Making creamy cappuccinos couldn’t be any easier given the technology Capresso designers combined to produce the Capresso F9 espresso machine. With this easy-to-use, all-in-one super-automatic espresso machine, grinding, dosing, tamping and brewing is all done automatically – you just need to press the buttons. The Capresso F9 espresso maker also has the ability to make two shots at a time, brewing up to 16 ounces of deliciously rich crema, making this a great cappuccino maker for entertaining.
Getting Familiar
There are 3 main sections of controls on the F9’s chrome alloy front.
Sitting above the adjustable brewing spouts (which can accommodate cups up to 4 ½ inches in height) is the LCD touch screen with 3 cup-size selection buttons on the left (big cup (preprogrammed to dispense 8 oz), coffee (5 oz), and espresso (2 oz)). The “st@rt” button, which commences the brewing cycle, is in the center, and 3 strength selection buttons are placed on the right (mild (pictured as 1 bean), normal (2 beans), and strong (3 beans)). To the lower left of this control panel are 3 pairs of buttons, starting with on/off and rinse on the top, 1-cup and 2-cup in the center, and “P” (programming) and bypass on the bottom. The 1 and 2-cup buttons are also used for brewing, but are slightly different than those in the touch-screen. The 1-cup button settings for coffee strength and size are programmed through the options menu (accessed by the “P” button), and the 2-cup button simply doubles the amounts that are set for the 1-cup button.
When you press the “P” button to enter the option menu, the brewing buttons in the touch-screen vanish, and two touch-screen arrows appear around the LCD display so that you can navigate the various options. Besides programming the options for the 1-cup button, this menu also lets you program the liquid volume for the 3 cup-size buttons on the touch screen, choose between high and normal brewing temperatures, activate the Claris water filtration system, set the time, program when the machine turns on, and select if you would prefer to manually turn off the machine or if and when you would like the Capresso F9 to shut down automatically (between ½ and 9 hours after powering on). Furthermore, this menu provides options to control the amount of time that steam is released from the machine (between 3 and 60 seconds) and how much water is dispensed (between ½ and 16 oz). Hot water and steam are released by using the third set of controls that are located on the right side of the front panel. Here you will find the steam button (which initially heats the machine to steam temperature and when pressed again releases the steam), the hot water button, and the Dual Frother Plus that is the exit point for either the hot water or steam.
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Getting Ready
Preparing the machine for use is a quick process that the F9’s LCD display will walk you through.
Simply turn the machine on and it will give you your first direction: fill the water tank. After this, the F9 will instruct you to press the hot water button, which will pull water through the machine and dispense it from the Dual Frother Plus steam wand. Then the machine will heat up, perform an automatic rinse cycle, and then indicate that you’re ready to brew. You need to fill the bean hopper at this point, but don’t worry – if you do try to brew without putting in beans, the machine will tell you that it needs to be done. You can also take this opportunity to adjust the grind setting according to the type of beans you put into the hopper. Using the grind adjustment knob located in the bean hopper, Capresso suggests using a finer setting (indicated by smaller dots) for light roasts and a coarser setting (larger dots) for dark roasts.
Although the instructions explicitly mention not to insert the Claris water filter prior to priming the machine, if you are going to use the water filtration system, it’s a good idea to set it up immediately after the initial set-up. To do this, you need to place a Claris filter into its appointed space in the reservoir and then activate the system through the programming menu. Similar to priming the machine, initiating water filtration will require that you follow the directions on the screen to pull water through the filter and machine, to be dispensed through the Dual Frother Plus. By activating this option, the machine will know to alert you when the filter needs to be replaced. If you won’t be using the Claris system, instead of activating the filter you should use the included water hardness test strip to test your water and program the results into the water hardness option in the menu. This will allow the machine to determine the amount of water that can pass through the machine before it will alert you to descale the Jura F9.
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Making Your Drink
Earlier, we discussed adjusting your grinder depending on the roast of the beans you’re using, but this setting is also relative to the type of drink you want to make.
