Customer Reviews

Jura-Capresso 13185 Impressa F7 Espresso Machine, Silver Metallic

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After 7 years or so of using a bulletproof Starbucks Barista which produced great espresso and copious microfoam, I bought this machine for my wife for Christmas (although she swears it was yet another gift to myself). The build quality and ease of use is great. The espresso is very good (but not up to the standards of a well pulled shot off a semi-auto). Nevertheless, the lack of any mess and pushbutton convenience outweighs any complaints about the quality of the shot - don't get me wrong, it pulls a very nice shot. What it doesnt do well is create the beautiful microfoam an experienced user can get using a traditional steam wand. All of these super-autos have that annoying steam-assist wand which is supposed to require no skill to create foam. Unfortunately all it does it create these large crappy bubbles and very little foam. To make matters worse, the side steam holes get clogged very easily and then the result is NO FOAM. I called wholelattelove and Capresso looking for a solution and they each had no clue either (a) how to solve the problem, or (b) why in the world I didnt like the crappy large soap bubble excuse for microfoam. Well for $8 I found a Krups metal steam tip off the net (go to culinaryparts.com for a $1.99 steam tip plus $6 shipping) and screwed it on to the end of the metal wand after having discarded the useless steaming aid sleeve and old plastic tip, and VOILA! -- awesome foam made in half the time I could do the same thing with my old Starbucks Barista. These machines all have a Thermoblock for steaming unlike the traditional boiler on a better semi-auto. Nevertheless it is enough and the foam is first rate as I said. The only other thing to be aware of is that these machines cant use my beloved Peats coffee beans - too oily and they get stuck in the hopper- so I am still searching for a good dark roast which is not too oily. But for now after a month of use, I am happy with the espresso and the foam and delighted to make my morning cap with a minimum of effort. The F7 in particular is a great machine as against the other Juras. It is more programmible than the E* and much simpler to use (and smaller footprint) than the pricier units. I almost bought the F9 but there is just too much to think about on that machine and the bright chrome is a bit too shiny and pretentious. The F7 is the perfect mix of functionality and understated good looks. It is also the newest technology from Jura so it has some small touches that the F9 doesnt have, such as a 120 second steam timer versus the 60 second timer on the F9.

Update to the above review:

After many more months of use I am loving the Jura F7, and I found the beans to use: Blue Bottle Coffee Hayes Valley Espresso. Not too oily but very flavorful. Perfect for this machine. Better than Peats, and definitely fresher. I am not going to list their website here cause I dont want to look like a shill for them. But you can find them, I am confident. They will mail out to you for no additional cost.

By the way, the review above that says the F7 is a shinier version of the E8 is incorrect. The basic mechanism may be the same, but the programming functions and other nice features are significantly different. If you're already spending this much coin, the F7 is a better deal than the E8. Just my humble opinion.

I got the Impressa F7 for mother's day and it has changed my life around! The coffee is predictably par excellence and both my husband and I have no desire to go out for coffee anymore. In fact when we are out, we would rather come home than go to Starbucks.
The machine seemed formidable at first (I find any thing with manuals to be intimidating), but after reading the manual and trying out the F7 a few times I got it right. I have since perfected the art of frothing and steaming. It comes with a video, though I did not watch it.
CONS: has a fairly large foot print....needs a lot of counter space.
Flavored coffee beans cannot be used in the grinder....something to do with the oils. Because of this I have switched from hazelnut coffee to unflavored coffee, and frankly, the coffee is so good that I don't miss the flavored kind.
The accessories such as the water filter and the cleaning tablets are not easily available.....I have to order them directly from Capresso, or from Williams and Sonoma.
Finally, although this is a somewhat expensive machine ($1400), we have recovered half the cost of the machine over the past 3 months by not going to specialty coffee stores and spending $3 for each cup.
Hope you find this review helpful.
KS

My wife LOVES coffee...I like coffee...she works ..I work...we have three kids...I would try to stay in bed longer than her to keep from having to make the coffee in the morning.. For Christmas I bought an Impressa F7 ..I was only prepared to spend about $1000 on a coffee machine at Williams-Sonoma...but the machine I could get for that really lacked some basic features...there were more expensive machines...but the F7 seemed to have most of what I wanted ...I got up Christmas morning to set up the machine, which was relatively easy...(although after 7 or 8 cups of "tweeking" the machine, my heart was pounding up in my throat and when the kids came down to see what Santa had left them I sent them back upstairs for making too much noise)...The coffee was REALLY good...it took a while to learn how to adjust the machine to get what we each liked, but now we love the machine...although there are occassional issues such as a luke warm cup now and then and the frother is marginal...it has made our life in the morning a very pleasant experience...it really doesn't require much upkeep ....wouldn't give it up now...

