Jura E6 vs E8: is the upgrade worth it?

Jura E6 vs E8 at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on my testing and the manufacturer specs. Rows where the two machines are identical have no winner.

Keep in mind that the tally is not my verdict. Some rows matter far more than others, and which ones matter depends on what you drink.

Design, size and build

Put the two machines side by side and you would struggle to tell which is which from across the room.

They share the same basic body: about 11 inches wide and 13.8 inches tall, with the water tank on the side and the bean hopper on top. The difference in depth is just 0.3 of an inch.

Where they differ is the face. The Jura E6 has a smaller screen flanked by chunky physical buttons, with two coffee spouts on either side of a center outlet for milk and hot water.

The E8 keeps the buttons but stretches the display to 3.5 inches, and its chrome-look panel makes it look a little smarter on the counter. A small light above the cup grille switches on whenever a drink starts.

That light sounds like a gimmick. In a dark kitchen at 6 a.m., it isn't.

The E8’s chrome-look front and cup light make it the more polished of the two.

The build is mostly plastic on both. The E6’s glossy housing felt solid, with no flex when I pressed the panels, and it wiped clean with a soft cloth all month.

The E8 is made in Portugal and engineered in Switzerland. Its drip tray grid is plastic too, which is the one place it felt less premium than I expected at this level.

Weight is nearly identical. The E6 comes in at about 22 lb and the E8 at about 21.2 lb, so neither is something you will want to move around often.

Depth on the counter

Both fit a standard 24-inch-deep counter with room to spare.

Our tip: Measure the gap under your wall cabinets before you buy, and leave about 2 inches above the hopper lid so refilling beans never means sliding the machine forward.

Setup and the first week

Setup is quick on both and follows the same pattern. You test your water hardness with the included strip, enter the result, fit the water filter and let the machine rinse.

The first few drinks on both were weaker than they should be. The grinder needs a few cycles to settle and to clear test coffee from the chute, so I didn’t judge anything until the fourth cup.

The water tank sits on the side of both machines, so leave a little room to lift it out.

Filter tracking: the E8’s quiet advantage

This is one of the bigger day-to-day differences, and it’s easy to miss on a spec sheet.

The E8 recognizes Jura’s CLEARYL Smart+✕CLEARYL Smart+ filterJura’s water filter cartridge. It sits in the water tank and removes minerals and off-flavors, so the machine needs descaling far less often. filter automatically. It tracks how long the cartridge has been in and how much water has passed through it, then asks for a new one when it’s used up.

There’s nothing to reset and no calendar to keep. On the E6, the machine counts down the drinks left before a filter change or descaling✕DescalingRunning a mild acid through the machine to dissolve the mineral scale that hard water leaves behind in the heater and pipes., based on the water hardness you entered.

Both approaches work. The E8 simply removes one more thing you have to remember.

Our tip: Check the maintenance view once a week, so a filter change or descale never catches you right before work.

Screen, buttons and smart features

Neither machine has a touchscreen, and after a month with each I count that as a plus.

Both use a color display flanked by real buttons, and each button controls the drink or setting next to it. They work with damp fingers, and nobody in my house needed instructions.

The E6’s display is about 2.8 inches. You can show two large drink icons per page or four smaller ones, and switch off the text labels once you know the symbols.

The E6’s color display sits between real buttons that work with damp fingers.

Smart Mode on the E6

The E6 has the cleverer trick. Smart Mode tracks which drinks you make most and moves them to the first page.

By the end of my first week, americano and espresso had moved to the front, and cappuccino sat on page two. It sounds small, but my usual drink was always one press away.

The dashboard and app on the E8

The Jura E8 answers with a bigger, clearer 3.5-inch display and a maintenance dashboard that shows filter life, brew unit cleaning, milk cleaning and descaling at a glance.

You can also change strength and water amount while a drink is being made. My favorite trick was pressing the button during an espresso to let it run longer without stopping the pump, which softened brighter beans.

