Is the Jura ENA E4 Worth $970? Brutally Honest Pros, Cons & Cheaper Alternatives

Quick Answer: The Jura ENA 4 is only worth buying if you exclusively drink single/double espresso shots. If you prefer longer black coffees (like Americano), consider the Jura E4, and if you need milk-based drinks, the DeLonghi Magnifica Evo offers better value at half the price.

The Jura ENA 4 is Jura’s most affordable coffee maker on the market right now.

However, it can only brew espresso and drip-style coffee (no milk frothing).

In this Jura ENA 4 review, I’m going to explain why I’d only recommend the machine if you will just drink single/double espresso and suggest alternatives.

Let’s get started.

Should I Buy the Jura ENA 4?

✅ Buy if:

• You drink espresso only (no milk or long black coffees).
• You prioritize sleek design and Jura’s premium build quality.

❌ Avoid if:

• You want milk frothing, customizable drink sizes, or drip-style coffee.
• You’re budget-conscious (alternatives offer more features for less).

While the ENA 4 delivers top-tier espresso for a super-automatic, its 10g coffee basket limits longer drinks to watery results. At ~$1,000, the lack of a milk frother and customization options makes it a niche pick.

Performance Ratings

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Best-in-class espresso for super-automatics (edges out DeLonghi/Philips).
• Sleek, premium design – outperforms rivals aesthetically.
• Compact size fits small kitchens.

Cons:

• Overpriced compared to feature-rich alternatives.
• No milk frother – inexcusable at this price.
• Watery long coffees (max 10g coffee basket vs. E4’s 16g).
• Clunky interface – rudimentary icons, limited settings.

If you want to drink longer black drinks like Americano and drip-style coffee as well as espresso then I’d recommend the Jura E4 instead of the Jura ENA 4.

The Jura E4’s larger brewing basket, which can hold up to 16 grams of ground coffee instead of 10 grams, means that it can make larger servings of coffee without it being watery.

My big gripe with the Jura ENA 4 is that it’s very expensive for a coffee machine that cannot steam milk.

You can get the Delonghi Magnifica Evo, a machine that can steam milk, for around half the price of the Jura ENA 4. 

The Magnifica Evo makes only a slightly worse espresso than the ENA 4 but also allows you to make a cappuccino and latte macchiato at the touch of a button.

You can find out more about the Delonghi Magnifica Evo in my Delonghi Magnifica Evo review.

Jura ENA 4: Features

User Interface and Workflow

The Jura ENA 4 has a disappointingly simplistic user interface given its price.

You make an espresso with the Jura ENA 4 by filling the machine up with whole coffee beans and water and then pressing the brew button.

The machine will grind, dose, tamp, and brew your espresso for you.

The Jura ENA 4 is operated by a screen with backlit icons and four buttons.

Here’s what all the buttons and icons mean (according to the ENA 4’s manual):

I don’t think these icons are all that intuitive.

The ENA 4 could save you a lot of headaches if it just told you in plain English what its issue was rather than relying on icons. 

Accessing its lesser-used features is also unnecessarily difficult. For example,

look at how complicated setting the machine’s auto-off feature is:

I don’t like vague instructions like coffee bean symbols representing hours. Just tell me in words what each button does.

Again, a digital display screen that had a dedicated settings menu and that walked you through how to do this in plain English would make accessing these functionalities so much easier.

Most machines around $1,000 have a better quality user interface than the Jura ENA 4.

Espresso Brewing System

The Jura ENA 4’s espresso brewing system means it makes better-tasting espresso than any other super automatic manufacturer.

The ENA 4’s superior espresso is down to the fact that it uses Jura’s patented “Pulse Extraction Process” (this is often called P.E.P. by Jura).

The ENA 4 brews your espresso by pushing boiling water through your coffee grounds in short bursts (“pulses”) rather than in one solid stream. 

This slows down your brewing, giving your ground coffee more time to extract into your brewing water and resulting in a more complexly flavored espresso.

The Jura ENA 4 typically brews your espresso in 16 seconds whereas Delonghi, Philips, and Gaggia Super Automatics brew your espresso in around 10-12 seconds.

This increased extraction time makes a small but noticeable difference to your espresso’s flavor. Its espresso is slightly better than a Delonghi super automatic, and significantly better than a Philips or Gaggia’s espresso.

