As TechRadar’s coffee expert and custodian of our guide to the best coffee machines in Australia, you can rest assured I make it my mission to trial as many espresso machines as possible. One brand that has, so far, eluded me, however, is Jura.
Judging by our Jura J10 and Jura Z10 reviews, that’s clearly a shame, as the Swiss brand is an expert in all things automatic coffee machines. And that’s exactly why a massive 57% discount on the Jura S8 at The Good Guys piqued my curiosity and made me do a double take.
Plummeting from AU$3,690 to AU$1,589, this is a prime opportunity to snap up an uber-premium bean-to-cup machine to take pride of place in your kitchen for years to come.
While I do enjoy getting hands on with a coffee machine — I’m a huge fan of the KitchenAid Semi-Automatic, for example — in my mind an automatic model is ideal. I can press a couple of buttons, pull up a saved recipe and have my coffee brewing whilst attending to other tasks.
The Jura S8 therefore looks like it could be my new best friend for a number of reasons. Firstly, Jura has been making automatic coffee machines for around 40 years, so it arguably has the expertise to understand what makes a decent cuppa.
That experience extends to proprietary technologies, including its P.A.G.2 grinder with its seven selectable grind levels, an eighth-generation 3D brewing unit that passes water through coffee on multiple levels for a more even extraction and the use of the Pulse Extraction Process (P.E.P.) that pushes water through the puck in pulses rather than one uninterrupted flow, to optimise extraction time.
The 27 drinks can be customised to a great extent too, with 10 strength settings, programmable water and milk quantities and three brewing-temperature settings. And, as mentioned earlier, the S8 can produce Sweet Foam — milk foamed with flavoured syrup during preparation. My colleague Cat Ellis has said the results are “delicious” in her Jura J10 review. Plus, the large 4.3-inch touchscreen looks glorious in pictures.
On paper then, the Jura S8 looks to be the perfect coffee machine for me. Not only does it promise top-tier performance, but I also think it’s a bit of a looker compared to many other machines that are more akin to black boxes.
This huge AU$2,101 saving at The Good Guys lists an end date of September 30, so while you do have a little bit of time to take advantage, it could transpire that stock could run out before then!
Want more suggestions?
If spending over AU$1,500 on an automatic coffee machine is too much for your budget, fret not, as there plenty of excellent models available for less. And, in some cases, you can actually find a machine that offers even more features than the Jura, for less money. Here are some other top-rated alternatives.
