How to Clean Your Jura Machine (Complete Guide)

Proper cleaning is the single most important thing you can do to keep your Jura making great coffee. This guide covers every cleaning task: daily rinsing, milk circuit care, cleaning tablets, and exterior maintenance. Follow this routine and your machine will last 7-10 years with consistent espresso quality.

Daily Rinsing

Every Jura machine has a built-in rinse program that runs automatically at startup and shutdown. This flushes coffee oils and residue from the brew group. It takes about 60 seconds and requires no action from you beyond ensuring the water tank is filled.

What it does: Pushes hot water through the brew chamber, removing oils that would otherwise turn rancid and affect taste.

If your machine does not auto-rinse: Run a hot water cycle manually after your last drink of the day. This is rare on modern Jura models but common on older Impressa machines.

Milk System Cleaning

If your Jura has a milk frother, the milk circuit needs cleaning after every use. Milk residue left in the tube breeds bacteria and creates off-flavors within hours.

After every milk drink:

1. Remove the milk container
2. Place the milk tube in a small cup of cold water
3. Run the milk frothing cycle for 10-15 seconds to flush the line
4. Wipe the milk spout with a clean, damp cloth

Weekly deep clean: Some models (E8, S8, Z10) have a dedicated milk system cleaning program. Run this once a week or whenever you notice reduced foam quality. It circulates cleaning solution through the entire milk circuit.

Using Cleaning Tablets

Cleaning tablets dissolve coffee oil buildup inside the brew group that daily rinsing cannot reach. Use them every 200 cups or every 1-2 months, whichever comes first.

How to run a cleaning cycle:

1. Empty the bean hopper completely (or close the bean gate if your model has one)
2. Place one Jura cleaning tablet in the bypass doser (the small compartment for pre-ground coffee)
3. Navigate to the cleaning program in the machine menu (usually under Maintenance or Care)
4. Follow the on-screen prompts - the cycle takes about 10 minutes
5. The machine will flush water through the system automatically
6. Empty and rinse the drip tray when finished

Which tablets to use: Jura’s own cleaning tablets are recommended. Third-party tablets work but vary in quality. Avoid generic dishwasher or descaling tablets - they are not formulated for espresso machines.

For a detailed walkthrough, see our guide to cleaning with Jura tablets.

Cleaning vs. Descaling

These are two different processes that address different problems:

Cleaning tablets target the brew group. Descaling targets the water system (boiler, pipes, thermoblock). You need both. See our descaling guide for the full descaling procedure.

Exterior and Drip Tray

• Drip tray: Empty and rinse daily. A full drip tray can overflow and damage your counter.
• Coffee grounds container: Empty when the machine prompts you. Do not wait until it overflows.
• Housing: Wipe with a soft, damp cloth weekly. Avoid abrasive cleaners on the chrome or matte finishes.
• Cup warmer (if equipped): Wipe periodically to remove coffee splashes.

Signs Your Machine Needs Cleaning

• Coffee tastes bitter or stale (oil buildup)
• Milk foam is thin or inconsistent (milk circuit residue)
• Flow is slow or uneven (scale or grounds buildup)
• The machine displays a cleaning reminder (follow it immediately)

How Often Should You Clean a Jura Coffee Machine?

Rinse daily (the machine does this automatically), flush the milk system after every milk drink, run a cleaning tablet every 180-220 brews (roughly every 1-2 months), and descale every 2-4 months depending on water hardness and filter use. You do not need to track this yourself - Jura machines count usage and display a reminder, typically around 180 coffees or 80 rinses for the tablet cycle. Heavy households making 6+ cups a day hit the tablet interval about monthly; light users can stretch to two months. The milk circuit is the one task that runs on time rather than cup count, because milk residue spoils within hours. Our cleaning schedule calendar lays out the full routine month by month.

How Do You Clean a Jura E8?

The Jura E8 uses the same routine as other Jura models: automatic daily rinses, a weekly milk system clean, a cleaning tablet cycle when prompted, and periodic descaling. One E8-specific detail: you start the cleaning program from the machine’s menu first, and the E8 pauses mid-cycle and asks you to drop the tablet into the ground-coffee funnel - it is not loaded before you start. The full cycle takes about 20 minutes and should never be interrupted. A “deep clean” on the E8 just means stacking the programs in one session: tablet cycle, then milk system clean, then a descale if one is due. See our Jura E8 review for how its maintenance workload compares to other models.