Honestly, it’s borderline if this small increase in espresso quality is worth paying a premium for compared to a Delonghi machine. Only get the Jura ENA 4 if you think you’ll notice this difference in espresso flavor (if you don’t already drink espresso regularly then you probably won’t).

You should also bear in mind that the Jura ENA 4 has a smaller brewing basket than other Jura models (other than the Jura ENA 8).

It can only brew with 10 grams of espresso at a time whereas most Jura models can brew with 16 grams.

Although this doesn’t make much of a difference to your espresso’s taste (single shots are typically brewed with 9 grams of ground coffee) it does make the Jura ENA 4’s drip-style coffee inferior to other Jura models.

So if you want to make drip-style coffee with your Jura then I’d recommend getting the Jura E4 instead of the ENA 4).

Available Drinks

The Jura ENA 4 can make four drinks: a single espresso, a double espresso, a small coffee, and a large coffee.

The machine is set to brew 1.5 oz for a single espresso and 3 oz for a double espresso.

Its small coffee’s default size is 4 oz and its large coffee is 8 oz.

I love that the Jura ENA 4 grinds twice for its double espresso. This means that you can make a double espresso with up to 20 grams of ground coffee which is how the drink is traditionally brewed.

So many super-automatic espresso machines make a watery espresso because they don’t brew with enough ground coffee (this is especially true of double espresso).

You have no such problem with the Jura ENA 4.

Drink Customizations

The Jura ENA 4 gives you three strength settings per drink and you can adjust each drink’s length to up to 8 oz volume.

You can adjust each drink’s volume by holding down the drink’s button for two seconds. The coffee strength icons will start flashing and this is the machine telling you that it’s in “customize mode”.

The machine will brew continuously until you either press the relevant drink button again. However long you set the machine to brew for when it’s in “customize mode” will be that drink’s default length going forward.

You can see a video of someone doing this below (watch from 2:05 to 3:15):

You can only customize the lengths of single versions of each drink (single espresso and small coffee). Doubles will just be 2x of whatever these singles are set to.

Rinsing, Cleaning, and Maintenance

The Jura ENA 4 requires less cleaning and maintenance cycles than most espresso machines. Its lack of guidance makes running these cycles more difficult than most machines, especially the first time you do them.

The Jura ENA 4 requires the following cleaning and maintenance:

• You need to remove, empty, and rinse the machine’s drip tray and used coffee grounds container every few days: Every super-automatic espresso machine requires you to do this. It’s just part of the deal of owning one.
• The machine will run a rinse cycle when it turns on and turns off: All super automatic espresso machines do this to prevent your next coffee from containing the remnants of your last coffee. I always put a cup under my spouts after brewing as the machine can automatically turn off and will rinse out its spouts when it does this.
• The machine needs a deep clean cycle after every 160 coffees: This rinse cycle involves putting a Jura cleaning tablet in its bypass doser and then having it brew a coffee on its ground coffee settings so the machine brews with the cleaning tablet. You can see a video of how this works here.
• The machine needs to be descaled every 3-6 months if you do NOT use a smart Claris water filter: You can see a video on how to descale the machine here. Descaling the machine is unnecessarily difficult because it does not have a display screen to walk you through the process. I’d recommend using the Claris smart water filters to avoid having to do this.

Not having a milk system to clean and not ever needing to be descaled means that the Jura ENA 4 requires less maintenance than most fully automatic espresso machines.

Still, running its rinse and descaling cycles is more fiddly than with most machines because of its inability to walk you through these processes in plain English. This can be particularly tricky when you do these for the first time. 

You need to work out what all those flashing icons actually mean.

You cannot remove the Jura ENA 4’s brew group. This is something that it shares with all Jura espresso machines.

Several testers have said that they removed a Jura coffee machine’s brew group after 1 year+ of use and that it came out clean. 

However, I can’t help but think that not being able to remove a super automatic’s brew group means that it will need servicing more often than other manufacturers.

So many of an espresso machine’s technical problems can be solved by removing and lubricating its brew group. You can’t do this yourself with the Jura ENA 4 so you’ll need to pay a professional to open the machine up and do it.

Design and Looks

The Jura ENA 4 is the best-looking super-automatic espresso machine on the market in my opinion.

