Jura ENA 8 Automatic Coffee Machine (Metropolitan Black) (Renewed)

I learned of Jura coffee makers after having a cappucino at a neighbor’s home and decided it tasted so good I just had to have a Jura machine. I couldn’t afford a new one so purchased a renewed Ena 8. The first few cups didn’t taste very good but according to some Youtube videos, that is pretty normal. Now I’m enjoying delicious coffee every morning. This machine is so cool that you don’t even need to use expresso beans for a good strong expresso, latte, cappucino, doppio etc. The grinder is so effective that it makes regular coffee beans taste strong enough for an expresso tasting beverage if that is what you want. On the down side, I don’t like how often I have to clean the milk cleaning system which is basically every day if you use that feature of the machine. But it doesn’t take that long to do, it is just that the Jura cleaning supplies for this machine are rather expensive. I spoke to a Jura dealer who advised I didn’t need to use the milk system cleaning tablets every time I was prompted to clean that part of the system. He said it was okay to just use plain filtered water and forgo the tablets but they should still be used at least 2 or 3 times a week. I was also confused as to how to determine my water hardness. The one test strip that comes with machine is confusing to compare with the hardness settings on the machine. My strip could have matched about five of those options shown on the machine. So I don’t know if I have that feature at the right setting. But still the taste of the coffee is magnificent. Of course a lot of that has to do with the beans you use. I recommend speaking with a Jura rep to find out more of their recommendations both with cleaning and types of coffee beans to use. Five tips I’ve learned thus far;
1/ Don’t change the grind size of the coffee unless the grinder is in active operation. Like you wouldn’t change the gears on a bike unless your bike was in motion.
2/ Don’t put the grinder on the finest grinder setting as it can gum up the machine. Stick with a courser grind.
3/ If you can, use filtered water. I use the filtered water from my fridge not tap water.
4/ According to my local Jura dealer, even though you use the Clearyl Filters for your water receptacle, you will still need to descale your machine when prompted. Instructions say that the filter negates the need to descale, but per my Jura rep, that isn’t true if you want to keep machine in tip top condition.
5/ Above all, follow the maintenance prompts on the machine as they come as it is a very intuitive machine. So far I love it. Hope this was helpful. Enjoy !