Franke Flair and Jura X9 - Why choose a bean to cup coffee machine?

If you considering commercial coffee machines and wish to serve real coffee, using fresh coffee beans and milk, you will probably be considering either a bean to cup machine or traditional style espresso machine. Each have their own advantages but we'll focus on the bean to cup machine advantages here.

We have been selling bean to cup equipment for many years with the Jura Impressa X9 and the Franke Flair being 2 very popular choices but there are many more bean to cup machine options available. We'll cover that in a moment.

The benefits that a commercial bean to cup machine offers over espresso equipment is the simplicity of use and convenience. There is little staff training involved using bean to cup when it comes to the operation. Simply select the drink choice and push the button. This is particularly useful if you have high staff turnover or you need to multitask while serving a drink. 

Bean to cup machines are popular in sites where coffee is not the primary business. By this we mean you are not a traditional coffee shop but more likely a deli, cafe or restaurant. These coffee machines are also a favorite in offices. Long gone are the days where a kettle is the primary source of drinks, or cheap Klix incup machines are used. We've moved on from the 1970's.

So looking at the Franke Flair and Jura X9 Platinum for example, both machines are similar, both Swiss made, these coffee machines have many drink options such as espresso, coffee, latte, latte machiato, cappuccino and hot water and foamed milk for hot chocolate to name but a few options. They have a daily capacity of between 100 to 150 coffees per day. A picture paints a thousand words so check out the demo video below:

So as you can see, easy to use, great drink delivery and real coffee experience. We will also admit however that although the espresso and black coffee will be of similar quality to one extracted from an espresso machine, including a nice thick crema (if fresh beans are used), the milk foam although very good, will never be as good as what can be made by a barista using a traditional style espresso machine.

The other consideration is that any bean to cup machine requires more cleaning schedules. These include a daily milk flush, a weekly system clean using the correct branded cleaning tablet and a regular de-scaling clean (depending on your usage and water hardness levels). If you buy a Jura or Franke bean to cup machine from Denby Dale Coffee, our engineers will show you how to conduct these cleans when the machine is installed.

We've used the example of the Frank Flair and Jura X9 Platinum in this article but both branded companies offer a large range of bean to cup machines, from smaller usage demands to heavy duty requirements (up to 150 drinks per hour).

Popular Jura Impressa machines; Jura XJ9 (100 cups per day), Jura X9 (150 cups), Jura Giga X7 and Giga X9 (200 cups)

Popular Franke machines; Franke Flair (100 cups per day), Franke Pura (100 cups per hour) and Franke Spectra

Denby Dale Coffee supply commercial coffee machines in the UK, installed by qualified coffee engineers which come with free coffee and an on-site warranty. As a leading coffee supplier, we are here for the lifetime of your machine.

Franke Flair v Jura X9 Coffee Machine

Here at Denby Dale Coffee, we often get asked the question 'What's the difference between a Franke Flair and a Jura X9 Bean to cup coffee machine?'

The answer can vary and can also depend who you ask and what commercial coffee machines their business sells which this can cause some confusion, particularly if you are new to the coffee market and are just looking for some helpful advice.

First of all, we believe we are qualified to consider this question, which we'll come onto in a moment, as we've been UK specialist commercial coffee machine suppliers for many years and are authorised distributors for both Franke Coffee Systems and Jura UK. Bean to cup machines are also our best selling coffee equipment throughout our entire range. In the last 12 years, we have sold over 1,000 combined machines so we know them well.

So to answer the question in a nutshell, we believe them both quite similar. Both produce beverages of similar quality. Put both bean to cup machines side by side and you will notice the similarities, the unit shell is the same, same dimensions, two bean hoppers, the buttons are all in the same place albeit a different shape, they both have a steam wand and hot water outlet. The only other obvious difference is the casing colour.

So you can see that the visual differences are cosmetic. However the key noticeable difference is the daily capacity of the two coffee machines. The Franke Flair has a capacity of 100 cups per day and the Jura Impressa X9 has a higher output of 150 coffees. Jura UK claim this is because there is a slightly better brew unit in the X9 verses the Flair thus delivering this additional usage. A brew unit in simple terms is the engine where hot water under pressure extracts the coffee through finely grounded coffee beans.

The daily capacity is actually a useful guide as to the daily recommended volume of drinks over time the coffee machine is designed for. It won't cut out or stop once these levels have been hit, they will physically prepare hundreds of drinks a day but it's a useful guide to help you decide what is the right coffee equipment for you.

A useful tip when it comes to serving coffee through any bean to cup machine, please don't expect a kettle temperature beverage. In the UK, we are still an instant coffee drinking nation and often the measure of how good the coffee is, is how much it burns the mouth. Serving real coffee means compromising on that delicious burning sensation so expect a black coffee to be about 12 degrees below boiling and a cappuccino nearer 25 degrees below. So keep your cups warm and make sure your customers know they are drinking real coffee the traditional Italian way, i.e. correctly.

For more expert advice, call our sales team on 08000 14 18 18 or 01484 662084.