The E8 is also the one I ran from Jura’s J.O.E. app. It shows maintenance as percentages and countdowns, lets you set size, strength and temperature, and started grinding within about a second of pressing start on my phone.

I never needed the app for daily use, because the buttons do everything. It’s a nice extra rather than a reason to buy.

The drink menu: 9 vs 17

This is the headline difference, and for many buyers it decides everything.

The E6 makes espresso, coffee, americano, café barista, cappuccino, espresso macchiato, a portion of milk foam and hot water, plus doubles. That covers a black coffee drinker completely.

The E8 adds a flat white✕Flat whiteA short milk coffee with a double shot and a thin layer of silky microfoam. It is stronger and less foamy than a cappuccino., a latte macchiato, a cortado✕CortadoA small drink of espresso cut with roughly the same amount of warm milk, with very little foam., a lungo, an espresso doppio and extra-shot versions of the cappuccino, flat white and latte macchiato.

One-touch drinks per category

Counted from each machine’s menu. Hot water is not included.

The extra-shot drinks were the surprise hit in my house. They add a second shot to the same drink, which makes up for the E8’s slightly lighter espresso.

On the E6, I built lattes by pulling a double espresso into a tall glass and adding two portions of milk foam. It took under two minutes and tasted fine, but it’s a manual step every time.

Seventeen drinks, one button each: the E8’s menu is its strongest argument.

Grinder and dose

Both machines use Jura’s Professional Aroma Grinder with hardened steel conical burrs✕Conical burrsTwo cone-shaped grinding parts, one inside the other. Beans are crushed between them, and the gap between the burrs sets how fine the coffee is., and both take between 5 and 16 grams of coffee per brew.

At 16 grams, one pass holds a full double shot or enough coffee for a 12-ounce mug. Neither machine has to split a big drink into weak, partial extractions.

The grinders are fast. On the E8, my 15-gram doses took about five seconds, which limits friction heat and keeps the aromas intact.

The E8’s grinder is fast, but medium-dark beans suit it best for espresso.

Where they felt different

On the E6, the grind dial next to the hopper has six positions. Setting 3 with the strongest level became my default for a medium-dark blend, and setting 2 gave a bolder shot with thicker crema.

On the E8, the finest setting still felt a touch coarse for a really deep, heavy espresso. With darker roasts that wasn’t a problem, but lighter roasts ran a little fast and tasted bright.

The E6’s grinder also sits on rubber mounts with sound-damping inside the housing, and it was the quieter of the two by a clear margin.

Our tip: Only turn the grind dial while the grinder is running on either machine, because turning it with the burrs stopped can jam beans and stress the gears.

Espresso quality

This is where the E6 surprised me, and where the E8 showed its one real weakness.

Both use Jura’s Pulse Extraction Process✕Pulse Extraction Process (P.E.P.)Instead of pushing water through the coffee in one steady stream, the machine sends it in short, rapid pulses. It helps short drinks like espresso extract more evenly., which pushes water through the coffee in short bursts. Each shot starts with a short pre-infusion✕Pre-infusionA short soak of the ground coffee before full pressure starts, so the water flows through the puck evenly. so the coffee soaks evenly before full pressure.

Both run on a 15-bar pump and a thermoblock✕ThermoblockA compact heater that warms water on its way through a metal block, instead of keeping a tank of water hot. It heats up fast and switches between tasks quickly., so on paper they should taste the same. In the cup, they didn’t.

The E6 pulled the heavier, sweeter espresso of the two with the same beans.

How they tasted

With a medium-dark blend on the E6’s setting 3 and the strongest level, the espresso had a heavy body and a thick crema✕CremaThe golden, foamy layer on top of a fresh espresso. It forms when pressure pushes oils and gases out of the coffee.. I tasted dark chocolate and toasted nuts, with low bitterness and a clean finish.

On the E8, I used a 15-gram dose and aimed for a classic 1:2 ratio. The cup weighed about 29 grams, or 1 ounce, with a smooth, thick and even crema.

The flavor was mild chocolate with a gentle acidity, but the body was a touch thin for my taste. I put that down to the grind not going quite fine enough.

