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Who doesn’t love cappuccinos? Invite some friends over for some lattes anytime with the Jura ENA Micro 9 One Touch automatic cappuccino machine. It’s popular among frothy lovers, so we decide to take a closer look at this great coffee maker.
The Jura ENA Micro 9 One Touch is a fully automatic cappuccino machine capable of producing a range of espresso-based drinks. The machine is 11% shorter than the compact ENA line and is marketed as the world’s smallest one-touch automatic cappuccino machine.
It features an internal milk frother and a built-in conical burr grinder. The Micro 9 offers one-touch functionality via the top-mounted control panel, allowing the user to select such variables as drink type and dosage. The Micro 9 makes latte macchiato, cappuccino, espresso, and long black.
It also features a separate hot water dispenser for Americanos etc. There is a 4.4oz hopper for whole beans, as well as a bypass doser for pre-ground coffees. With a $1,000 plus price tag, this is a serious piece of equipment for anyone who wants simple one-touch functionality and Jura quality.
At a Glance
| Price | $1,000 – $1,300 |
| Color | Silver (plastic casing) |
| Weight | 21 lbs |
| Product Dimensions | 17.5 x 9 x 12.7 inches |
| Water Tank Capacity | 37 oz |
| Built in Grinder | Yes |
| Bean Hopper Capacity | 4.4 oz |
| Pump Pressure | 15 bar |
| Cup Clearance | Up to 5.4 inches |
Features
The Jura Ena 9 comes with the following built-in features:
- Conical burr grinder with five grind settings
- Automatic cappuccino frother/milk steamer (no manual steam wand)
- Hot water function
- Cup clearance from 2 to 5.4 inches
- Programmable for latte machiatto, cappuccino, espresso and café crème
- Two dosage levels (6 or 10g of coffee)
- Bypass doser for pre-ground coffee
- Two temperature settings
- Protective aroma seal on the bean hopper
- Energy-saving mode
- Separate pipe systems for coffee and milk
- Integrated splash guard
- Option to operate with or without a CLEARYL Blue filter cartridge
- Programmable switch-off time
While the machine offers milk steaming and frothing functionality, it doesn’t come with a milk pitcher/container, so you will need to purchase one separately.
General Use
The Jura ENA Micro 9 One Touch is the cappuccino maker equivalent of James Bond’s Aston Martin – a compact, silver machine with an effortless design hiding an abundance of features.
To operate the Micro 9, you simply place a cup underneath the adjustable dual dispenser (milk from the back and coffee from the front) and then use the range of options on the rotary top-mounted control panel to dial in your required settings. You can also lock in permanent settings for even easier use.
In order to make an adjustment, you press the button in the center of the dial and then rotate the outside dial to select your options, which appear on the lit control panel. The circular rotating dial is surrounded by dedicated buttons for:
- Latte macchiato
- Cappuccino
- Espresso
- Long black
- Rinse
- Hot water
For example, to make espresso, push the central button and make sure the control panel reads ‘product’. Press the ‘espresso’ button. If you want to make changes, you rotate the dial to choose your desired amount of water, the strength of the drink and also the temperature of the espresso shot. This is essentially the procedure for all the coffee options.
For the latte macchiato and cappuccino, you can also choose the amount of milk used. Note that the temperature adjustment only applies to the espresso shot and not the milk. However, the milk temperature reaches a more than adequate 132 degrees, so really doesn’t need tinkering with any further.
Once you’ve locked in your settings, you simply wait for your drink to magically appear! It’s actually quite interesting to watch, especially the milk-based drinks.
The inbuilt frother creates nicely textured milk via an external tube that runs from the machine into a receptacle of your choice, from which it sucks up the required amount of cold milk and deposits it steamed and frothed into the cup. The Micro 9 then internally grinds the coffee and adds the espresso to the milk.
The whole process takes less than a minute and the control panel tells you the progression. The latte machiatto takes slightly longer as the process pauses mid-way to allow for the fancy layering effect (milk/coffee/milk). The coffee quality itself is as nice as you would expect from a machine that costs over $1,000.
There are other options to play with on the Micro 9, including energy-saving features that allow you to set how long you want the machine to remain on before it automatically shuts itself off (from 15 minutes up to nine hours).
You will get regular instructions to ‘rinse’ the machine. When you get this message, you have to do what it says before it allows you to make another drink (there’s more on cleaning and maintenance below).
The coffee bean hopper is located at the back – a nice feature is the tight rubber aroma seal on the lid. If you want to use pre-ground coffee, there is a bypass doser located under a door on the left. You can use the supplied filler funnel to add up to a maximum of one measuring spoon of coffee (not too fine a grind otherwise you’ll block up the machine).
The 37oz removable water tank is located behind the hopper. If you want to adjust the grind settings, you’ll find the control under a second door located on top of the machine – there are five settings to suit the type of coffee you select.
Maintenance /Cleaning
You can rinse out the machine at any time using the dedicated button and dial (be sure to put a cup underneath the dispenser!). However, after each milk preparation, the Micro 9 prompts you to perform a cappuccino rinse.
In addition, the milk spout should be cleaned daily (if you have made milky drinks). The Micro does not prompt this. The process requires flushing through special cleaning solution and dismantling/rinsing the milk dispensing spout.
The spent coffee ground ‘pucks’ collect in a drawer below the unit. You simply need to dispose of these periodically and clean out the drawer. The external parts of the machine are removable, so you can clean them in soapy water.
From time to time, you need to descale the machine and water tank. The frequency depends on water hardness. You can find this out by using the test strip (supplied as standard). The other maintenance duty is periodically cleaning out the bean hopper.
Fortunately, Jura supplies full instructions to help you keep the Micro 9 in top condition.
The Cons
OK, I’ll get this off my chest first…would it really hurt Jura to include a milk pitcher (or similar) with the Micro 9 One Touch? If you’re looking to spend upwards of $1,000 on an espresso machine/cappuccino maker, obviously splashing out a few extra dollars on a pitcher isn’t the end of the world – but that’s not the point!
In order to make those lovely layered latte macchiatos and cappuccinos, you need to be able to transfer cold milk into the in-built frother. This means a milk vessel is not an optional extra; it’s a crucial part of the beverage-making operation.
Now that’s out the way, the other main negative of Micro 9 One Touch is the maintenance. While not difficult, it is a little onerous to regularly go through the process.
What’s the overall verdict?
While there’s no denying that the Micro 9 offers a full range of programmable controls and drink options, in some ways, this is a machine to admire rather than fall in love with.
Whether or not you take to the Micro 9 really depends on how you take to its ‘everything done for you’ functionality and (slightly award) top-mounted control panel. It also depends on how you get on with the internal milk frother/steamer. Plenty of home users (myself included) would likely prefer the flexibility and control of a manual steam wand.
The Final Brew
Pros: The Micro 9 offers plenty of features to allow the user to tailor their beverage. The usability is pretty straightforward, once you get used to the dial/button combo. The coffee machine is impressively compact.
Cons: No milk pitcher! In addition, it would be nice to have functionality that allows for manual milk steaming. The maintenance is a little onerous, especially the requirements to clean the milk hose after each use and the dispenser daily.
In a sentence?
This is a high-quality, high-maintenance automatic espresso machine/cappuccino maker that offers one-touch functionality from a premium brand.
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