444 cups and the truth - 1 year with the Jura Impressa J9 TFT superautomatic coffee machine

I love coffee and I love gadgets. I first heard of Jura superautomatic (bean-to-cup) coffee machines about 10 years ago, when I saw an Impressa F90 demoed in Selfridges. I liked the concept of filling a machine with beans and water and getting coffee at the push of a button, but the price put me off. I was worried that I wouldn't get my money's worth out of it. This is exactly what happened with the Philips Senseo machine and the Nespresso machine which followed. The Senseo machine languishes in a cupboard while the Nespresso machine has been freecycled.

Then, last July, I turned 40. I thought I'd mark the occasion with a new toy. Given that a motorbike or convertible might be considered unseemly at such an age, I wondered if now might be the time to bite the bullet and get a Jura machine.

I'd done some research (there are loads of YouTube videos about coffee machines of all kinds), so I was familiar with the current range. One trip to the Jura concession at Harrods and just over £1,500 later, I ended up getting the Jura Impressa J9 TFT. The TFT refers to the LCD display on the machine which provides a clear display of information and prompts. This machine is what's known as a one-touch machine; with the press of one button, the machine froths milk and then adds coffee without further intervention from the user - you don't even have to move the cup.

A benefit of Jura machines is customisability. For each drink the machine can make (espresso, coffee, cappuccino and latte macchiato) you can program the amount of coffee the machine grinds and the amount of water used to brew the coffee. For milk drinks, you can specify the length of time the machine steams milk for. Once you've done this, it is literally a case of putting a cup under the spout, connecting the milk hose to the milk frother and pushing a button. Every time, you get the same excellent result - the milk froth produced by this machine is absolutely outstanding - really fine, dense foam instead of the soapy, large-bubbled froth other machines produce.

The convenience of this machine plus the quality and consistency of the drinks produced is the upside.

The downside is that this machine, in common with all superautomatic coffee machines, needs a lot of regular maintenance. Every day, you have to slide out the drip tray and the used grounds container, dump the coffee grounds and rinse everything out to remove any coffee grounds and coffee oils. That's no more than a two-minute job. The machine has a sensor in the drip tray so that if it gets too full, the machine alerts you with a message on the screen - there's no risk of making another drink and flooding your kitchen counter.

If you're making milk-based drinks, you also have to clean the milk frother every day with a special cleaning solution which is available from Jura for £20 for a litre. The TFT display gives you full instructions (as it does for all maintenance tasks); you make up a cleaning solution of 200ml water and 15ml cleaning solution, put the milk hose in it and run a milk-cleaning program. The cleaning solution is drawn through the machine which removes any milk residue and then clean water is drawn through to rinse it.

Cleaning the milk frother in this way is essential. If you don't, the machine punishes you with tepid, unfrothed milk. Having used the machine for a year, I've found that the best approach is to clean the milk frother first thing in the morning, before making the first drink of the day. It only takes a few minutes and it beats the disappointment of a flat cappuccino.

The machine also needs to be cleaned regulary - in the year I've had the machine, I've been prompted to run the cleaning cycle 5 times. The cycle is completely automatic - you just put in a cleaning tablet (again, from Jura - £12.50 for six) and the machine churns and sloshes for twenty minutes and then you're back in business.

The other supplies this machine needs are water filters - in one year I've used 6 of them. Again, these are available from Jura at about £13 each. Although Jura's marketing materials all state that if you use water filters there is no need to ever descale the machine, I was advised by a Jura representative that the machine should still be descaled once per year. This again is automatic and requires descaling tablets from Jura (£16.95 for 3 doses).

So, over the course, of the year, owning this machine has cost me about £130 in running costs (milk cleaning solution, water filters and cleaning tablets) before factoring in the cost of the milk and coffee used. This figure slightly understates the annual costs, because you get one free water filter and two cleaning tablets with the machine. Jura quote that a milk-based drink costs about 20p to take with this machine, which is way less than you'd pay in a coffee shop, but given the cost of the machine, it's a long time before you'd be in profit.

For me, the upside of quality milk-based coffee drinks outweighs the hassle and cost of the maintenance this machine requires. In fact, I'd say that after having this machine a few months, I liked it, but now after a year, I love it. If you're considering a superautomatic coffee machine, check out the J9 TFT, but keep in mind it's the Mercedes of home coffee machines, and just like a Mercedes, it needs a lot of maintenance to keep it running properly.