Length:: 7:10 Mins

Great tasting coffee & espresso, but for nearly $1k I shouldn't have to burn myself and spend nearly 15-20 minutes cleaning up a mess caused by an unacceptable & fundamental flaw in engineering.

Since the second day we owned this product the steam wand has flown off at random temperatures; as low as 100 deg. F and as high as 160 deg. F. I've tried adjusting how low and high I have the steam wand inserted in the milk. I've even de-calcified the machine and tried again. Nothing helps the situation.

I called the company technical support and they suggested a new steam valve. We waited over a week for it to show up only to find out they sent us the wrong one! We told them our model number; they even referenced the manual with us on the phone.

I called technical support a second time and the guy affirmed they've had a few people call with this same issue. The worst I've seen was a written review on Costco.com for this product where the guy owned it for 5 months before this started happening to him. Can you imagine being stuck with this problem after 5 months of owning it?

Pay specific attention to 4:20 into the video. Avoid this company at all costs! Virtually all of their machines employ the same type of steam wand.

Many people have reported having to send their units in MULTIPLE times for VERY EXPENSIVE repairs - - many times costing $180 or more. I spend that much on maintenance for my vehicle! But after spending nearly $1,000 on this machine there's no way in heck I should have to spend another cent! This thing should JUST WORK and for MANY MANY MANY years without flaws... certainly NOT one that can potentially scald the heck out of me with HOT MILK.

Watch the video to see just how awful it is (specifically 4:20 into the video).

I am not a coffee shop expert so my expectations may be different than yours. My needs were the following when considering buying this machine:

1. Consistant coffee shop taste and quality.
2. Easy to use
3. Easy clean up
4. An intelligent machine
5. Well built

This machine is really cool. It makes the whole coffee making process so simple. The results are fabulous. Everything comes out nice and hot. The machine is very intelligent with a lot of cool little features in place to make your life easier. The frother works great. Setup was a breeze. I got it on amazon.com for $853.00 brand new from a marketplace seller. A great deal it was!

If you are interested in figuring payback of your automatic coffee maker, read on....

Bought: December 08
Cups brewed to date: 398
Payback vs. coffee house: <6months


First of all, let me say up front that we searched for a long time before we decided on the F7. My wife is a Latte-holic and a good chunk of our budget went to the local coffee house on her way to work. I like a good cup of Java myself and so we pondered the question if an automatic home brewer would be a good investment? In short, YES. Membership wholesale places like C*stco are a great place to buy and return if you do not like a product. How ever, you are usually limited to only one or two models on the shelf. We went through several semi/full automatic coffee makers at our local mega store and had to return all of them for one or other reason. Mainly value vs. function and mostly- can it brew a good cup of coffee or Latte. For sake of keeping this review short I evaluated all factors in my decision for all candidates including: pressure in bar or psi, heating element, grinder, steam output, cleaning functions, easy of use, program functions, other reviews, and so on. We really liked the F7 and decided to buy it refurbished for $ 699 at 1st in coffee online through Amazon which included a return policy.
A big question before any purchase was the ROI or how long would it take for the machine to pay for itself vs. buying your Latte at the local coffee house.
I am not going to bore you with details and math but here are my conclusions:

Coffee house: 16oz Latte $ 3.55

Homebrew: 16oz Latte $ 0.57

( Electricity 1325Watt 3 minutes +/- @.12kw/hr, Milk (organic) 12-14oz, filtered water for steam and coffee brew 4oz +/- , coffee - ground or bean 1-2 TBS, sugar (organic) 1 ½ Tsp, hot water/soap for cleaning cup (dishwasher). Cost: $ 0.57 organic, $ 0.53 non-organic)

You can see that I actually included all factors in making a cup of coffee at home.
Lets take the $ 699 for the machine = 196 coffee house lattes.
Subtract the cost of homebrew from coffee house brew and the actual cost is $ 2.98 per cup until payback. Now $ 699 divided by $ 2.98 is 235 cups.
Yes, you would have to brew just about 235 cups at home to break even.
Now, we brew about 1.2 - 2 cups average per day...
So, for us the automatic coffee maker has payed off in less than 196 Days or about 6 months.
Pros: Several features not found on similar priced models, easy to load/clean, programmable brew settings, optional filter, auto on/off, pre-ground coffee option, bright display.
Cons: Only one preset (no his/hers preferences), steam nozzle has limited movability and produces flat foam only when cup is not handled. Larger cups are awkward to place under steam nozzle.
Can not grind oily beans well.(common with all auto brews).
All in all we love our Jura F7 and would recommend it.

