Jura X9 Replaced with the Jura Giga X3

Jura recently announced that the X9 Platinum bean to cup coffee machine will replaced with the Jura Giga X3 later in 2014.

Jura Giga is the new generation bean to cup commercial coffee machine with a range of models available, ranging from the Jura Giga X5 domestic coffee maker, the Jura Giga X7, X8 Speed and Giga X9 featuring 3 thermoblocks and 3 pumps.

With dedicated pumps and dual milk based drinks being able to dispense simultaneously, our favorite feature is the fine foam technology which prepares excellent tight milk foam on cappuccino and latte.

The Jura Giga X3 has a daily capacity of 150 drinks and will come in either water tank X3 or plumbed to mains options X3c. The news that we're excited about is that the price for this new machine will remain similar to the old X9 Platinum price, and similar to the older models of the Franke Flair.

Other features include:

• Two High performance pumps
• Two Thermoblock heating system
• Flat white at the touch of a button
• Two Latte Macchiato at the touch of a button
• Two Caffè latte at the touch of a button
• Two Cappuccino at the touch of a button
• 43 individually programmable drinks
• JURA fine foam technology
• Electrically adjustable ceramic disc grinders with 5 level settings
• Programmable coffee strength 5 levels - Coffee strength can be adjusted for each preparation

We expect the Jura Giga X3 and X3c machines by Jura Impressa, to become the new best selling medium usage commercial bean to cup machines in 2015. As Authorised Jura dealers and as with all our commercial bean to cup machines, we will be offering leasing deals on this machine which include installation by our trained coffee equipment engineers, 2 years warranty and premium coffee beans. 

More details will be updated soon when the launch is announced. Contact Denby Dale Coffee for more information on 01484 662084.

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.

The Franke Flair

The Franke Flair coffee machine is clearly the result of perfected coffee-making expertise. One glance at the smart practical features says it all. Two grinders for different roasts and plenty of scope for genuine variations in taste, eight coffee and milk specialities at the touch of a button, steam and hot water dispensed simultaneously and an attractive design. The Swiss once again have a winner with this machine.

Setup:
Knowing the Franke Flair was designed for the relatively inexperienced user in an office-type setting, I was already ahead of the game. Without making any electrical modifications like some commercial machines I’ve worked with, I plugged the Flair right into my kitchen outlet using a 13amp plug. Then I added water to the removable 5.5-liter reservoir located on the right side of the machine and waited a few minutes for it to warm up.

By the time the Flair was nearing brew temperature, I had added both decaffeinated and regular beans into the two top-loading 250g bean hoppers, attached the auto-frother to the optional milk chiller System, and I was ready to go to work.

Programmability:
The Flair has eight pre-programmed buttons, so it’s ready to brew cappuccinos, single and double espressos, macchiatos, café lattes and café Americanos right out of the box, whether you’ve got the optional MilkMate System or not. The Flair also allows you to customise up to 24 different drinks by simply pressing a combination of the eight buttons. Personally, I advise experimenting a little before you begin programming the customized drinks. However, once you’re comfortable with the Flair, it’s easy to change the amount of coffee to be ground, amount of water desired or even the temperature of your coffee and milk.

Located on the front of the coffee machine, these versatile buttons are clearly labeled so customers or employees can make espresso-based drinks without any training. The Flair also has what you might call a v-chip or parental control system, so managers and supervisors can disable the manual steaming and programming options. This is ideal if you want to leave the Flair unattended in a hotel lobby or cafeteria without the fear that someone will be scalded or that the machine will be reprogrammed accidentally.

Dual Grinders and Bean Hoppers:
If you were blown away by the Flair’s programming ability, you’re sure to be impressed with the versatility that the dual burr-grinders have.

The Flair is shipped with both grinder mechanisms set for medium, however, it’s very easy to experiment with the settings to find the grind that works for you. If you want to change your grind settings, all you have to do is give the bean hoppers a turn – clockwise for a finer grind and counterclockwise for a coarser one. Once you’re familiar with the Flair and its grinders, it’s easy to adjust them by simply turning the large knobs on the top of the machine. Turn them to the right for finer grinding and to the left for coarser grinding, and always remember to adjust the grinder while it’s running. And, if I may make another suggestion, turn the grinder one notch at a time, as each notch tends to make a big difference. It’s important to bear in mind that the grinder changes don’t take effect immediately - it takes two doses of coffee before the changes are executed because there’s coffee already in the machine ready to brew.

Each of the smoked plastic bean hoppers hold 250g of coffee beans. The hoppers are easy to fill and feed the grinder quickly and smoothly without jamming up.

Steaming and Frothing:
The milk chiller is a double-lined, 12-volt refrigeration unit that sits on the left side of the machine and is designed specifically for use with the Flair.

It’s ideal because of the discreet milk hose that snakes alongside of the machine. And while the milk chiller system is not essential because the Flair pulls the right amount of milk from any style jug using the auto-frother, it’s nice to have because it seamlessly blends with the design of the Flair and keeps the milk at an ideal temperature all day long.

The look isn’t the only thing that’s seamless on the Flair - the auto-frothing system itself is completely automatic. When you brew a café latte for instance, the Flair pulls the desired amount of milk from any external container, then froths, steams and dispenses it along with espresso directly into your cup.

And if you’re a die-hard coffee geek and refuse to use the auto-frothing system, the Flair also allows you to use the integrated frothing wand. Just press one of the buttons on the front of the Flair and you can froth manually.

Cleaning and Descaling:
If all this these automated features have you worried that the Flair will be impossible to clean, think again. The clever engineers at Franke thought of everything, because when the machine is inactive for a 10 minutes, there’s a routine rinse cycle that cleans out the automatic frother and brew group, so you’ll never have to worry about unsanitary milk conditions or stale coffee.

Like everything else on the Flair, you can program the rinse cycle for longer than the 10-minute delay that comes pre-programmed from the factory. This integrated rinsing cycle, combined with a cleaning and descaling program that is as simple as inserting a tablet into the top flap of the machine, makes the Flair one of the easiest commercial machines to clean on the market today. The Flair is also programmed to notify you on the digital LCD display panel when cleaning or descaling is needed – so you’ll always know exactly when to perform maintenance.

Special Features:
When you purchase the Franke Flair from Denby Dale Coffee, we offer free set-up as well as a complete training program by a certified engineer. That’s a huge bonus for those with no barista experience.

With the Franke Flair package, a service engineer will explain to you and your company all of the features the Flair has to offer and they’ll even program the machine specifically for you. So if you want to offer large, extra hot, extra foam cappuccinos, the service representative will make that happen. The service engineer will also give you an in-depth tutorial on how to clean and maintain the Flair for years to come.

We rated the Flair at a production rate of 100 cups per day, with the ability to brew about 50 cups in your busiest hour – so it serves as the perfect commercial espresso machine for a small to medium office, restaurant or café.Using fresh coffee beans will deliver the best results.

Denby Dale Coffee supply commercial coffee machines including the Franke Flair bean to cup machine. Our sister company SlushCo also offers a range of slush machines.