This is because of its minimalist all-black body and its diamond-patterned water tank.

The ENA 4 is available in two colors: Metropolitan Black and Nordic White.

It just looks cool – especially compared to Delonghi and Philips machines which look decidedly cheap in comparison.

The one downside of the Jura ENA 4’s design is its lack of compactness. 

Although Jura tries to market their ENA series as a more compact alternative to their E series (such as the Jura E6 and Jura E8), this simply isn’t the case.

The Jura ENA 4 is less than half an inch slimmer than the Jura E4. Admittedly it’s a few inches shorter than the E4, but unless you have low cabinets the machine’s height doesn’t really matter.

So don’t buy the Jura ENA 4 just because you think it will need less space than the Jura E4. Their differences in footprint are marginal.

Grinder

The Jura ENA 4 has a stainless steel conical burr grinder with infinite grind settings and a bypass doser for pre-ground coffee.

The ENA 4’s infinite grind settings might raise some eyebrows. While most super automatics have a set number of grinder settings, the Jura ENA 4 has a ring around the grinder that you twist to make it grind finer or coarser.

This means you’re not limited to specific grind sizes.

In all honesty, this infinite grind size setting isn’t as great as it sounds. 

While you want this level of control when brewing with a semi-automatic espresso machine, a super automatic’s inability to tamp your ground coffee puck properly means that you’re not going to reap the benefits of super precise grinding.

Still, the Jura ENA 4’s grinder isn’t bad in any way. It certainly doesn’t hinder its coffee quality. 

I just think that its infinite grinder settings claim is a little bit gimmicky.

The machine also has a bypass doser so you can brew with pre-ground coffee. This is ideal if you want the occasional decaf.

Water Reservoir

The Jura ENA 4 has a cylindrical 37oz water tank with a diamond pattern on its outside.

Not only does this water reservoir look cool, but I love how you can hold it with one hand. This makes it far more ergonomic than the majority of espresso machines’ cuboid water tanks which you need to carry with two hands.

The water reservoir takes Jura’s smart Claris water filters. These water filters are “smart” in the sense that they will make the machine tell you when they need changing and they’ll also tell the machine not to ever put on its descale warning light.

The water filters themselves are a bit expensive at about $15 a pop and they need to be changed every 30 days (this can vary a little bit depending on your water hardness).

So it’s cheaper to descale the machine than to use the water filters – but I’d still use the water filters just out of convenience.

App Compatibility

The Jura ENA 4 is compatible with Jura’s J.O.E. app, however, you need to buy a separate adapter for this.

The Jura J.O.E. app allows you to control the machine from your phone via wifi. Its user interface uses actual words rather than symbols, so it’s a lot more intuitive than the machine’s control panel.

Unfortunately, you have to buy the wifi connect adaptor separately. 

This is annoying since the machine is already very expensive given its lack of functionality.

I’d refuse to buy the adapter (and hence use the app) just out of principle.

The table below shows the Jura ENA 4’s key specifications:

I’m now going to assess the Jura ENA 4 across the following criteria:

• Espresso quality
• Milk steaming performance
• Functionalities
• User-friendliness
• Design and durability
• Value for money

Espresso Quality

The Jura ENA 4 makes a better-tasting espresso than any other super-automatic espresso machine manufacturer.

This is because the Jura ENA 4’s uses Jura’s patented “Pulse Extraction Process” which slows down its espresso brewing.

Slower brewing gives the flavorful compounds in your ground coffee more time to extract into your brewing water resulting in a more complex flavored espresso.

Admittedly the difference between the Jura ENA 4’s espresso and other super automatic’s espresso isn’t huge. Delonghi machines create the next best-tasting espresso after Jura and are significantly cheaper than them.

The Jura ENA 4’s coffee (its longer black drink) isn’t as good as its espresso. 

This is because its brewing basket isn’t big enough to hold enough ground coffee to brew a long drink without it being watery.

If you are going to drink drip-style coffee then I’d recommend the Jura E4 over the ENA 4 because it has a larger brew basket so can brew a stronger drip coffee.

Espresso Quality Rating: 9/10

Milk Steaming Performance

The Jura ENA 4 doesn’t steam milk.

It’s pretty crazy that this machine doesn’t steam milk given its price. Espresso machines less than half the price of the ENA 4 can steam milk.

