Jura C5 - not that happy :(

[locksta]

Hi coffee lovers... I have reviewed the site for some time and love how passionate the contributors are about making great coffee. I am still new to this world and decided to go the easy step in and buy a Jura C5 after reading on this site that they were a preferable brand if you decided to go down the semi auto route. Now that I have the machine, I must say that I am not very happy at all. I drink mainly milk based coffee so the frothing attachment is just as important to me as the brew. I find it almost impossible to get a micro froth with this machine after perservering for a few months. We have a Saeco Royal at work, (same $$) and first go I was able to make micro foam maybe not as good as a barista but certainly of a reasonable quality, nice and thick and very small bubbles... even able to make a pattern (probably trivial to the readers of this forum, but a huge step forward for me). This brings me to a question... should I sell my Jura or is there anything I can do to improve its ability in the milk frothing area or is the only option to sell and buy a more capable frothing machine, if so any recommendations? (I have read the Saeco Royal suffers from boiler problems???)

[dino]

Re: Jura C5 - not that happy

Hi locksta,

are you using the "auto" frother or the steam wand attachment? if the autofrother - what ever comes out is what you will get, if the wand attachment is being used you can improve your milk by getting a Saeco pannarello to replace the Jura steam wand - then remove the froth enhancer from the pannarello and practice. There is very little movement with the steam pipe on the C5 so only smallish jugs can be used.

hope this helps
Dino

[Thundergod]

Re: Jura C5 - not that happy

locksta welcome to Coffee Snobs.
Firstly, the Jura is a "super auto"; a semi auto involves a bit more operator input to make a coffee.

My first suggestion would be to discuss the problem with the supplier you bought it from.

If they cant help then my next suggestion would be to ask site sponsor Gilkatho for some advice as they sell the C5.

Now a question: why a super auto, why not a semi?

[locksta]

Re: Jura C5 - not that happy

Thanks Dino and Thundergod for answering my post. The reason for the C5 purchase was simply that I had read a lot of posts here about other people struggling to get their coffee the way they wanted it with the more manual equipment and I took what i thought was the easy option thinking that might make me happy (which it has not :-[). Dino, I have tried the Saeco pannarello but it was still far more difficult to get micro foam compared to the Saeco at work.

As I said in the first post I am very green... will a semi produce a better froth without spending thousands of dollars?

[Thundergod]

Re: Jura C5 - not that happy

A semi is controlled by a human.
A human has a better chance of getting it right than a computer.

The Juras are the best of the super autos; see if you can get it sorted out.

[gregpullman]

Re: Jura C5 - not that happy

Thanks Dino and Thundergod for answering my post.  The reason for the C5 purchase was simply that I had read a lot of posts here about other people struggling to get their coffee the way they wanted it with the more manual equipment and I took what i thought was the easy option thinking that might make me happy (which it has not  :-[).  Dino, I have tried the Saeco pannarello but it was still far more difficult to get micro foam compared to the Saeco at work.

As I said in the first post I am very green...  will a semi produce a better froth without spending thousands of dollars?

Not sure where you read that... sure it was here? :-? I would think the majority of those sorts of comments would actually relate to super-autos, not manual machines. I guess those of us with manual machines are always trying to improve what we get but at least its possible to make improvements. With the caveat that Ive never used one, I understand super-autos are renowned for struggling to get the sort of results you get from manual machines (with the appropriate operator skill) and thats its hard to improve things if they dont do what you want out of the box.

Anyway, not sure how much the C5 was but you can get quite a reasonable machine and grinder package for around the $1200-$1500 mark, and of course upwards from there. With a bit of practice and fresh beans, youll be able to get brilliant results from this sort of kit.

Greg