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42 of 43 found the following review helpful:
Very Good Machine Apr 08, 2010
By Chris P
Have had the machine for about 3 weeks now and so far the machine is doing great. Got it refurbished for $599 through JL Hufford (recommended company). To get a $1200 machine (brand new) for $600 (pre-brewed) is a great deal and can't even tell it is previously used.
Very good machine and has several of the bells and whistles that more expensive machines have. Jura Capresso is a very reliable brand and I am very happy with the performance of the machine. Some areas for improvement, but they are very tolerable in the overall scheme of things. Sorry for the long review but wanted to make it as helpful as possible. It took me a lot of research to finally land on this machine.
What I like:
- Easy to use.
- Makes great pressure brewed coffee and good espresso. Espresso won't be as good as a manual machine but still quite good if you use the right settings and quality beans. This is the same for all super automatics.
- Has some basic programmability to remember default settings for 1 cup.
- Several ways to customize drinks (water output, grinder fineness, amount of coffee for strong, normal or mild).
- FrothXpress system is good if making multiple drinks and looks nicer as the default wand on the machine. Although, I prefer the Dual Frother Plus (traditional wand) for making one cup (more control over temp, froth, etc). TIP: make sure to rinse out the Dual Frother Plus and the FrothXpress after EVERY use. Otherwise, milk will cake up and can cause a steam explosion. Poor reviews based on this from others is user error, not the machine.
- Auto self rinsing cycle (when turned on and off) and easy to read indicators for filling water, emptying grounds, fill beans, cleaning, etc.
- Relatively quiet operation
- 1 or 2 spout dispenser
- Bypass doser
- Tall cup height
- Custom Auto off timer (1 hour, 2 hour, etc) to save energy. Zero energy pull when off.
- Slim and nice design, quality construction. But still as deep as other machines.
Areas for improvement (tolerable drawbacks):
- The temperature of drinks is somewhat inconsistent. Second drink always seems hotter, even after doing the right warm up steps. TIP: Make sure to pre warm the cups with hot water dispenser, this helps a lot.
- FrothXpress system does not heat the milk quite as good as the normal wand. TIP: If using the FrothXpress, you can do the steam only feature afterwards to heat the frothed/steamed milk a little more.
- No cup warmer. Need to use hot water dispenser. Using the hot water will actually make the cups hotter than a warming tray anyway, but it's just an extra step.
- Need to adjust cup size during processing and can't before brewing (if different than the programmed amount).
- Small water tank (37 oz). Even for a 2 person home and a few shots per day, you will refill often. Not a big deal really. But heavy users may want to take note.
- No Auto On feature for the mornings, no clock and no usage stats. Auto on would be great, but only takes a minute to warm up.
- Water filters are expensive ($20, recommended every 2 months). I'd only use if you have hard water or you absolutely feel the need to have filtered water or you don't ever want to descale. Cheaper to descale every few months. Although, with the filter you never have to descale (supposedly).
- I wish the steam wand had more range of motion.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Great Machine Jan 15, 2011
By Andy
This thing is great. I read reviews and labored over this purchase for weeks because of all of the mixed reviews and the suggestions that none of these things are reliable. It makes great coffee and the milk steamer is too easy. I'm now addicted and can't go back to sleep if I wake up because I'm now like Pavlov's dogs. My mouth waters for a cappuccino as soon as I wake up.
Who knows, maybe this thing will break and I'll be disappointed, but so far, i have only good things to say about this machine.
As a maker of complicated mechanical and electrical devices and as the guy who writes the owner's manuals and provides customer service for problems that get escalated, I suspect that many of the complaints are from those who don't read manuals and have no patience for maintenance of any kind. Keep the steamer attachments clean, make sure you dry out your oily beans and use the filter or good water and the results are fabulous. I highly recommend this machine to careful users. If you can't or refuse to give it the attention it deserves, buy a Mr. Coffee or ask for Starbucks gift certificates for Christmas or your birthday.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
ENA 5: a great all around machine! Dec 20, 2010
By MB in KC
Pros: Very easy to customize your cup of coffee - controls are intuitive and user friendly; FrothExpress is an awesome feature for steamed or frothed milk; self-cleaning process is very nice, and the machine overall is very low maintenance; makes a consistent, tasty cup of your favorite coffee beverage with excellent crema each and every time!; small footprint takes up less space than just about any coffee maker out there; less than 2 minutes from the time you press the "on" button until you have a fresh brewed, custom coffee drink; the water tank, bean hopper, and dregs box are easily accessed.
