The full story
By the Espresso Rated editors · Published Nov 13, 2026
The S8 sits in the upper middle of Jura's range: a menu of 27 drinks, the P.A.G.2 grinder, an adjustable milk frother and a large color touchscreen. The coffee and the screen draw steady praise. The complaints are about what it costs to buy and to run, and about a design you cannot open up to clean.
Sweet, full-bodied espresso from the P.A.G.2 grinder, a touch cool for some9.5/10
The espresso is the reason to buy the S8, and it is praised almost without exception. Shots come out rich and full-bodied with good crema, and the black coffees carry the same depth. Home Grounds puts it most simply.
“The shots of espresso are sweet, smooth, and full-bodied.”
The grinder gets much of the credit. Home Coffee Expert calls the P.A.G.2 the big update on this version and found a marked difference in flavor, without having to push the strength settings to the top.1 Strength, temperature and shot volume are all adjustable, so a short, intense espresso is within reach.
The caveat is heat. Coffeeness got sweetness and a little sparkle out of its Brazilian beans, then added that "the espresso could certainly be a touch hotter for many of you".2 There is no iced coffee on the menu either, which matters at this price.
A screen as quick as a phone, and quick to start a drink you did not mean7.5/10
The touchscreen is widely liked and is what sets the S8 apart from the button-driven Juras below it. It is large, in full color, and easy enough that a first-time super-automatic buyer will not be lost. Coffeeness found the first S8 laggy and says the current screen is "as responsive as a smartphone".3
Customizing goes deep. You can rename drinks, copy them, move them around the home screen and save personal versions so each person in the house gets their own strength and temperature. The Wi-Fi link to Jura's app is included on the current version, though the app can drop its connection and send you back to the screen.
The screen has its traps. Coffeeness warns that if you press too eagerly, "the brewing process will start immediately".4 Home Coffee Expert had the opposite trouble at times, with a slow response leading to the wrong selection. Some drinks are also hidden in the settings until you move them to the home screen.
The layout takes a morning to learn. Coffee and hot water come from one spout and milk drinks from another, which Coffeeness says caused "not a little chaos and confusion".5 The grinder is quiet, and the machine is a large one at 28 × 34.8 × 44.6 cm, so measure the counter first.
Silky foam with a texture dial, one milk drink at a time and no container in the box7.2/10
The milk foam is widely liked: fine, silky and stable enough for a proper cappuccino.6 A lever on the frother changes the texture between steamed milk and foam, even while a drink is pouring. Home Coffee Expert notes the lever does not change the density a great deal.
The Sweet Foam function adds syrup to the froth as it is made, and it works well if you like flavored drinks. It does best with whole milk. Oat and almond milk foam less consistently, a practical limit for a dairy-free household.7
The limits are about pace and kit. Milk drinks come from a single spout, so they are made one at a time, with a short pause between back-to-back cappuccinos. Jura also sells the milk container separately, which drew a plain response from Coffeeness: "Come on Jura!"8
Automatic rinses and prompts, around daily milk washing and a brew unit sealed inside6.9/10
Upkeep divides opinion, because the machine does a lot for you and still leaves you a daily job. It rinses itself after use, tracks the water filter and tells you when a cleaning program is due. Keep up with the filter and you may never need to descale at all.
The milk side is where accounts differ. Coffeeness reports an automatic flush of the milk system after each use, while Craft Coffee Spot says you must rinse it yourself every time.9 Either way, plan on washing the parts that touch milk every day you use the frother.10 The Sweet Foam capsule is a fiddly extra to clean.
The larger objection is to Jura's design. The brew unit cannot be removed, so it is cleaned in place with a tablet and you never see inside.
“Jura coffee machines don’t come apart for easy cleaning.”
If you drink mostly black coffee, most of this fades. The milk system sits idle and the routine comes down to emptying the tray and following the prompts. The 1.9 l tank will want refilling often in a busy house, since the rinses draw on it too.
A metal tank handle and a well-made hopper, in a casing that is mostly plastic9.2/10
Build quality is praised almost without exception. The drip tray, water tank and bean hopper lid all feel like quality parts, and Home Grounds points to the metal handle on the tank, a piece that often breaks on cheaper machines.11 Coffeeness singles out the hopper for its materials and design.
