jura E8 coffee machine – tips

This page records my notes on a jura E8 (eg 2024 model 15662 / 15661). If you’re repairing a jura machine these notes on the jura F90 may to be helpful across the range. (My Jura Impressa F90 lasted 20 years, delivered 22,000 cups and required several repairs – all DIY)

why buy the jura E8?

Jura are experienced manufacturers worthy of respect. The jura E8 is said to be the Swiss company jura’s top seller – it’s called a super automatic as you can deliver both black and white coffees without doing the steam wand thing. It needs a daily flush-though clean if you make drinks with milk. It makes an espresso comparable to any other – indeed much better than my jura F90 ever did over 20 years. There is a wifi module which connects to a phone app – I only saw this as handy should you need to take several coffee orders and didn’t want to write the orders down(!). There are running costs (filters, cleaners) if you follow all the instructions plus eventually a deep clean service will be necessary. It should last a good while if handled with care – eg I top up the water using a jug instead of removing this fragile plastic container. Spare parts will continue to be sold by jura over many years and the second spares market on ebay is pretty good too. The coffee machine dealerships are not unlike car manufacturer dealerships – wink say no more.

how to make your Jura coffee machine last longer – my tips

tip one – do all the things

One of those things is scheduled cleaning. Another is to descale or use a Claris filter which removes hardness. If not that, use water from a filter jug that has a water hardness removing resin in the filter. And descale the machine using a weak acid* from time to time. The water in my region is really ‘hard’ which means that it contains more calcium carbonate (chalk) than in other regions. The Jura heats this water, the chalk comes out of solution and some of it deposits on the boiler internals or else the water dries and leaves a white deposit.

*Chalk dissolves slightly in water. Chalk dissolves much better in acids. A hot solution of lactic acid (milk acid) or citric acid (fruit acid) or acetic acid (vinegar) will slowly remove scale from the Jura innards. I’d estimate this would take under an hour. Other weak acids – but noxious acids such as phosphoric acid and formic acid descale in minutes but Jura discourage against using these.

tip two – fill the water tank from a jug

The Jura water tank is robust but accidents happen so I’ve a plastic jug nearby which I use to fill the tank. The reason is that my previous Jura delivered 22,000 cups and I broke two water tanks over 20 years. I need to do some maths before suggesting that you could save on filters and use a water softening filter jug to fill it instead of using Claris filters.

tip three – after cleaning also check and clean the inside coffee flap

The Jura will call for a clean with a cleaning tablet after some use. What this cleaning might not do is clean the hinged flap which flicks the plug of used coffee into the grounds bin. Over years this flap becomes coated with dried grounds – I suggest to check it occasionally rather than obsessionally. Here’s how: after a routine tablet clean remove the grounds bin but replace the waste water tray as shown. Reach inside and gently feel the flap. Put the flap between your fingers and gently scrape off the grounds that might have stuck here.

how to view the jura E8 cup counter / product counter

• with the high cost of the filter and cleaner, the product counter can be used to assess your usage: for example, a Claris Smart+ filter has a hard water capacity of 50,000 ml (50 litres). As a rough calculation it ought to last say, 250 x 200 ml Americano drinks or 1000 x 50 ml espressos. (Reduce that to allow for rinses of 50 ml day and milk cleaning of 250ml … or one drink less a day).
• to see the counter the machine needs to be on – first remove the water tank to see the ‘fill water tank’ message. Then press the two middle buttons:

change the order of the coffees shown on the menu

You can reorder the coffees shown at startup. For example, I’ve put four black coffees on the front page and four white coffees on the second page. (This is better for guests who wouldn’t know to connect the milk tube).

• Hold down for two seconds the button beside the coffee type that you want to move
• Scroll to the place on the menu where you want the coffee to show. Press the button beside that position.

show or hide the product name

For some reason you may not wish to see the names of the coffees available. Scroll and press the cog / settings button. Set product name as inactive to see this:

Jura E8 alternative cleaner & descaling consumables

cleaning tablets

You’ll be prompted to do a cleaning cycle roughly every 180 cups or 6 weeks. With my old Jura F90 I used dish washer tablets for 20 years. For my E8 I’m using a proper coffee cleaner as this is not expensive at £0.23 a dose.

• Caffenu | Coffee Machine Cleaner Tablets | 60 x 2.5g Tablets at £14 equates to 60 x 2.5g at £0.23 / dose
• Caffenu | Coffee Machine Cleaner Powder | 900g at £14 equates to 180 x 5g at £0.08 / dose.
• Jura 3-Phase 3 in 1 Cleaning Tablets 25pcs at £35 equates to £1.40 dose

descaling tablets

If you use Claris filters or descaled water descaling is said to be unnecessary. See my note above about the different acids used for descaling.

• Coffeeano 50x 16g descaling tablets XL for fully automatic coffee machines and coffee makers. Descaling tabs compatible with Jura for £17. That’s £0.34 per descale.
• Jura Decalcifying Tablets 3×3 at £14 – use three each time at £4.67 per descale

Claris Smart + plus filter for Jura E8

I’ve not yet found an alternative to the Claris Smart + filter which cost £15 a go – life expectancy is 250 x 200ml drinks or 50 litres. I can see that the old white filters and newer blue Claris filters have a different fitting in the water tank. But that’s as far as I can see since the height of the blue filters vs Smart + filter in the tank is an unknown. Thus I’m not using any filter and will instead descale the machine when it calls for it.

• Jura 24233 Claris Smart+ Filter Cartridge Set of 3 at £43 or £15 for 250 drinks

milk cleaner

After the Claris water filter, milk cleaning chemicals are the most costly consumable. Milk cleaning will be prompted if you make cappuccino and hence use the side frother which automatically draws from a jug of milk. A dose of the recommended milk cleaning tablets is placed in the plastic device supplied and the cycle is run. My alternative is a cleaning liquid.

• Aqualogis Latteo Detergent for Automatic Coffee Machine Latte Cappuccino and Milk frothers Cleaner – Latteo 1000ml for £14. That’s 40 x 25ml at £0.35 a dose. Or £0.18 if you use a half dose of 12.5ml for 250ml of washing water.

Here’s a video on milk cleaning using tablets