Jura E4 or Jura E8?

Our verdict

Today the difference is €380: the Jura E4 costs €709, the Jura E8 €1,089.

The E4 and the E8 share most of their insides: 1.9 litres of water, 280 grams of beans, 16 servings of grounds, 15 bar, 1450 watts, a thermoblock and 25 months of warranty from an authorised Jura dealer. In size they differ by a centimetre at most.

The difference is milk. The E4 has no milk system and makes black coffee only. The E8 makes milk drinks with a tube you put into a carton, a milk holder or a milk cooler. With the E8, Jura supplies only the tube.

That milk system needs looking after: a rinse after every milk drink, a clean with Jura’s own milk cleaner on every day you use milk, and a new tube and spout about every 3 months. The rest is the same on both: a cleaning tablet after 180 cups, and with the CLARIS Smart+ filter no descaling. On both, Jura prescribes its own care products.

Our verdict: if you drink it black, the E8 has you paying for a milk system you will not use, and the E4 is the better buy. If milk goes into your coffee every day, the E8 is the only one of the two that does it itself. A separate milk frother beside an E4 works too, but then there are two appliances on the worktop. The E8 comes in three colours, the E4 in Piano Black and Piano White.