My espresso ratings

My scores out of 10 for body, crema, flavor and consistency.

In milk drinks, the E8’s lighter body didn’t matter at all. A cappuccino buries the difference, and the extra-shot drinks bring the strength back.

If you drink straight espresso after dinner, though, the Jura E6 is the machine I would want.

Americano and long coffee

A proper americano is espresso plus hot water. Many machines fake it by pushing a whole cup of water through the coffee, which over-extracts it and turns it bitter.

Both of these do it properly. They pull a concentrated espresso first, then add hot water through a separate path.

The difference is in the details. The E6 lets you change the strength or volume during a drink and then asks whether to save the new settings, so your americano gets tuned once and stays that way.

The E8’s long coffee at the highest temperature was my most consistent mug of the month.

On the E8, the long coffee became my morning mug. I set it to 150 ml, about 5 ounces, at the highest temperature, and it delivered about 140 grams.

It came out hot, with a dense, durable crema and a soft, almond-like sweetness. It was the E8’s most consistent drink of the month.

So both machines handle black coffee in a mug well. The E6 wins for americano lovers, and the E8 wins if you like a long coffee pushed through the grounds.

Our tip: Make your americano a little shorter than the default, because 3 ounces of water instead of 4 keeps more body and sweetness in the cup.

Milk drinks

Both machines draw milk through a silicone hose from a carton or container. Inside the frothing head, steam creates suction through the Venturi effect✕Venturi effectWhen steam rushes through a narrow channel, it creates suction. Jura frothers use it to pull milk up the hose and mix in air., mixes in air and makes fine foam.

From there, they take very different approaches.

Jura E6: one texture, good foam

The E6’s cappuccino is a one-touch drink with espresso and a generous layer of dense foam. There’s also an espresso macchiato and a portion of milk foam on its own.

It makes one foam texture, and there’s no setting for thinner or thicker foam. That is why there’s no one-touch flat white or latte macchiato.

Jura E8: silky microfoam, more drinks

The E8’s foam was the best part of its milk system. It’s dense, smooth microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It feels silky and glossy, which is what a good flat white or cappuccino needs. with fine bubbles and a silky feel, and cold whole milk at around 3.8% fat gave the sweetest results.

Cappuccino, flat white and latte macchiato use very similar foam. The difference is mostly the amount of milk compared to coffee, and the E8 pours the milk first and the espresso second.

The catch is temperature. My frothed milk measured about 50°C, or 122°F, which is pleasant to sip straight away but cooler than many people expect.

On the E6, lattes are a two-step job: a double espresso, then milk foam on top.

How each milk foamed on the E6

My ratings out of 10 for texture and stability. On the E8, oat and semi-skimmed both foamed well, but whole milk stayed my favorite.

Our tip: Use cold milk straight from the fridge, because warm milk makes big, loose bubbles on both machines.

Hot water and tea

If anyone in your house drinks tea, this section matters more than the drink count.

The Jura E6 has three hot water temperatures. Low suits green and white tea, medium suits herbal tea, and high handles black tea and americanos.

It also comes with two spouts for the center outlet. The milk spout can dispense water, but it sometimes trickled or splashed, so I swapped in the pure hot water spout for tea, which gives a steady stream and keeps milk traces out of the cup.

The E8’s hot water is handy for americanos and lighter teas. At its highest setting, my cup measured about 80 to 85°C, or roughly 176 to 185°F.

That’s because water rushes through the thermoblock quickly rather than sitting and heating. It’s fine for green and white tea, but a little cool for strong black tea, which wants water close to boiling.

The E6 doubles as a tea station, with three water temperatures and its own hot water spout.

Our tip: Fit the E6’s hot water spout whenever you make tea, so you get a clean, splash-free stream with no trace of milk.

Cleaning and upkeep

On the coffee side, both machines are easy. They rinse the coffee path when they switch on and off, and both count brewing cycles and tell you when to empty the grounds container, which holds about 16 pucks.

