The Jura Z10 model prides itself as the first super-automatic that can make actual cold brew drinks on the spot and customize to your liking. The coffee comes out cold, just like it would when making a traditional cold brew, the major difference is that traditional cold brew is an overnight process, but with the Z10, it’s with a push of a button!
But DeLonghi has now introduced a new model, the Eletta Explore, which ALSO makes cold brew drinks along with other hot coffee beverages, making it a direct competitor to the Z10 by Jura.
In this post, I will list out the differences between Jura Z10 vs DeLonghi Eletta Explore.
Jura Z10 vs DeLonghi Eletta Explore – The Differences
Overall, these two machines are quite similar, but not 100%. So you’ll want to read into the details of their features.
Cold Brew Extraction
Since cold brew is the biggest selling point of both Jura’s and DeLonghi’s machines, I have to start with this one.
Both Jura Z10 and DeLonghi Eletta Explore can make cold brew, including milk based cold brew drinks. They work by surpassing any heating element and pulsating the water in a slow flow over the coffee grounds to get your cold brew brewing. It’s a slower process than brewing hot, which is to be expected because coffee grounds don’t extract quickly when using cold water.
So both of these machines basically work the same way when it comes to cold brew method. But another important factor to cold brew (or hot) is coffee grind size. Which brings us to our next point…
The Grinders
As you might know, different coffee recipes require different grind sizes to get the best results.
The Z10 is equipped with an innovative grinder that Jura calls P.R.G (Product Recognizing Grinder). Unlike other super automatic espresso machines whose grinders need to be set manually, the Z10’s grinder recognizes what drink you request to brew and adjusts automatically. It goes from very fine for espresso drinks to coarse for coffee and cold brew.
On the Eletta Explore, the conical burr grinder has 13 settings. Adjustment is manual just like the majority of other super autos.
Manual adjustments after each recipe (if you want to switch between espresso or coffee) can be a hassle. For this, I would call the Jura Z10 to be the winner of this round and the Cold Extraction, simply because it will be able to automatically adjust the grinds for cold brew, which means better cup results.
Coffee Preset Recipes
DeLonghi Eletta Explore – 40 Drinks
Jura Z10 – 32 Drinks
While it looks like the Eletta Explore has more recipes, it doesn’t. Both Jura and DeLonghi would duplicate some recipes, add a small customization and count it as a new added recipe to their list. So you really have to let go of the recipe numbers and look into the names of the recipes for each machine.
DeLonghi’s Drink List:
Espresso – Double Espresso – Lungo – Coffee – Americano – Hot Milk – Cold Milk- Flat White – Doppio – Latte Macchiato – Caffe Latte – Cortado – Tea – Iced Cappuccino – Cold Brew – Iced Latte Macchiato…
These are some of the main beverages, and other duplicates that would be a variation of the same recipes.
Jura Z10 is no different… here’s the drink list:
Hot Beverages:
- Espresso
- Double Espresso
- Coffee
- Double Coffee
- Caffe Barista
- x2 Caffe Barista
- Lungo Barista
- x2 Lungo Barista
- Espresso Doppio
- Pot of Coffee
- Cortado
- Espresso Macchiato
- Caffe Late with Extra Shot
- Cappuccino
- Cappuccino with Extra Shot
- Flat White
- Flat White Extra Shot
- Latte Macchiato
- Latte Macchiato Extra Shot
- Portion of Milk
- Portion of Milk Foam
- Hot Water
- Hot Water for Green Tea
Cold Beverages:
- Cold Brew Coffee
- Cold Brew Espresso
- Cold Brew Cortado
- Cold Brew Macchiato
- Cold Brew Latte
- Cold Brew Cappuccino
- Cold Brew Flat White
- Cold Brew Latte Macchiato
Milk Frothing and Milk Systems
Milk heating and frothing works differently in these two machines. Let’s start with Jura…
Jura machines are known for their light airy froth, but none of their machines include integrated milk frothing jugs. Instead, you use a milk pipe that you can drop into any milk container, and the machine will draw, froth and dispense right into your cup. There are optional accessories you can buy, like the Cool Control milk container that works as a fridge really to keep your milk cold until you want to use it.
