In my mid-range coffee machines, Breville Barista Touch vs Jura E8, the better pick, in my opinion, is the Jura E8. Yet, the choice depends on you. If you’re not ready to develop a routine involving manually preparing coffee brewing and a bit of meticulous cleaning up, I think the Jura E8 is a better option. Meanwhile, if you’re an espresso lover and want to have a hands-on experience like baristas, the Breville Barista Touch is worth considering.
The Jura E8 is the winner though it has a greater price than the Barista Touch due to its feature of more convenient functions. All things operated with the Jura E8 are automatic, allowing me to make your cups with a touch of a button. Although you’re a beginner in the espresso world, the Jura E8 can help you make an all-rounded espresso drink after a few tries. The auto milk system of the Jura E8 gives a frothy texture that can be adjustable to match different milk-based drinks.
The Breville Barista Touch has a lower price than the Jura E8 but limited programmable drink presets. Besides, it is not a machine where you can select the coffee type you want and let it do all the work; you need to do some manual stages, such as levering and tamping the coffee before brewing. I really enjoy the Barista Touch’s steam wand with Auto MilQ technology because it allows me to perform auto and manual frothing, which is a good option for learning frothing skills.
Barista Touch vs Jura E8: Comparison Chart
Last update on 2023-09-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Barista Touch vs Jura E8: Differences
The Jura E8 wins 3-2 against the Breville Barista Touch in this detailed Barista Touch vs Jura E8 comparison. The Breville Barista Touch, for me, is a great semi-automatic machine, which gets me impressed by the automatic MilQ frother and full-bodied espresso shot. On the other hand, the Jura E8 is superior in convenience and versatility while delivering comparable beverage quality to its rival.
Coffee flavor & Brewing system
Winner: Breville Barista Touch
Built-in grinder & Coffee input
The Breville Barista Touch and Jura E8 all have a good built-in stainless steel burr grinder, which means you don’t need to buy a separate grinder. For me, the Barista Touch’s grinder offers up to 30 grind settings, making it a better option for people who are meticulous in preparing coffee cups. The Jura E8 has much lower grind size settings, just 6 settings. Thus, the Barista Touch takes my heart in this aspect.
I prefer the machines with more grind size settings as, in my experience, the more grind settings, the more precise and flavorful the shot. Moreover, the greater number of grind size settings is crucial for a semi-automated coffee machine like the Barista Touch. Users can carefully test to get the best shot matching their preferences. With the Barista Touch, I prefer my grind setting at 17, and the resulting espresso flow is about 30 seconds with a nice pleasant honey color and a full-bodied flavor.
The Jura E8 comes with a modest grind setting number of 6 levels, but this number is common in the super-automatic coffee machine market. Moreover, its Professional Aroma Grinder is one of the state-of-the-art grinders for automatic espresso machines. This grinder is claimed to be much quieter and faster than the previous versions and also other grinders.
I could say that I was impressed by how quiet the Jura E8’s grinding sound is, just like a whisper of the wind! This quiet grinding operation makes the E8 ideal when used in the early morning or late evening.
Though both the Barista Touch and Jura E8 are bean-to-cup espresso machines, you can use pre-ground coffee powder available at home, especially convenient when you run out of coffee beans or want to drink decaf coffee.
With the Jura E8, you need to select the using pre-ground coffee option in the menu and put the powder in the preground chute (bypass doser). With the Barista Touch, you should use the dual-wall (pressurized) filter baskets with pre-ground coffee to get the best extraction pressure.
Heating system
The Barista Touch is equipped with a ThermoJet heating element, allowing the machine to heat up and be ready to use within an impressively short time of 3 seconds. Moreover, it has a PID temperature controller to ensure the temperature consistency throughout the brew group for the most flavorful cup of espresso.
Meanwhile, the Jura E8 comes with a single thermoblock heating system that can heat up within about 30-40 seconds. Though this heat-up time is not as fast as that of the Barista Touch’s thermojet system, it is quicker than other heating systems such as the boiler or heat exchanger.
Besides, though the Jura E8 does not have a PID controller, its intelligent preheating feature ensures the espresso comes out at the right hotness in the first brew, as well as cup after cup. I need to admit that I haven’t encountered temperature instability while using the Jura E8 so far.
Brewing performance
I could say that it is difficult to tell which has the better brewing performance because they all deliver robust and flavorful espresso shots with a beautiful crema layer. But when it comes to the consistency in flavor between each pull, I will go for the Jura E8 because the E8 does not involve manual tamping like the Barista Touch.
