Expensive Machine. Need To Replace Filter And Clean Every 2 Weeks To 30 Days
Pro's: makes one hell of a cup of coffee once you learn how to use it and adjust to your tastes. Con's: Not for the middle class. Filter needs to be replaced about every 2-3 weeks with heavy use. Can be used without one but then you'll need to descale the Jura instead. $$$$ for those filters. Asks to be cleaned about every 2-3 weeks; Cleaning Tablets must be used and you must clean it or it will stop working until you do.. Tablets expensive, but there are other generics you can use. OK, so you know how you can buy something INexpensive and then when you need to replace things on it every so often THAT'S how they get ya? Well, the Jura is EXPENSIVE and then you have to replace things often so they get ya on both sides. We usually buy one nice thing for Christmas and this year it was a Jura. We are big coffee drinkers, every day. And I have a lot of coffee pots, etc. to prove it sitting on shelves an in my appliance graveyard. To be honest, my wife was kinda ticked that I bought this as it was REALLY expensive. (Now she loves it for the coffee). However, Let me say this one thing...or two or three.... THIS COFFEE MAKER IS "NOT" FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS! If you think it's expensive then it probably is. We are not in anyway rich, but I thought "well it'll pay for itself because...you know...Starbucks". NOPE!, NADA! This machine is actually MORE expensive than Starbucks. First off, look at the price tag. Holy Crap! Next, you need to know this thing sucks down the whole coffee beans. I bought a 2 pound bag of my favorite roast just a week to 10 days ago and it is easily 3/4 done. Same bag on my drip machine, easily 1 month or 2. As we started to use this pride and joy, we'd watch it go through it's little song and dance...happy with the fact that this is very self cleaning, does everything for you at the push of a button. But you pay for that privilege. About 2 weeks into using this every day, it said to replace the filter. Now mind you, we use distilled water and there is even a setting where you can adjust the machine for that. I thought, well the next filter won't get used up all that fast, this is just a temporary filter, like the ink cartridges that aren't full sized on a printer...right? Not so fast my caffienated friend. The light came on and in nice red digital words it said the filter needed to be replaced now. Well I didn't have another filter, so I ordered a pack of 3 from Amazon. Machine said I could keep making coffee as long as I knew that this would mean I'd have to descale it. The filters came quickly thanks to Prime and I replaced it... song and a dance later, we were good to go.....until 2 weeks later it said to replace it again. Now I got this for Christmas, remember? It is now February and I have replaced the filter 3 times...3 in 2 months....and they are not cheap. I know, I think to myself, I'll try to trick the machine and take the old filter out and wait a few minutes and slip it back in....that'll do it. NOPE! There's an RFID chip in the filter so the Jura knows if it's new or not. Well, played Jura, well played. Cleaning.....Machine says..."Time to Clean Me" all in digital nice red words. Insert tab and 20 minutes later, it's clean.... also something I didn't think I'd need to do often....distilled water remember? Nope, since Christmas, cleaned not once, but twice. First time I did it thinking, well let's see what it does.....very nice, so much easier than other machines. Drop the tab in and hit the button, clean and no hassles. But then....... Second cleaning (they give you two tabs for free when you buy the Jura btw). Well, screw it, I won't clean it. Wife told me it needs cleaning and I'll get to it later. Until she tells me that it won't make coffee until I do. Me, being the local caveman, I think, well, just hit the button without the cleaning tab. Nope! It won't run unless you USE a cleaning tab, which means no coffee until it is done. So I put the second FREE tab in and it cleans and is ready. Go to order more on Amazon and the Jura brand are $52 for like what 12 or 15 of them? I find a generic for $15 for 25 tabs. BUT, with all that said, it makes amazing coffee drinks, so we'll keep it. One thing I found is the glass milk container is not really a necessity. Anything that holds milk will work, a glass, a carton of milk....as long as you have the plastic tube from the milk to the machine....which by the way, it does use a lot of milk....not so much as if it was the coffee beans but it does use enough that you notice. We started making regular coffee a lot more and save the milk coffee drinks for weekends, or an after dinner treat. Anyway, don't get me wrong, we LOVE this beast. Even my wife who was a little bit intimidated by it learned to use it and adjust it to her liking. But it will cost you and you need to know that if you're thinking of buying one. A little bit of perspective. If you go on a top of the line cruise...you know the one whose mascot is a creature with ears? If you get the top concierge rooms they say they come with their own coffee maker. Everyone else gets drip machines if they are lucky. But this ship sailing the seas where you spend $25k for the Royal Suite for a 5 day cruise? Guess what coffee maker is in the room...you guessed it....a Jura. And they better have enough filters and cleaning tablets on hand for that kind of cash. Not for the middle class. 4/10/21: Additional Notes;: So I went without a filter and machine said that doing this meant I would have to descale. Did some research and because I only use distilled water found out that descaling with a cleaning agent only needs to he done twice a year just in case there actually is something that needs to be cleaned out.. Ran the descaler this one time without a tablet (because I didn’t have one) and machine asked for a new filter, but this time there was an option to push a button which said “No Filter” so I removed the old one and clicked. Now it runs without it and only needs a thorough cleaning with a tab every 6 months. This saves a ton of money as 12 tablets will now last 6 years. I am ok with spending the $18 for those. Read more