DeLonghi, on the other hand, uses its famous LatteCrema system. It’s an integrated milk frothing system and on the Eletta Explore specifically, it can make both hot and cold froth. And here’s the surprise, the Eletta Explore actually includes TWO LatteCrema frothers, one for hot froth and the other for cold froth. DeLonghi always recommends that you use low fat or skimmed milk with their LatteCrema system for best results. You can also use plant based milks.
Travel Mug – To Go Brewing
If you like to brew your coffee into a travel mug, this is something you’d like to consider in each machine:
The Jura Z10 has a height and width adjustable spout. The height however, only goes up to about 6″, which unfortunately, would not fit tall travel mugs.
DeLonghi Eletta Explore, however, excels in this. It has a special feature called ‘To Go’ which you’ll find an icon on the control panel. It’s programmed to brew larger sizes up to 16 oz..
- Piccolo: 8 oz
- Medio: 12 oz
- Grande: 16 oz
This feature works with coffee and milk based espresso hot drinks. And the DeLonghi Eletta Explore includes a 16 oz travel mug, too.
This is a fantastic feature for a super automatic that many people who enjoy their coffee on the go will appreciate.
Controls and Display
Both of these machines have beautiful touch screen color displays. But how the machines are controlled isn’t the same.
The Jura Z10 has a large 4.3″ Display, fully touch screen that you can do everything in. The screen displays all drinks, hot and cold, and pressing a drink takes you to its customization options from strength to volume and grind size.
The DeLonghi Eletta Explore uses a mix of touch buttons (with colored icons) and color touch display. The display shows you all available drinks, hot and cold, and the buttons are used to filter out options. You have a hot drinks button, cold drinks, to go and Favorites, which displays saved profiles and their customization.
Customization and Settings
You’ll find customizable options in each of these two machines. Here’s what you can expect:
Jura Z10 Settings:
- Adjustable strength settings: 10 levels
- Adjustable Milk settings: 10 levels
- Adjustable brewing temperature: 3 settings
- Adjustable hot water temperature level: 3 settings
DeLonghi Eletta Explore Settings:
- Strength Settings: 5 settings
- Adjustable Volume: 4 levels
- Brew temperature: 3 settings
Which Is Best To Buy?
Overall – both the Z10 and Eletta Explore can pretty much brew the same style of drinks, including cold brew style drinks, which is something Jura Z10 prides itself in. But both machines are still not equal…
The Jura Z10 has an innovative self-adjusting grinder. It knows what its brewing and the suitable grind size for it. It also gives you the option of adjusting the grind size to your liking. But as this is something many people get wrong, or take a lot of time to get correctly. The Jura Z10 takes all the guesswork out of your way.
With the Eletta Explore, picking a grind size that will yield the coffee taste you like will take several tries. And as most users, once they find the correct size, they won’t adjust it according to recipe as its such a hassle.
And due to the fact that the Jura Z10 can adjust and readjust automatically, you should expect better coffee drinks.
When it comes to frothing systems, it’s great that DeLonghi has included two LatteCrema systems one for hot and another for cool use. I’m not sure if there’s something mechanically different about the two systems, unfortunately, DeLonghi does not give much details about those. But both have the same features of froth adjustment and cleaning options.
I don’t like that Jura is quite stingy with their accessories. Your purchase of the Z10 doesn’t include any type of milk container, which is quite a shame. However, you’re not required to purchase any special container to use the frother. All you need is the milk pipe, which is included, then you can use it with any container available to you at home.
The controls and color displays on both machines are quite nice and intuitive. The DeLonghi machine also guides you with its recipes if it has more than one step, which is cool too.
Between these two models, I would choose the Jura Z10 over the DeLonghi Eletta Explore for these reasons:
- The grinder is much better. Adjusting the grind size is a big part of how your coffee taste, if you get it wrong, everything else goes wrong with it. You get sour tasting coffee, sometimes too bitter or too light… all caused by using the wrong grind setting. With a self adjusting grinder, all of these issues are solved without any work on your part.
- Then there’s the overall better, robust built of Jura machines. It’s a high end, high quality machine. The Z10 is made in Switzerland.
I consider the DeLonghi Eletta Explore to be a budget-friendly alternative to the Jura Z10, being about half its price. It’s not bad at all, but it’s not as robust or long lasting as the Jura Z10. So if you’re tight on budget, you can go for the DeLonghi Eletta Explore, but if you can pay the high end price of the Jura Z10, you definitely won’t regret it.
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