machine, I can’t measure the ratio of coffee to water for each intensity level — trust me, I wish I could! I can get very nerdy and granular about coffee.

The Jura E8 can make shot after shot in quick succession. I’ve been able to make 3 drinks in about a minute and a half on the E8. If you value speed over ‘technically’ correct espresso, this is definitely the machine for you.

Here’s a photograph of the espresso. I adjusted the dose to 35ml (closest to the ideal shot volume of 36g) and changed the intensity to ‘4’ beans out of 8.

As you can see, the espresso has a nice crema, honey-colored body, and a large stripe of black. I took this photo immediately after extraction.

The espresso is simply fine, nothing more. It's tastier than other automatic machines I've used. No, this won’t impress serious espresso enthusiasts. But will it suffice if you’re time-poor and just want hot coffee multiple times a day? Yes, of course it will.

Jura E8 review: Milk

As with other Jura machines, the E8 uses a ‘milk pipe’ to pull milk from a jug. And as with other Jura machines, this milk pipe gives me the ick. It’s made of silicone and is literally impossible to clean. I can wash it out with water after every use, sure, but there’s no way for me to clean the inside of the pipe. Anyway, this is a ‘maintenance’ matter, and I’ll discuss it in full below.

The milk texture of the E8 is merely fine. It’s not smooth, velvety microfoam, like something the Subminimal Nanofoamer Pro Gen 2 would make. It’s more like tiny bubbles as opposed to the texture of melted ice cream.

Unfortunately, the milk texture for different drinks is all the same. The cappuccino, latte macchiato, flat white, and cortado textures are identical. Fortunately, it steams oat milk and cow milk just as deftly, so would be suitable for a household with various milk preferences.

This is a photograph of the ‘latte macchiato’ recipe.

As you can see, the milk foam is very thick and has quite large bubbles at the top. It’s about ⅓ foam, ⅔ milk and coffee. I’d say this is too much foam to be considered a ‘latte’. You can adjust the amount of milk, but you can’t adjust the texture of the milk.

Comparatively, here’s a picture of the ‘cappuccino’ recipe.

I’d say the main difference here is that there’s a bit more milk. The milk texture is similar, just with a larger volume. While this is more typical of a common cappuccino, there’s certainly not enough difference between the latte and cappuccino texture.

This is a picture of an oat milk flat white.

The texture is impressive considering it’s oat milk: the milk is foamed without being overly bubbly, and the foam is dense without being dry. However, it just doesn’t have the finesse you’d want from a flat white.

As with the espresso brewing, the milk is super speedy. It heats and foams immediately after being sucked up into the pipe (that you can’t clean properly… ew…), and dispenses into the mug in seconds. Again, if you’re time-poor, there’s nothing better than a Jura machine.

If you’re a coffee nerd, though? I don’t think the E8 is for you. Not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because it’s an automatic machine. If you have a similar budget, I can recommend the $1,800 Smeg Mini Pro EMC02 or the $749 Breville Barista Express.

Jura E8 review: Storage & maintenance

I’ll start this section by saying that, on the whole, the Jura E8 is easy to clean. Jura provides a range of cleaning products like rinsing tablets, descaling solutions, water filters, and milk system cleaning liquids. All you have to do is start a cleaning process on the screen and follow the instructions. It’s practically foolproof.

Repurchasing these will set you back $25-$70, but I suppose if you’re spending $2,000+ on a coffee machine, this won’t make that much of a dent.

However, the milk pipe. The milk pipe haunts my nightmares. Jura itself recommends you change the milk pipe every 3 months — at a cost of $55, by the way — because it’s impossible to clean. Sorry, but I think if I’m spending almost $3k on a coffee machine, I should be provided at least 1 year’s worth of milk pipes. Right?

So daily maintenance is easy. All you have to do is follow the instructions on the machine when prompted. I found I had to empty the drip tray about once every 4 drinks and refill the water tank about once every 8 drinks. This means that the Jura E8 uses 64 ounces of water to make 8 drinks, and most of that water ends up in the drip tray. This is another one of my complaints: it’s a thirsty, thirsty machine. Just be prepared to fill it up more often than you think.

In terms of storage, the E8 is pretty, and knows it’s pretty. It’s designed to be out on the countertop permanently. With the $55 stainless steel milk pipe and the $90 milk carafe, too, the E8 will look luxe and stylish in your kitchen.

Jura E8 review: How does it compare?

I’ve tested three Jura machines now. The C8, the ENA 4, and the E8. The E8 makes the best coffees out of any of these machines, but oh boy, it’ll cost you. While the C8 is £899 (U.K. only) and the ENA 4 is $999, the E8 is $2,699. That is a massive price increase. Is the flavor improvement worth $1,700? It’s up to you.

I, however, would definitely rather have the De’Longhi Rivelia ($1,400) rather than the Jura E8. It’s more modern, with a larger range of drink options, but in my opinion, even the Rivelia is still overpriced.

Jura E8 review: Verdict

The Jura E8 is a decent coffee machine. It can make drink after drink without kicking up a fuss, and the coffee actually tastes decent. In terms of baseline performance, this is one of the best superautomatic machines I’ve ever reviewed.

However… it doesn’t do enough to justify the ridiculous $2,699 price tag. In the U.K. you’re getting a much better deal — and for U.K. readers I’d recommend it with more fervor — but in the U.S., you’re getting the short end of the stick.

If you’ve got money to spend, then the E8 will meet your needs. But if you’re uhming and ahing about the price of the Jura, then I’d recommend sticking to the cheaper De’Longhi Rivelia.