Choosing a Filter for Jura Superautomatics
With so many different model variations and filter options, we often hear from confused customers who don’t know which filter to purchase for their specific Jura machine. These can be a bit pricey, so purchasing the wrong filter can definitely make an unhappy dent in your wallet. Watch Gail go through the filters for each type of machine and check out the table below for a handy guide to choosing your filter in the future.
Update for Refurbished Models: Jura recently let us know that if they are required to replace a defective or damaged water tank during the refurbishment process, they will be replacing them with the Clearyl Blue versions of the tank (described below as having a light blue lid and white dial). In the event that they do this, they are including a note with a reference to the specific water filter model number you should purchase for your Jura. Please check your machine’s water tank color prior to purchasing, as that is the most accurate way to determine whether the White or Blue filters will fit your machine.
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New! 1, 2, Brew Kit for Drip Coffee Makers
Roughly 80% of the machines that come into our repair center are having issues due to lack of regular maintenance, but keeping your machine tip-top also means your coffee will taste better as well. We know this and we hope you know this, but who really knows this (from a biased, albeit rather caring perspective) is coffee gear cleaning company Urnex, who manufacturers some of the best loved cleaning solutions on the market.
To promote their love of sparkly clean machines — and also make it easy for you to know exactly what to do to keep your machine in excellent shape — they have introduced the 1, 2, Brew Kit for Drip Coffee Makers that features the following accoutrement:
- Dezcal Espresso Machine Descaler
- Cleancaf Cleaning Detergent
- One Sample Pack of Grindz Burr Grinder Cleaner
- 1lb bag of Velton’s Coffee Beans — your choice of Treehouse, Twilight or Decaf blends
- Coffee Scoop with bag clip
We’re including this kit with our drip coffee makers now as a free item, but it’s also available for individual sale — great for yourself or a gift for someone else. And while this is specifically designed for drip coffee makers, we are working with them to develop one for espresso machines that will be released early next year…so stay tuned.
New: Jura Impressa Z7 One-Touch
At long last, the new Z7 from Jura is available to all retailers! This new one-touch superautomatic replaces the Z5/Z6 models, offering all of their same functionality with some improvements — specifically to the height adjustment with the spouts, which can now accommodate tall travel tumblers.
It has a great design, featuring metallic accents and the clean look that Jura is known for. We’ll have a demo available soon and so will post a crew review shortly.
Take Two: Jura UK’s Charitable Auction to Benefit Chichis
As they did this same time last year, Jura’s UK division is auctioning off a pink Ena5 to raise money and create awareness of the UK’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. The auction is only available to UK residents, so we sadly can’t get our hands on Barbie’s espresso machine stateside.
For those of you who can participate and love (or love someone who loves) bubblegum-hued accoutrement, you can get your hands on this machine by joining in on the bidding through October 29, 2010. And what feels better than getting an awesome superautomatic espresso machine while also contributing to a good cause? Little else, especially when that cause involves keeping the world filled with bountiful chichis!
Learn more about the auction, the charities it benefits and how to participate on Jura UK’s website.
Espresso Machine Storage Tips
Leaving your machine alone for the winter? Need to store it or move it (by hand) to a new location? Gail gives us some tips on what you should do to prepare your machine so you limit the possibility of damage.
Crew Review: Jura Impressa XS90 Commercial Superauto
While the Rancilio Egro ONE is at home on a large cruise liner, the Jura Impressa XS90 is best suited to an office environment — one that requires a large water tank, extra bean storage and just enough dregs and drip tray capacity to be dangerous.
Watch Gail as Kat bosses her around this superautomatic espresso machine — including the usual feature description and a demonstration of its one-touch cappuccino functionality.
Dialing in the Shot on a Saeco Superauto
One of the primary considerations one must take into account when selecting an espresso machine is what’s more important to them: Convenience over flavor. Outside of budget, this is arguably the most important thing to think about when you’re determining what type of machine is right for you.
While superautomatics offer a lot of convenience — internal grinder, easy clean-up, automation and programming — the models available on the US market utilize plastic in their brew group design, which doesn’t regulate temperature quite as consistently as their metallic brew group counterparts. This results in a little bit of an underextraction that is fairly standard on superautomatics — generally giving a sour, weak flavor. However, you can tweak and program the shot to a certain extent to achieve a shot that is close to that you’d get off a semi-automatic (for which you grind, tamp and dial in your shot yourself), with a few limitations.
We asked Gail to walk us through the basic parameters of how to achieve the best shot possible on a Saeco superautomatic, using the Xelsis as a demo, and she also shared with us some of the commonalities between these machines and superautomatics produced by other manufacturers.
Field Trip: Uesugi USA – Recycling Center
Where do espresso machines and coffee makers go to die? Not in the landfill, if we can help it! At Seattle Coffee Gear, we launched a recycling program last year in an effort to keep as many fully assembled machines from landing in the trash. Many of these are pretty complex — they have circuit boards, electrical wiring and miscellaneous metals that are best kept out of our ground water supply.
Our partner in this venture is Uesugi USA, a Japanese company that (as luck would have it) have a US presence here in the Seattle-area. We pulled Henry into the mix and headed out to their facility to talk about what they do and see how they take these machines apart, break them down to their components and funnel them back into the commodity supply chain as cleanly as possible.
Ask the Experts: Which Machines Need to be Backflushed?
Cleaning and maintenance is a hot topic in this neck o’ the woods, but some folks aren’t clear on which specific maintenance routines apply to the type of machine they own. This comes up specifically in regard to backflushing — do you or don’t you?
You do backflush if you own a machine with a valve system referred to as a three-way solenoid, brew pressure release, three-way valve, solenoid valve or any other combination of these phrases. Not sure if your machine has this? If your machine has an E61 brew group (such as those on Rockets, Quick Mills, Izzos or Grimacs), it has this valve system. Other models that feature this without the E61 are those made by La Spaziale, Pasquini, the Rancilio Silvia and Ascaso’s Uno Pro and Duo series. This valve system relieves pressure post-brew, which results in a drier puck, but it sucks a little bit of coffee and water into the system each time which can build up in there and adversely impact the machine’s performance. Backflushing forces detergent and water through the valve system, thoroughly cleaning it and maintaining the system. It also has the added benefit of cleaning up behind the brew head’s screen without taking it apart.
You don’t backflush if your machine doesn’t have this system — because you don’t have the valves to clean! Some machines that don’t need backflushing include the Saeco Aroma, Via Venezia, Sirena, models made by Breville, those from Francis Francis!/illy and Delonghi and Capresso semi-automatics. But since you’re not forcing detergent through the brew head, you will need to take it apart semi-regularly to clean up behind the brew screen.
The best way to determine if you need to backflush your machine is to read the manufacturer’s manual and the machine’s technical specifications to see if it has the valve system. If it doesn’t, you’re good to go; if it does, you should backflush once every 1 – 2 weeks, depending on how often you use the machine.
Not sure how to do it? Watch us backflush the Rocket Giotto E61 or the Rancilio Silvia.
Talking about Water Filters & Softeners
Mineral content in your water will play a part in the coffee that you make and your machine’s longevity. In this video, Gail talks to us about a few different filters and softeners available for espresso machines, as well as explaining how a filter and softener differ.