Neither has a brew unit✕Brew unitThe part that compresses the ground coffee, holds it while water passes through and then ejects the used puck. you can pull out and rinse. Instead, both ask for a cleaning cycle, and you drop a cleaning tablet in when prompted.

Both machines rinse their coffee path on their own; the milk side is where your few minutes go.

The milk side

After milk drinks, the E6 prompts you to rinse the milk system right away. For a quick clean between drinks, I dropped the hose into cold water and ran a short milk foam cycle.

Its deep milk clean runs from the menu and took under four minutes. You fill Jura’s two-part cleaning container with water, add a cleaning tablet and let the machine draw it through.

On the E8, the frothing head drops down from the side, and its air valve, connector and silicone nozzle come apart without tools. I rinsed them under warm water every day, which keeps milk solids out of the tiny air channels.

The E8 also has a fully removable pre-ground chute. Coffee oils and moisture can build up in a chute and grow mold, so being able to wash it weekly is a real hygiene win.

If you close the chute door without adding coffee, a sensor notices and cancels the drink. It saved me from a cup of hot water at least once.

My daily hands-on cleaning time

My estimate of hands-on time per day, not counting automatic rinses.

Our tip: Leave the E8’s frother parts on a clean towel overnight after rinsing, so they dry fully before the next morning.

Noise

The E6 is the quieter machine. Its rubber-mounted grinder makes a low, short burst rather than a sharp whine, and it never woke anyone in my house.

The E8’s grinder is quick, but the gears that move the brew unit are fairly loud. You hear a mechanical clunk during preparation and again when the puck is ejected.

It’s not unbearable, and in a busy kitchen you won’t notice. In an open-plan apartment at 6 a.m., you will.

The E6’s rubber-mounted grinder made it the better machine for early, quiet mornings.

How loud each felt, my ranking

Relative loudness from my side-by-side use. Shorter bars are quieter.

Water, beans and supplies

Running a Jura is about more than beans. Filters, cleaning tablets and milk hoses all come around on a schedule, and both machines use the same supplies.

The tanks are the same size, so refills come around at the same pace. Here is roughly how far one full tank went in my testing.

Same 64 oz tank and 10 oz hopper on both, so refills come around at the same pace.

Drinks per 64 oz tank

Rough maths allowing for rinse water. Your numbers depend on cup size.

Use fresh whole beans within a few weeks of the roast date. Medium and medium-dark roasts worked best on both, and they suit the E8’s grinder in particular.

Avoid very oily or flavored beans on either machine. They can clog the grinder and the chute over time.

Fill the tank with fresh, cold water every day, use the filter if your water is moderately hard, and skip distilled water.

Our tip: Buy a bag of beans you can finish in two or three weeks, because both grinders show off fresh coffee far better than stale.

Real-life scenarios

Specs only go so far. These are the situations where one machine clearly pulled ahead during my testing.

In a busy household, the E8 was the machine nobody needed help with.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10. The first four come from my single reviews of each machine, and I added drink range and tea water because they decide this matchup.

Jura E6

Jura E8

Overall, I rate the E6 8.4 and the E8 8.1. The E6 does fewer things and does them very well. The E8 does far more, with a few hot-and-cold caveats.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: is a milk drink your daily habit or your weekend treat? Answer that honestly and the choice makes itself.

For daily milk drinks and shared kitchens, the E8 earns its place on the counter.

Jura E6 vs E8 specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as my everyday coffee maker for four weeks, making espresso, long coffee, americanos, cappuccinos and tea water, plus flat whites and latte macchiatos on the E8.

I weighed doses and yields, measured milk and hot water temperatures with a probe thermometer, worked through the grind range, and foamed whole, semi-skimmed, skim and oat milk.

I ran every cleaning routine, used the pre-ground chutes, and then compared my notes with Jura’s specifications, owner documentation and published test data.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body and consistency.
• Milk: foam texture, temperature and drink range.
• Workflow: controls, menus, app and daily routine.
• Ownership: noise, cleaning, water care and footprint.