Can You Use a Substitute for Jura Cleaning Tablets?

Yes - third-party 2-phase or 3-phase espresso cleaning tablets sized for the bypass doser work in a Jura, but never use dishwasher tablets, descaling tablets, or loose detergent in a cleaning cycle. Compatible tablets from established espresso-cleaning brands use similar alkaline formulas to dissolve coffee oils and typically cost 40-60% less per cycle. The tradeoffs: tablet dissolution timing varies, and Jura recommends its own tablets, so stick with the official ones while your machine is under warranty. We compare the credible options in our cleaning tablet alternatives guide and rank official vs third-party products in the cleaning products guide.

Can You Remove the Brew Group on a Jura to Clean It?

No - Jura brew groups are sealed inside the machine by design and are not user-removable, unlike DeLonghi or Philips machines with slide-out brew units. Jura’s position is that the automatic rinse cycles plus regular tablet cleaning keep the closed brew group hygienic without disassembly, and opening the housing yourself voids the warranty. That makes running the tablet cycle on schedule more important on a Jura than on brands where you can rinse the brew unit in the sink. For what actually happens inside the sealed unit and when professional servicing makes sense, see our brew unit cleaning guide.

What Happens If You Ignore the Cleaning Reminder?

The machine keeps brewing at first, but coffee oils harden inside the brew group, taste turns bitter, flow slows, and on most models the alert escalates until the machine locks out brewing entirely. Jura triggers the reminder around 180-220 brews, calibrated to how long oil residue takes to build up. Ignoring it repeatedly is also the most common cause of brew group errors that require paid service on a machine you cannot open yourself. Run the cycle within a few days of the prompt - our maintenance indicators guide decodes each alert, and the cleaning schedule calendar helps you plan cycles before the machine forces them.

How Long Does a Jura Cleaning Cycle Take, and Can You Interrupt It?

A full tablet cleaning cycle takes about 10-15 minutes depending on the model, and you should never interrupt it - the machine needs to flush all detergent residue out of the brew group before it will brew again. If power is cut mid-cycle, most models resume or restart the program automatically on the next startup; if yours displays an error instead, run a manual rinse and restart the cleaning program with a fresh tablet. Keep the water tank topped up before starting, since a mid-cycle “fill tank” pause is the most common reason owners think the machine is stuck. More stuck-cycle fixes are in our Jura troubleshooting guide.

Do You Need Jura Milk System Cleaner, or Is Water Enough?

Water is enough between drinks, but it is not enough weekly - the daily cold-water flush clears fresh milk from the line, while the milk system cleaner (mini-tabs or liquid) dissolves the protein and fat film that plain water cannot shift. Jura’s mini-tab dispenser doses one cleaning at a click, and a 180g bottle covers about 60 cycles. If you want an alternative to Jura’s own cleaner, third-party milk system cleaners formulated for automatic frother circuits use similar surfactant formulas at a lower per-cycle cost - we rank the credible ones in our cleaning products guide. Never run vinegar or dish soap through the milk circuit; both attack the O-rings and leave residue in a line your milk passes through. If you make milk drinks daily, run the cleaner program every 5-7 days - our milk system guide covers the full routine and frother troubleshooting covers what to do when foam quality drops anyway.

Are the Jura Water Tank and Drip Tray Dishwasher Safe?

No - hand wash both. Jura’s clear plastic tanks are not rated for dishwasher heat, which can cloud, warp, or craze the plastic and ruin the tank’s seal against the machine. Wash the tank with warm water and a drop of mild dish soap, rinse thoroughly, and skip abrasive sponges that scratch the interior. The drip tray and grounds container tolerate hand washing with dish soap daily; the drip tray’s metal trim and contact sensors on some models are another reason to keep it out of the dishwasher. If your tap water leaves mineral film in the tank, that is a water-quality signal worth reading our descaling guide for.

Ready to Choose?

A well-maintained Jura lasts a decade. If you are still choosing a model, see our reviews for recommendations, or use the Machine Finder for a personalized pick.

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Back to maintenance hub | See also: Descaling guide | Cleaning products | All guides