Generally, you’ll want to select a finer setting for drinks with a small liquid volume like ristretto (around 1 oz), espresso (2 – 2 ½ oz), or long espresso pulls (up to about 3 ½ oz), and a coarser setting for a higher liquid volume, the most popular of which is café crema (usually between 5 and 7 oz). With its coarser grind setting, café crema is similar to drip coffee, but produces a much fuller flavor thanks to the machine’s pressure brewing system. Before you make any changes, keep in mind that grinder adjustments should only be made while the grinder is running.
Now for the best part: brewing. This can be accomplished in two ways: by using the touch-screen buttons, or by using the 1 or 2-cup buttons. To brew using the touch-screen buttons, first select the liquid volume with one of the pictured cup buttons. Then select your strength with one of the bean buttons and press the “st@rt” button until the grinder begins grinding your beans. The “st@rt” button is on a 1-second delay to prevent the machine from starting a brewing cycle if you’re simply cleaning the touch-screen, so you will need to hold this button down to begin brewing. Alternatively, you can brew by simply pressing the 1-cup or 2-cup button. Pressing the 1-cup button will cause the machine to brew using the programmed settings for this button, and the 2-cup button will double both the liquid volume and the amount of coffee that are programmed for the 1-cup button. You can also brew using preground coffee in the bypass doser by pressing the bypass button, and then using either the touch-screen buttons or the 1-cup button. This is a great feature if you sometimes like a cup of decaf in the evening, or if you would like to use a flavored coffee. (Please note: using whole bean flavored coffees can cause problems with the internal grinder and is not recommended.) After brewing is completed, the spent grounds are automatically ejected into an internal dump box where they are kept until you remove and empty the box.
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Topping it Off: Frothing & Steaming
Making a cappuccino? A latte? An americano?
Then you’ll need to use the Dual Frother Plus to finish preparing your drink. For an americano you simply need to add hot water, so just place your cup under the frother and press the hot water button, and hot water will be dispensed into your cup. The F9 can be programmed to dispense between ½ and 16 oz of water by using the “P” button menu. In a similar manner, this menu also offers options to program steam to be released for between 3 and 60 seconds. To heat the machine to steam temperature, press the steam button. When it has reached the correct temperature, an indicator light next to the steam button will illuminate. Pressing the button again will release steam from the machine, so you’ll want to have your frothing pitcher in place before doing so. The Dual Frother Plus makes it easy to either steam or froth your milk; the frothing sleeve should be in the up position for steaming and the down position for frothing. If you finish frothing before the programmed time is up, you can simply press the steam button again to stop it from being released. However, if the time runs out and you would like to continue steaming, you can just press the button again to release more. When you’re done, wipe the outside of the wand with a damp cloth to remove any stuck-on milk and press the hot water button to release a bit of water to flush out anything stuck inside.
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Shut Down
If you’ve set a shutdown time for the F9, it will automatically run a rinse cycle and turn off after the programmed time (between ½ and 9 hours) has elapsed.
However, if you have turned this option off, the machine will remain on until you press the on/off button to power the machine down. The rinse cycle will also run automatically if you turn off the machine manually.
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A Word About Care and Maintenance
The quick frother cleaning that we discussed before is one of the few things you’ll need to do on a daily basis to keep your Jura Capresso F9 running smoothly.
In addition to this, you’ll also need to empty the drip tray and the dump box that spent grounds are collected in. The machine will alert you when the dump box needs to be emptied, but it is a good idea to do it a little more often, as leaving the grounds in the box for an extended amount of time can allow a little bit of mold to grow on the damp pucks.
With the F9’s automatic rinse cycles, the machine does do a certain amount of preventative maintenance, but any remaining oils and residues will need to be cleaned from the internal portions of the machine periodically. The machine will alert you when a cleaning cycle needs to be run by displaying a message on the LCD screen, and is as simple as placing a cleaning tablet in the bypass doser and following the instructions that also appear on the LCD. Calcium deposits also accumulate in the machine if you’re not using the Claris water filtration system, and will need to be removed through a decalcification process every couple of months. Again, a message will appear on the display screen when this needs to be completed and will walk you through the process. If you have activated the Claris system, you will receive a message to change the filter rather than to descale the machine.
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