Jura WE8 – Review

The Jura WE8 has come around just in time to put a smile on our faces, while Winter rips at our commitment to getting up and out of bed every morning. It’s getting harder and harder to stay warm, and with no respite in sight in the near  future, we should start looking at the little things in life that make us happy. Would a coffee machine do that? Get ready for the Jura WE8 Review!

It’s come in like a Knight in Shining Armour bundled us up and swept us off our feet.

Jura WE8 – The Science and Development

What sets Jura apart from the sea of other Automatic Coffee Machine suppliers is their commitment to continuously improving on their existing range, strategically “replacing the old with the new” and making seemingly insignificant tweaks and changes to their existing coffee machine formats.

What Jura has done, (in my opinion) ingeniously, is collated their Bean Hopper capacity with their water tank capacity. See, the WE8 is the officially-unofficial replacement for the famous Jura XS9.

While the XS9 has set a world-wide industry standard for large automatic coffee machines, there are a few minor setbacks and inconsistencies in it’s format.

The Jura WE8 has a 500g bean hopper (which yields about 80 cups worth of coffee per full hopper) and a water tank capacity of 3 litres. This may seem inversely intuitive (given that the Jura XS9 has a 6l water tank capacity, but only a 250g bran hopper) – but it is actually a spark of insane genius. The suggested maximum output of this machine is 30 cups per day, which directly correlates to the 3l water tank capacity (when using, for example, two shots of Espresso per drink).

Worried that the 500g bean hopper may offer convenience, but your beans are going to go stale? They’ve got you covered there, too, with the Aroma Preservation Cover – which seals the bean container to ensure optimal freshness is locked in.

Jura WE8 Speciality Drinks

Another area of development has come about in the drink output capabilities. The WE8 offers latte macchiato, cappuccino, Flat White (previously restricted to only the Jura F9), coffee (both single and double servings), Espresso (also both in single and double servings), Ristretti, hot water dispensing, as well as hot milk and milk foam.

What I personally appreciate is that Jura has factored in the “times we live in” – constantly rushing to our next meeting or skipping lunch to meet a deadline.

Want your Latte in a hurry? Here’s how long it will take to brew your favourites out of the Jura WE8 :

• 1 Latte Macchiato – 1 min. 26 sec.
• 1 Cappuccino – 56 sec.
• 2 Coffees -1 min.
• 2 Espressi- 45 sec.
• 2 Ristretti – 30 sec.
• Hot water (200 ml) – 45 sec.

  

Jura WE8 Special Features

P.E.P is something we’ve seen becoming imperative of late – and nobody explains it better than Jura themselves:

“The six-level Aroma G3 grinder ensures that the coffee is optimally ground. It always grinds the beans fresh, quickly yet gently to preserve the aroma. The Pulse Extraction Process (P.E.P.®) developed by JURA optimises the extraction time. To make a ristretto or espresso, it forces the hot water through the ground coffee at short intervals. The One-Touch function on the WE8 allows you to make trend specialities finished with milk and milk foam at the touch of a button, without having to move the cup.”

Here’s one for the books, though. Yes, coffee machine maintenance is critical – but Jura have exceeded our expectations once again. This machine introduces TÜV-certified hygiene guarantee functionality. Whoa! What’s that, you ask?

“Cleanliness and hygiene are essential in the workplace, so integrated rinsing and cleaning programmes combined with specially developed cleaning products for JURA coffee machines ensure perfect hygiene at the touch of a button. The milk system is also cleaned quickly and easily at the touch of a button. This complete hygiene system, which is certified by TÜV Rheinland, makes the WE line an excellent choice for premises which operate an HACCP* ( * Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) concept.”

Hello, the Future! Oh, wait – that’s not even the most impressive part of the technology used in this machine!

Are you a tech junkie who thrives on getting things done from remote locations? You’ll be ecstatic to know that you can purchase the Jura Smart Connect accessory can pretty much audit your coffee machine from your smart phone, tablet or PC – literally on the other side of the world.

Yep. I’m getting googly-eyed here, too.

Hello, Good Looking!

As someone who appreciates a good aesthetic, I can say that Jura has taken the new “Big Automatic Coffee Machine” to an entirely new level, again. Yes, the XS9 is by no stretch of the imagination a bad-looking coffee machine, but is pales in comparison (looks-wise) to the WE8.

This one-touch automatic coffee machine now has an integrated TFT display – as we’ve seen in the newer models. No rotary dial is present – instead – you cycle through changeable and programmable functionality on your interactive touch-screen display.

Now, if Beyoncé says you should put a ring on it if you like it, you can kinda do that with your WE8, too. Fallen in love with a specific speciality drink that is just the right strength, temperature and aroma? Go ahead and program that baby so next time it calls your name – the push of a single button means you’ll have it in your arms quicker than you can say “I Love You, Coffee!”

Who Is The Jura WE8 Good For?

I don’t blame you if you’ve already fallen in love with this beast of a machine, who wouldn’t?

While it may have literally everything you want in a coffee machine (and more) – some spaces will just simply not work with this machine.

Because the technology and output of this machine is so refined, you don’t want to put it in an area where a lot of first-time users are going to mess around with it, accidentally re-program settings or not use it at all out of fear of looking silly for not knowing exactly how to use the machine at first.

Inversely, you don’t want this machine in a huge office where it’s going to be overworked (we know Jura’s are workhorses, but you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere).

I would recommend this machine be placed in an area where “Superlative Coffee’ is a must. Where your “run of the mill” Jura F8 will just not do.

Place it somewhere that you want to make an impression – or up to 30 impressions per day 🙂

Similarly, home users will be putting themselves on the short end of the stick by getting themselves one of these – simply because the WE8 will not be used to the bets of it’s ability.