Cons: When you set the "auto off" feature, be sure to keep a cup under the coffee nozzle - when the machine turns off, it rinses the nozzles, and will splash the machine and counter otherwise (this is a minor annoyance); the water tank and bean hopper will need to be refilled often, because you WILL hit this machine a lot (since this is a function of the small machine footprint, I don't really mark it down on this basis, but wanted readers to be aware); the FrothExpress spews a little water before the steamed/frothed milk flows; That's it!
My wife and I bought this for ourselves for Christmas, and we have absolutely no regrets. The only question remaining for me is the longevity of the machine. We'll have to see on that one.
Dealing with Amazon was awesome, as usual, and we had our machine in a matter of a few days. Set up was very easy, and the included CD made it fun to set up and use. I know this machine is a major investment, but in my opinion all coffee lovers will get much use and enjoyment out of this machine.
30 of 39 found the following review helpful:
 A huge disappointment Jul 21, 2009
By Sir
"Sir"
We switched from a Nespresso machine to the Jura ENA 5 some weeks ago, because we loved the sleek compact design, and felt that the Nespresso system was wasteful.
The Ena 5 has been a huge disappointment in terms of reliability and usability - less so the quality of the espresso.
Reliability: after only *19 days*, the machine failed on us. When set to "2 cups" it started to dump the coffee in the internal tray, instead of in the cups. The Jura hotline confirmed that the machine was faulty and should be replaced. However, after receiving the machine and confirming that it was probably a production error, they insisted rather obnoxiously on a repair rather than replacement since the machine was older than 14 days. The arrogance with which Jura treats its customers is typical of businesses that enjoy a strong market position.
Usability: due to the extremely small repositories for coffee beans and water, the machine is continuously prompting to be refilled or emptied. The position of the tap switch directly above the tap is unfortunate.
Quality of taste: In the short time that the machine was working we experimented with a number of quality beans and ground settings, but felt that the coffee was good, but didn't quite come close to the quality of the Nespresso machine (which was still working after 4 years!). I am also not convinced that the TCO of the Nespresso system is so bad after all, and the customer service was always excellent.
I would strongly recommend anyone from purchasing the Jura machine.
**Update October 2009**
After repair the machine worked for a further 6 weeks before failing again with the same failure mode!! Jura again refused to replace the machine. We received it back again today, and are just waiting for it to break once more.
You have been warned!
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Practice, Practice, Practice Jan 31, 2010
By Ben Miller
For the first frustrating week or so, the frothing nozzle flew off almost every time I used the Dual Frother Plus on my ENA5, but it has not happened since I realized that the heat was baking the milk and clogging up the sleeve and tip of the wand. So now I disassemble the frother and soak the parts for 15 minutes in a cup of hot water with a cap of Rinza Urnex Rinza Milk Frother Cleaner 12-MILK6-32 32oz. Bottle. I do this each and every day, and it keeps the frother scrupulously clean and completely trouble-free. Now that I have learned the ropes with the frother, I think I may try the frothXpress system that came standard with my machine, because I have the as-yet-unused Jura Cool Control milk chiller Jura 67083 Cool Control Milk Cooler sitting on the counter. But because of my memories of the hot, splattered milk with the Dual Frother, I may wait a few weeks longer before I try any new tricks.
And the coffee I make, with Illy beans illy Caffe Normale Whole Bean (Red Top) Coffee, 8.8 Ounce Tins (Pack of 2), is delicious. I never had a cup of black coffee in my entire life, not even when I lived in Rome, believe it or not, until I tried making a 1-ounce ristretto with my ENA5. (I bought the machine to make cappuccinos, but I hadn't yet solved the frother problem.) I was shocked at how tasty it was, even from the very first sip. Now, maybe because of the small, 1-ounce sizes that I like, the first cup is not very hot, but the second cup always is. When I forget to turn the dial down to the 1-ounce setting, though, the larger volume of coffee that most of you will opt for will be hot from the very first cup.
The learning curve for the superautomatic was a little longer than I had expected. It looks so easy on the DVD, and it is, but that's only after some practice. I still go back to the instruction manual and video to pick up some subtle points that I might have missed.
Update: I just hooked up the Jura Cool Control milk chiller to the frothXpress steamer, and they both worked to my complete satisfaction. The instructions were easy to understand, and I made a fine cappuccino. As you can tell, I am really happy with my espresso maker, and I hope that you will be too!
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