Long life is the expectation. Home Grounds says Juras "can easily last upward of a decade when cared for properly", and Home Coffee Expert gives a similar range.12 These are forecasts based on the brand's record, not long-term tests of this version.
The caveat is the shell. Seattle Coffee Gear, a store that sells Jura, looked at the earlier S8 and noted that the casing is plastic, with stainless steel only on the spouts and the drip tray insert. It added that Jura does plastic better than most.13
A steep rise over the first S8 at $3,299, with the E8 close behind for less3.6/10
Value is the clear weakness. The current S8 costs far more than the original did, and the case that once made it a smart buy has thinned. Coffeeness, which rated the first edition highly on this point, says so directly.
“I find that the price-performance ratio that impressed us so much with the first edition of the S8 is no longer as impressive in the new version.”
The E8 is the argument against it. Home Coffee Expert judges the E8 the better buy for a few hundred dollars less, and Craft Coffee Spot thinks a machine at this price should preheat its cups.14 In the S8's favor, Wi-Fi now comes in the box, and Home Grounds found it good value when discounted.
Running costs sit on top. Filters, cleaning tablets and the odd milk tube are all Jura's own, and estimates of the yearly bill vary widely. Global Cart Verdict cites an Australian analysis that put "annual consumable costs around $620".15 For a cup or so on weekends, the sums are hard to justify.
Our verdict
Buy the S8 if a household of daily espresso and cappuccino drinkers wants the coffee right and the controls easy, and the big touchscreen is worth real money to you. Skip it if you drink coffee only now and then, want iced drinks, or cannot see what it adds over the E8. At the counter, tap through the screen, find where your usual drinks sit, and ask what a milk container and a year of filters and tablets will cost. Then check the sale price, because that is when the S8 makes most sense.
7 sources quoted in this story (15 notes)
- 1homecoffeeexpert.com · written review “The P.A.G. 2 grinder is the big update here and the flavor difference is marked.”
- 2coffeeness.de · written review “The S8 truly showcases my Brazilian coffee beans at their full potential – sweetness, freshness and a hint of sparkling acidity.” but “the espresso could certainly be a touch hotter for many of you”
- 3coffeeness.de · written review “Whereas the original was rather laggy, this is now as responsive as a smartphone, making it easier to use.”
- 4coffeeness.de · written review “I can tell you that the S8’s operating system is clear, functional and easy to navigate.” but “If you press anywhere on the touchscreen too enthusiastically, the brewing process will start immediately.”
- 5coffeeness.de · written review “Two separate spouts – one for coffee/hot water and one for coffee/milk caused not a little chaos and confusion!”
- 6homegrounds.co · written review “It produces impressively silky frothed milk and includes a manual adjustment lever” but “Drinks with coffee and milk are made on the machine’s right using a single spout, so you can only make one at a time.”
- 7Bebo Pros and Cons · 3:26 “The sweet foam function works best with whole milk, producing a stable microfoam that holds up for a few minutes.” but “oat or almond milk foams less consistently, which is a practical limitation for vegans or lactose intolerant households.”
- 8coffeeness.de · written review “My only gripe has been the lack of a milk container. Come on Jura!”
- 9craftcoffeespot.com · written review “Both Jura E8 and Jura S8 are easy to clean and maintain.” but “Jura S8 doesn’t have an automatic milk frother cleaning function, so you need to rinse the milk system after each use in the S8.”
- 10Global Cart Verdict · 2:47 “The one-touch rinse cycle helps, but you should still expect to clean milk contact components daily whenever you use the frother.”
- 11homegrounds.co · written review “The handle of the water reservoir is metal, not plastic – a common breaking point in cheaper machines.”
- 12homegrounds.co · written review “Juras can easily last upward of a decade when cared for properly.”
- 13Seattle Coffee Gear · 5:25 “this is a plastic casing actually juror does probably one of the better jobs with plastic casings” but “the only thing stainless is this the spouts and the great insert on your drip tray”
- 14homecoffeeexpert.com · written review “It is expensive, but if you’re looking at getting a top-of-the-range espresso machine then it isn’t massively more than the competition.” but “Overall, we think the E8 is probably better value for a few hundred dollars less”
- 15Global Cart Verdict · 2:54 “An Australian product analysis estimated annual consumable costs around $620, which includes filters, cleaning tablets, and periodic milk tube replacements.”