Does the ENA 4’s espresso quality make up for its lack of milk-steaming capabilities? 

Probably not.

However, if you really want a Jura machine and don’t drink milk drinks then the ENA 4 is still the cheapest model available.

Milk Steaming Performance: 0/10

Functionalities

The Jura ENA 4 has little functionality given its price tag.

The machine can only make espresso and black coffee.

This is a terrible number of drink options for its price. 

However, if you’ll only drink plain espresso, the Jura ENA 4 does the best job at this for under $1,000. 

Functionalities Rating: 3/10

User Friendliness

The Jura ENA 4’s simplistic user interface makes it harder to use than most super-automatic espresso machines.

The Jura ENA 4’s control panel needs to give you more information on what’s going on with your brewing.

Take making a double shot for example.

You have to quickly press the brew button twice to do this, but the machine’s display screen doesn’t tell you if it registers this double click. So you never really know if you’re brewing a single or a double shot.

A small color display screen that told you what the machine was doing in plain English would make everything so much easier. 

Super-automatic espresso machines that are significantly cheaper than the Jura ENA 4 have this.

User Friendliness Rating: 4/10

Design and Durability

The Jura ENA 4 should last you longer than most super-automatic espresso machines.

The ENA 4’s simplicity, while lowering its functionality, increases its durability.

Most super-automatic espresso machines start to fail because their thermoblock heating system gives out.

The biggest cause of a coffee machine’s thermoblock deteriorating is moving from steaming milk back to brewing espresso. This requires the heating system to get to a very high heat and then drop to a lower heat very quickly. 

The heating system can only do this a certain amount of times before it gives out.

So the Jura ENA 4 should last you significantly longer than espresso machines with milk frothers.

The Jura ENA 4 is also the best-looking automatic espresso machine on the market right now.

Design and Durability Rating: 9/10

Value for Money

The Jura ENA 4 is a bit of a splurge if you want ultimate convenience without sacrificing your espresso’s flavor.

The Jura ENA 4 makes the best espresso of any super-automatic espresso machine under $1,000.

In that sense, the machine offers decent value for money if you are dead set on getting a super-automatic and you’ll only drink plain espresso.

But there are super-automatic espresso machines that make 90% as good an espresso as the Jura ENA 4 and cost around half the price of it. The Delonghi Magnifica Evo is the most obvious example of this.

So I’d say that even if you’ll only drink plain espresso, the Jura ENA 4 is still a bit of a splurge. 

It’s so expensive given its relative lack of functionalities.

Value for Money Rating: 6/10

Product Alternatives

The two machines that are commonly compared to the Jura ENA 4 are the Jura E4 and the Delonghi Magnifica Evo. Here are my thoughts on how these machines weigh up against each other.

Jura ENA 4 vs Jura E4

I recommend getting the Jura E4 over the Jura ENA 4 if you want to drink drip-style coffee in addition to espresso.

The Jura E4 makes better drip coffee than the ENA 4 because it can brew with 60% more ground coffee (16 grams vs 10 grams).

So the Jura ENA 4’s drip coffee is watery in comparison to the Jura E4’s.

Both machines brew with the recommended 9 grams of coffee for an espresso shot. So their espresso is equal in quality.

Jura ENA 4 vs Delonghi Magnifica Evo

The Delonghi Magnifica Evo is a better machine than the Jura ENA 4 if you want to drink the occasional milk drink.

The Delonghi Magnifica Evo can steam milk and make a cappuccino or latte macchiato at the touch of a button.

Its espresso isn’t quite as good as the Jura ENA 4’s, but it’s the best of all other super automatic manufacturers.

This, combined with the fact that the Delonghi Magnifica Evo is typically around half the price of the Jura ENA 4, makes it a better value-for-money purchase in my opinion.

Jura ENA 4 Review: Final Verdict

You should get the Jura ENA 4 if you want one-touch espressos and will only drink plain espresso.

The Jura ENA 4 makes the best-tasting espresso of any super automatic under $1,000. 

The main downside of the Jura ENA 4 is that it only makes espresso well.

If you want to drink drip coffee and espresso then get the Jura E4 instead of the ENA 4.

If you want to drink milk drinks then get the Delonghi Magnifica Evo instead of the Jura ENA 4.