With most of the semi-automatic espresso machines, like the Barista Touch, you have to tamp the coffee ground manually. The pressure force (~22-33 lbs) needs to be consistent every time to ensure flavor consistency between each cup. Too much tamping pressure will lead to a longer extraction time, resulting in bitter and burnt espresso tastes. Moreover, improperly and unevenly tamped coffee pucks often lead to the channeling problem, which definitely ruins the final coffee taste.
It sounds challenging to achieve the perfect tamped coffee pucks with manual or semi-automatic espresso machines, but don’t push yourself too hard, you can master it after some trials.
With a super-automatic coffee machine like the Jura E8, you don’t have to worry much about how to tamp your ground because the machine does it for you. Therefore, you can get the nice tamped coffee puck every time, contributing to delivering balance and consistent flavors cup after cup. In other words, the super-automatic Jura E8 makes it easier to get a balanced and well-rounded cup of espresso even on the first try.
Both of the machines feature the pre-infusion mechanism and 15-bar pump pressure for optimal extraction, delivering the full-bodied espresso shot at around 9-9.5 bar. The Barista Touch allows me to adjust the brew time to get the coffee volume and strength I want. On the other hand, the Jura E8 has the patented Pulse Extraction Process (P.E.P.) technology to maximize the extraction performance for short black coffee drinks like ristretto and espresso.
Shortly, both of them give me satisfying espresso experiences with nice-tasting beverages. The Barista Touch takes me more trials to dial in my best pull, but once I manage it, it is a reward! The Jura E8 does not take me that much effort to make a nice cup of espresso, which I found making coffee every morning like a breeze!
Design & Convenience
Winner: Jura E8
Drink programmability
The Jura E8 wins this round as it offers a much wider range of beverage presets than the Barista Touch, as you can see in the following table. So, you can make a variety of drinks with the Jura E8 conveniently with a touch of a button.
For the customization, these two machines have different programmable categories, as also detailed in the table. I found that Barista Touch’s programmable settings are not as straightforward as that of the Jura E8. For example, to adjust the coffee strength, instead of simply choosing the levels in the menu like the Jura E8, I may need to go through changing the shot volume (double or single) and the duration of grind and brewing.
| Breville Barista Touch | Jura E8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Drink presets | Espresso Americano Latte Flat White Cappuccino | Espresso Coffee Caffè Barista Americano Espresso doppio Cortado Macchiato Cappuccino Cappuccino Extra Shot Flat white Flat white Extra Shot Latte macchiato Latte macchiato Extra Shot Portion of milk foam Hot water 2 × Espresso 2 × Coffee |
| Drinks customization | – Grind duration (seconds) – Single or double shot – Brewing duration (seconds) – Milk temperature (110-170oF) – Milk froth level (4 levels) | – Coffee strength (10 levels) – Volume of coffee – Coffee temperature (3 levels) – Amount of milk foam (in seconds) |
| Create personalized recipes | 8 recipes | No, but arrange the drink priority based on preparation frequency |
Capacity & Dimension
The dimension between the Barista Touch and Jura E8 is not significantly different. However, the Barista Touch will need more space under the cupboard to accommodate it, owing to its 16-inch height. Meanwhile, the height of the Jura E8 is 2 inches lower, about 14 inches, but in general, both of them can fit under most of the hanging cupboards, except for the space with less than 17-inch hanging height.
In terms of capacity, the Jura E8 offers a little more generous bean hopper capacity of 10 oz (284 g), while that of the Barista Touch is about 8.8 oz (250 g). Besides, they all boast a large water reservoir of roughly 2 liters (Jura E8 is 64 oz, Barista Touch is 67 oz). However, I like the side water tank of the Jura E8 more than the back water tank of the Barista Touch because it is easier to remove without moving the whole machine.
The Jura E8 has a height-adjustable coffee spout ranging from 2.6 to 4.4 inches. On the other hand, the brewing head of the Barista Touch is fixed, and the maximum cup height is about 4 inches. With the adjustable-height spouts, the Jura E8 is advantageous in preventing splashing when using short cups. With the Barista Touch, I have to place something flat under the short cup to reduce the coffee-splashing mess.
Hot water spout
These two machines all have separate hot water spouts for making americano or pre-heating the cup before brewing. Their hot water spout is moreover placed in a convenient position, which is included in the brewing spout group (Jura E8) or very close to the brewing group head (Barista Touch), for making americano without moving the cup. The hot water from the spout is also hot enough for making tea or hot chocolate.
Milk system
Winner: Breville Barista Touch
I prefer the milk frother of the Breville Barista Touch to that of the Jura E8, as the Barista Touch’s steam wand can be used to froth milk automatically and manually. Besides, it allows users the adjust the milk foam level and temperature depending on their preferences.