I have had the Capresso for just about 2 years (see my earlier rating.)
It is worth it's weight in gold. The coffee is terrific....I have no desire to stop at Starbucks on the way home from work for my usual evening caffeine fix.
The customer service has been terrific. Last week the steam knob was stuck and did not turn to open. Since the warranty period of 1 year was over, I was concerned about having to spend a huge amount to get it fixed. I tried cleaning the knob(thinking maybe some milk splatters and grunge had crusted underneath), I also tried WD 40.....to no avail. When I called customer service, I spoke with 'Gunther', who kindly walked me through prying off the knob and replacing it....and now it works perfectly!
The machine is operated by my 10 and 12 year olds as well as my cleaning lady and sitter.....and it has never failed. A reproducible cup of coffee.... pretty much each time. On a rare occasion, the coffee is luke warm and has to be discarded. I have learnt the machines little nuances and can tweak the settings to make a perfect cup.
I always use whole beans. I have found that when I use ground coffee I have to put in a tremendous amount per cup brewed. I also have only used non flavored coffee beans.

The frother can get pretty crusted, so I usually take it apart and soak it in warm soapy water every other day. On occasion, if it is not reattached well it can pop off while steaming and make a bit of a mess, and possible scald you....so be careful. That has happened once or twice, and was probably why the steam knob got stuck with dried milk.
At any rate, the Jura Capresso F7 gets 5 stars from me at the 2 year mark!

ANOTHER ADDENDUM, DEC 11, 2007
My F-7 needed to be serviced....after 2.5 years and thousands of cups of coffee we figured it was in the cards. The steamer was not making the milk hot and frothy.....troubleshooting did not help, so I had to send it in.
Anyways, it cost a little over $200 including s and h, and less than a week later, I have a practically brand new coffee machine that makes the very best! I am a very satisfied customer of a fantastic product that I highly recommend!

I have had the Jura F7 for about seven months now and it has been fantastic! I had a few others before, I had to return them however. I wanted a machine that could produce an espresso or any espresso drink such as cappuccino that was as good as the coffee shops. the Jura-Capresso, Impressa F7 did just that. The other few machine's had some issues after just a few months and for what these things cost, I was a bit upset and thank goodness I could return them. The Jura has not let me down at all and I use the machine every day sometimes several times a day without any trouble. If you are ok with spending this type of money for a coffee/espresso machine this is a very good one to get.

My first Jura was the F7. I bought it off of Ebay(new) and couldn't have been happier. I was so thrilled with it, that I bought another (F9) and gave my mom the F7 because it was such an awesome machine. It is really remarkable how the machine works. It took me a good 15+ cups to figure out how to make the coffee the way I like it. There are so many options on this machine that effect the taste: Grind, water temp, quantity of beans, quantity of water, etc.... In reference to the service I am amazed. When I received my new F9, I immediately had problems with a couple of the buttons. I called the service center and was on hold for 6-8 minutes. After about a 2 minute conversation with the representative they said that she would just send out a new machine and when I get it to send my old machine back in the box. They paid all postage. No credit card, nothing. I've never heard of such a service before. Absolutely Excellent. I couldn't be happier. It is a great machine that makes very good coffee and looks really nice on the kitchen counter. I love my Jura! As a matter of fact, I believe I am going to go and make myself a decaf latte right down.

We ordered the F7 which was sold by Amazon directly---- liked that fact.
The Jura F7 is a wonderfully useful addition to our kitchen. My husband and I are true coffee lovers who buy our coffee from Olde City Coffee (they supply restaurants) and from Pete's Coffee (online--excellent beans--our frist choice). The Coffee, Cappuccino, and Latte are all made effortlessly. Being able to have coffee beans ground on demand makes for the freshest beverage. The Bypass feature is wonderful for those times when someone would like a DeCaf coffee. The machine is programmed to 'sense' the opening of the Bypass lid and you simply add ground coffee. Instant hot water for when we have a cup of tea (which we buy at The Tea House in Philadelphia) is also nice. We feel that it produces coffee equal to that served at Barnes and Noble or Borders. No problem with the frothing--great feature as well. Only thing we would have liked to see is a Stainless Steel coffee bucket--it's plastic. (catches the grinds---machine lets you know when to empty; easily done). Love the "Rinse" feature---after turning on, and when turning off the machine, machine signals you to press the Rinse button--- rinses the internal parts.) Machine is well-worth the expense for those who enjoy premium coffee on demand. I researched & compared this model with many others--including more expensive-- and this one was the one for us. It was sold by Amazon directly and we liked that fact since Amazon is so easy to deal with and ship immediately. We've dealt with them many times.