Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 Review

The Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 One Touch Automatic Espresso Machine is for the lack of a better word… perfect.  It’s beautiful design, intuitive One Touch interface and full range of features make it the best Automatic Espresso Machine in its class.

Jura-Capresso takes the idea of “One Touch” very seriously.  They should… they where the first to bring several “One Touch” beverage machines to the market.  In fact, you could almost say they invented it.  Seasoned and well into multiple generations of technology the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 offers bullet-proof performance day in and day out, without compromising on features and quality of product.

Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 Features:

The Impressa Z7 features EIGHT pre-set One Touch beverages:

• Cappuccino
• Latte Macchiato
• Hot Chocolate
• Hot Tea
• One or Two Cup Ristretto
• One or Two Cup Espresso
• Large Cups of Coffee with a great thick crema floating on top
• Milk
  

  Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 Settings & Configuration:

  The pre-set programs can be customized to set how much liquid you want in your cup, coffee strength, the amount of frothed/steamed milk, and temperature pretty easily.  The LED display makes things very easy to understand if you want to re-configure these options, however, the machine is fully pre-programmed and ready to rock & roll right out of the box.

  Assembly is easy, there are videos available that show you exactly how to put the drip tray in, remove the packaging, etc…   It’s all very straight forward, and easy to understand.

  Don’t be put off if you see a coffee bean in your machine, or some type of indication that the machine was used.  While it is used it is a new machine.  These machines are complex (inside) and Jura-Capresso likes to make sure you get a machine that actually works when you take it out of the box instead of one that might need tweaking so they run a cycle through the machine before it is boxed up and made ready to go to make sure that everything is in perfect working condition.  Think of it like buying a new car, you will never purchase one that has ZERO miles on the odometer.  It’s just not done very often because everyone in the process wants to make sure there are no issues.

  Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 Product Quality:

  The Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 uses 15 bars of pressure to extract the goodness from your coffee beans.  For those of you not in the know, the 15 bars of pressure refer to a scientific measurement for pressure.  Very basically, a bar of pressure is equal to an atmosphere of pressure or the ambient pressure at sea level.  So 15 bars of pressure means that the espresso machine is pumping hot water through the ground espresso at roughly 15 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level.

  When this happens, a wonderful thing occurs… CREMA.  Crema is a combination of proteins from the bean, emulsified oils, and air.  It makes a thick cream looking substance that floats on the top of the coffee.  Some of you are thinking “eww” right now, but it’s really not a “eww” moment I promise!  Here is why:

  1) The crema will dissipate within three or four minutes;  however, you will want to drink most of your coffee by then if you want to enjoy the flavor.

  2) While it is on top of your delicious coffee, it is trapping gases and aroma that is escaping like water down a drain.  If you drink your coffee while the crema is floating on the top you will get the full bodied flavor that you just can’t get any other way.

  Brewing a good cup of coffee is a complex science.  You can giggle a little if you want, but if the temperature, grind size, pressure and extraction time isn’t just right you will be left with something other than a perfect cup of coffee.  Jura-Capresso does all the hard work for you.  They know that you need a decent grind size, that you want to have enough ground coffee available for the water quantity so that when they press the water through the grounds it pulls away about 2/3’s of the flavor and leaves the last 1/3 sitting there (it is bitter and yucky!).  Think of it like this… if you have an popsicle on a stick, you want to lick the popsicle, as you get closer to the stick… you start tasting the stick.  That’s why most of us toss the stick when there is still some popsicle on it because very few of us actually like the taste of wood.  The same is true with coffee.  Part of the bean is very bitter.  About 2/3’s of the bean is sweet and full of great flavors.

  The quality of the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 is top notch.  You get a thick rich crema that floats on the top, and if you put a teaspoon of sugar on it… the sugar will stay there for several long seconds before dropping down through the crema.

  Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 Conclusion:

  

  2011 Reviewboard Magazine Editor’s Choice Award

The Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 is a great Automatic Espresso Machine.  Jura-Capresso has done a fine job putting every detail in place so that their customers need only worry about filling the bean hopper, milk and water containers.  While there is no doubt that this machine is a pure luxury… what a luxury indeed to have one.  The beautiful design makes the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 a center piece in any kitchen.  We have to give the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 the full 5 Star ranking.  It is without a doubt one of the best Automatic Espresso Machines we have ever tested.   In addition we have honored the Jura Capresso Impressa Z7 with a 2011 Editor’s Choice Award.

We found a great deal on the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z7 machine at a place called 1stincoffee.com the link to the machine is here: http://www.1stincoffee.com/juracapresso-impressa-z7.htm They have a excellent knowledge of the Jura product line, and can throw in a case of illy espresso beans free with purchase.