I’ve discovered that the Auto MilQ automatic milk frother on the Barista Touch is incredibly user-friendly, and I’ve encountered no issues with it so far. The process is as straightforward as positioning the provided milk pitcher beneath the wand, aligning it with the temperature sensor for precise operation.
In automatic mode, the steam wand of the Barista Touch produces a velvety milk froth, a feat I used to struggle with. Moreover, there’s the option to switch to manual mode, which comes in handy when I’m in the mood to hone my frothing techniques. However, the steam wand needs to be pre-purged to get dry steam to avoid adding an unnecessary amount of water to the milk.
The Jura E8’s milk frother system has only automatic mode and allows me to adjust the amount of milk foam but not the froth levels. However, the milk foam and texture produced by the Jura E8 fine frother are very nice and beautiful. Moreover, the designed froth levels will be different based on the milk-based drinks you selected on the menu. If you do not concern about having hands-on frothing experiences, the Jura E8’s automatic Professional Fine Foam frother will not let you down.
Cleaning & Maintenance
Winner: Jura E8
The Jura E8 is the star of this round for its cleaning convenience. Cleaning the appliance after every use may be a tedious task for some people, especially those who have a hectic routine. This is the time for a super-automatic machine like the Jura E8 to shine.
Unlike the semi-automatic Barista Touch, the Jura E8’s brewing process does not involve using portafilters and manual tamping, so I don’t have to clean the portafilter and coffee mess after every use. All I need to do is to clean the milk frother after each use and dump the coffee ground container when it is full.
Like other manual or semi-automatic machines, the Bratista Touch is messy when making coffee specialties. You need to dump and clean the portafilter after each brew, and this often creates quite a mess on your counter. Besides, its auto-purge steam wand often results in water splashing and filling the drip tray pretty quickly. So, make sure you clean it often, and a quick scrub with soap will help it not smell.
Shortly, if you’re not ready to develop a routine involving manually preparing coffee brewing and a bit of meticulous cleaning up, the Jura E8 will be a better option.
Asides, both machines will let you know when to initiate the descaling cycles. Performing the descaling procedures for both machines is straightforward; I simply need to adhere to the illustrated instructions outlined in their respective manuals.
Additionally, these two machines include a water filter in their package, although its usage is optional. Personally, I recommend utilizing the water filter as it effectively softens the water, ultimately minimizing the descaling need and frequency. Additionally, it is recommended to change the filter cartridge after every 2-3 months.
However, if you’re afraid of forgetting to set a reminder for filter replacement, the Jura E8 will get you covered. Specifically, Jura E8 has Intelligent Water System and CLEARYL Smart water filter cartridge, allowing the machine to detect the water filter usage and signal the filter replacement time. Meanwhile, the Barista Touch does not feature this function, meaning that you have to remember the replacement time yourself.
Utilities
Winner: Jura E8
Automatic switch off
The Barista Touch and the Jura E8 all automatically switch off after a specific time of inactivity. The auto-off time of the Barista Touch is after 30 mins and is not programmable. Meanwhile, this auto-off time of the Jura E8 can be adjusted from after 15 mins to 9 hours of inactivity.
App connection
The Jura E8 is more versatile than the Barista Touch owing to its app and WiFi connection. This function allows me to control and customize the drinks remotely via the J.O.E app on my phone.
Meanwhile, I cannot remotely control my Barista Touch because it does not have a WiFi connection function. It is just a semi-automatic machine with greater automation than other manual machines, but that automation does make the learning curve become somehow simpler.
Quick Rundown Of Jura E8
- Stainless steel machine with Piano Black color
- Professional aroma grinder
- 17 different specialty coffee drinks
- Dedicated hot water spout system
- Exclusive Extra Shot function
Last update on 2023-09-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Quick Rundown Of Breville Barista Touch
- Please refer to user guide or user manual or user guide (provided below in PDF) before first use
Last update on 2023-09-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Product Video
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References:
- Jura E8: https://us.jura.com/en/homeproducts/machines/E8-Chrome-NAA-15371
- Breville Barista Touch: https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/espresso/bes880.html
I’m Floyd J. Alcock, an experienced barista with a deep love for coffee. I curate personalized coffee experiences, guiding customers through diverse flavor profiles and suggesting ideal brewing methods. My extensive knowledge of espresso machines enables me to recommend the best equipment to match specific needs and budgets. Sharing my expertise and passion with coffee enthusiasts brings immense satisfaction. I look forward to continuing my journey of coffee discovery with every customer I serve, fostering connections over a shared love for this magical beverage.