'New' coffee maker for us (Jura E9 Impressa)

Richard · Apr 8, 2015

My wife likes her cup of coffee. She's not a coffee snob....but likes a nice cup.

She's got a gal-pal. This gal has more cash than common sense?

Example: her mother passed. She took some of the inheritance and bought (cash) a $250,000 fancy schmancy diamond ring as a momento to her mother. My jaw hit the ground on that one.

Be that as it may.... she had this coffee machine. My wife was over and the gal was going to toss it. I understand she said something similar to "I don't even know if it works"

My wife said "I'll take it!" so they tossed it into her car. After all, her husband can "fix anything" (ha)

A couple of things about this thing annoy me.

1. Very difficult to find/obtain a schematic of it unless you want to buy one for (something like) $40.00
2. Most of it is assembled with Torx screws. Fine, I have some Torx drivers
3. The back panel isn't put on with Torx screws....nope.... for the back panel, they used oval screws. Meaning, there is no slot, no Torx, no phillips, no nothing. What you see is essentially a small (looks round) nub. This nub is evidently slightly ovaled and the $25 or so special wrench you need to buy will take those buggers right out. Well, pffffffffffffft on that! I'm very patient and can use some needle nose pliers and a good grip.

Wife told me this is around $1,500 so I should go ahead & get the manual and special wrench.

I tell her bunk. I don't need a manual to take the silly thing apart. Once apart, I might need it to put it back together but until I get to that point, I'm not going to worry about it.

Cutting to the chase, it leaked like a sieve where the coffee spouts are.

Got it apart and what did I find? Right above the two spouts was a bunch (and I mean a bunch) of muck. Some assorted coffee grounds and other dried coffee goo that was basically plugging up the hole and causing the coffee to over flow. It still tended to hit the cup but, once the cup was removed, it would still slowly drain through the muck out the tips and make a mess.

So, got that muck cleaned up and.....still leaked.

Took it back apart and looked closer.

Seems there is a pressure regulator in there, much like you might have on a bottle of propane although this was about the size of a half dollar.
(does anyone remember those anymore!

)

So ordered a new regulator ($50) and it arrived. Slapped that bugger in and this thing is now (as her father would say) "dry as a chip"

She's now turning into a coffee freak saying that this thing makes coffee much much much better than her prior machine. She's using this thing several times a day verses the old one cup a day in the morning.

I get to feel good getting in there and diagnosing this mess of plumbing and we've only got $50 involved.

sseelhoff · Apr 8, 2015

So you can fix anything.

robstaples · Apr 8, 2015

Good job fixing it. I sent mine back for factory service, but I bought mine. They make great coffee. Be sure and try different beans and roast. Enjoy. Life is short.

dave1949 · Apr 8, 2015

Good job Richard.

Hope it doesn't get mucked up again.

Piston · Apr 8, 2015

Good score!

We have one at work, a different model though, and I do like it.

I've tried quite a few different methods for coffee, and a couple of months ago I stumbled on the Aeropress.
I know this is subjective, and it's all personal preference, but Hands down it makes the best cup of coffee I've ever had. I make espresso with it sometimes, and I've made cappuccinos for my wife, and I feel it's a better than the multi thousand dollar machines at cafes.

Best of all, it's 30 bucks

Way more complicated than the single button push of the Jura though! I do love that convenience.

Trillium Farm · Apr 9, 2015

I've had this machine for the las 5 years and it has been awsome! Last year it had a small leak and took it to the factory for repair. It cost me $200 but they replaced all of the innards, so practically I got a brand new machine and this after 16,000 cups of xpresso. Well worth the expense. Believe me you get better value by letting them doing all of the repairs than doing it yourself.

flyerdan · Apr 9, 2015

You might have a look here to see if this is what you need. I've got that site bookmarked, as I've had pretty good luck finding stuff on it.

dmccarty · Apr 10, 2015

A year or so back, my coffee maker died. I did research for a new machine but quickly came to the conclusion that the "best" coffee makers cost way more than I would pay and the decent ones had a bad track record. Then I thought about it a bit and figured I was being dumb as a box of rocks.

What the heck does a coffee maker do? It heats water to a given temperature and soaks coffee grounds with said heated water. How $%^&*() hard is that to design and build? And company's want how much money for a coffee maker?

So I bought a quart Pyrex measuring cup and a stainless steel funnel. Coffee is supposed to taste best, subjective of course, at around 200 degrees. So I fiddled around with the quart measuring cup and different times in the microwave to figure out how long it will take for our tap water, from the well, to get to about 200 degrees. It takes 7.5 minutes.

Best cup of coffee I have ever had and it cost me maybe $15-20 for a big measuring cup and funnel that I can use for other chores in the kitchen. I fill the coffee cup with coffee, this is the cup from the coffee machine, place the cup in the funnel which then goes into coffee jug or my thermos. Pour hot water on grounds. Easy Peasy. I even take the setup on vacation since it is light and portable.

The only nit is that the Pyrex cup has to be poured just so or it will spray water all over the place. Not a big deal but you would think Pyrex could figure out how to design a spout....

Later,
Dan

DKCDKC · Apr 10, 2015

I'm a coffee addict. I've found the biggest difference in how coffee tastes is made by the coffee itself. A good been mix makes good coffee. I also prefer freshly roasted and ground coffee. It gets old and stale quickly. But we have a number of local coffee roasters in the Shenandoah Valley. Some are poor. Some are OK and some are excellent (read Lucas). I use a cheap drip coffee maker (using good coffee I've ground within 24 hours) for a morning cup or two. It's good, cheap and convenient. For coffee during the day - when I'm at home - I use a French press for a really rich flavor, or an Italian stove-top espresso maker (cost about $20) for a really good espresso coffee. When I'm out I hit local coffee shops for a cappuccino or something - usually with double shots.

The thing about coffee - like any food and most beverages - it can be prepared many ways to give different flavors or strengths. If you like coffee, it's good to try as many as possible. The only necessity is starting with good coffee beans in the first place.

Garandman · Apr 10, 2015

We have four offices so we tried a bunch of different coffee makers there and at home: we even have some guys who roast their own beans.

If you want a coffee maker with a thermal carafe, a timer to make coffee in the morning, and good flavor, the hands-down choice was the Zojirushi Fresh Brew EC-BD15. It heats the coffee like the best ones and keeps it warm a long time.

We tried many different systems (and I have several French Press models for camping). The usual Bunn and Mr. Coffee, a few other popular brands. The Bonavita has a great reputation but has a glass pot and no timer. The Technivorm Moccamaster has a thermal carafe and makes great coffee but no timer and costs $300.

The Zojirushi is $75 on Amazon. We have four of them. We had to order a replacement cap for the carafe and it was $2.50 and they shipped it right out.