Eight full years of ownership; basic consensus., Yeah, it's quite grind- and tamp-fussy. Yes, it takes awhile to warm up. Yes, you need to buy a decent tamper. But ...
1) Just turn it on when you first wake up. It'll be ready when you are.
2) If you live in a metro. area, screw the burr grinder; have fresh beans ground by your local guy. (Stop screaming, bean-geeks. It's an "adequate" approach, and you secretly know it.
3) The upshot (pun) is this: sadly, you will be ruined for coffee anywhere but your own home. Name-your-bar, name your price/cup, you will (after a little practice) reflexively spit back everything arrogantly and expensively served to you anywhere else. The best cup of coffee I've ever had is in my kitchen, every morning.
Finally, my machine had some minor problems upon delivery, but Whole Latte Love sent a new pump; pronto. Could not have been nicer or more accommodating.
$1000 later, was it worth it?, (What's this?) Heed the warnings and read everyone's review. In most cases the machine is not broken, you need to test different grind settings to create the best extraction.
Yes it will Last and Last!!! But..., I have owned Ms. Silvia for over 8 years... I have the Rocky $350.00 grinder... I roast my own beans... Thousands of shots... Gram scale... Temp surf... Marvelous most days... Finicky others...
Stepped up to Breville BES900XL Semi Automatic Espresso Machine...
No more single boiler machines for me... easy frothing and pull shots at the same time...
Save your money and go dual boiler machine... What ever brand you choose.. You won't be sorry!!!
This machine is perfect for two people in the morning...
P.S.
Works well on day 1 with proper grind, Just received my Rancilio Silvia V3 yesterday. My first impression was "wow". This is one solid unit with a heavy-duty portafilter. If everything runs as smoothly as I hope, this machine should last me a lifetime. When I first removed everything from the water tank, I noticed that the short hose wasn't sitting down quite as low as it could in the tank, so I removed the tank and found the hose clip underneath. I moved the hose clip higher and into the tank so that it holds the two hoses at a better angle inside the tank. I am using only filtered water (currently Brita filtered), which I used for 6 years on my La Pavoni Si without ever having any calcium deposit issues, although I still plan to descale regularly.
I still have an older burr grinder (Cuisinart) that does not grind the beans fine enough for this machine. Fortunately, I've found that if I grind the beans in the Cuisinart grinder first, then use my Bosch blade grinder to grind them even finer, I can achieve the consistency and fine granules needed to pull a decent espresso shot on the machine. After watching several videos, it is clear that the beans must be a slightly powdery consistency so that the grains stick together (slight clumping)--between the consistency of salt and flour.
So far I've had 3 decent shots out of a total of 5. I pulled the first 4 shots last night. The first shot was before using the Bosch for a finer grind, so extraction was too fast. The second shot had better extraction due to a finer grind and decent tamping (albeit with the plastic tamper provided by Rancilio), but the tamper is definitely not ideal. I did not grind the beans for the third shot fine enough (changed beans and didn't look carefully for clumping) and I think I was a bit short on grounds, so that one extracted too quickly. For the fourth shot I used the 58 mm Rattleware tamper, which is absolutely fantastic and the best immediate upgrade to the machine. One thing to watch for is to make sure the grounds are not above the groove in the portafilter basket or else you won't be able to get the portafilter into the group head. I only use the double basket, since a single shot is really not enough.
This morning I made an almost perfect shot--even with my poor grinder setup. I used Major Dickason's, which I keep in the freezer.
Best I've owned yet, Rancilio makes automatic and super automatic machines costing thousands, they made the Silvia as a gift for it's distributors, it proved so popular that they decided to make it and sell it to consumers.
I've had 4 pump driven machines over the years, and purchased the Silvia this year.
With a little effort, this machine is the perfect home machine, simple as a rock, user serviceable if you're handy, and makes damn good coffee.
If you're thinking of purchasing this machine, watch some videos on YouTube to see what you're letting yourself in for, the reason I purchased it is because I like simple machines and I've become very accustomed to manual machines over the years. My friends with automatic and super automatic machines typically need their machines serviced every months to a year for $100-$200 each time, they have to ship their machines to service centers and don't have the use of their machines while they're serviced.
Do yourself a favor and buy a good grinder ($100 or so should do it), a metal 58mm tamper, and a frothing pitcher.
Enjoy.
Rancilio Silvia v3 Not easy at first, but makes good espressos after you get the experience, (What's this?) The Rancilio Silvia V3 is a good Espresso Machine, but it is hard to use at first. As soon as you get the right grinding grade and right tampering you can get a very good espresso. I prepare the espresso first and then I frother the milk not the other way around. Doing so I make sure the water for the espresso is at the correct temperature. I am not a connoisseur or barista though. Also when you don't turn on the machine first and give time to the water to warm up is noisy, very noisy, specially at 6am in a apartment building. I always turn on the machine and allow it to heat the water without pressing any button first. It doesn't take long and it is quieter that way.
Have used the original for 6 years, still working great, This is not an automatic plug and play machine. There is a learning curve with this machine so I recommend searching the Internet of what you are getting yourself into. It is not a POD system, if you do not want to learn it then I suggest going that route. One of the keys to a great shot is a quality conical grinder. One of those hand grinders that destroy beans will give you bad results. Read up on it. The correct tamp is also required. I have a dozer that allows me to fill the portafilter to the correct amount. Your beans will make all the difference too. Those grocery store beans have probably been sitting there for some time. I actually get mine at my local Costco. The fire the beans right there in the store. I can get them when they are still warm in the bag and have the oils still on the beans. If the beans look dried up, don't buy them.
Pro
Inexpensive compaired to other quality machines.
Delivers great shots.
Have not had one problem with it in the 6 years I have owned it.
Con
Temp does swing, so you have to learn how to get around that issue.
The tamper that comes with it is crap.
Built like a tank... will buy again., We've been espresso lovers for many years. My wife and I have a latte every morning and will have a few over the weekend. When we have guests, we make lattes. Overall we pull at least 500 double shots out of the machine. We bought our Silvia in 2003. It lasted, with no service or repairs, until early 2011. And the only reason it died after 8 years (or roughly 4000 shots) was that my wife let the reservoir run dry and let a shot run and run until the motor burned out. I had some trouble finding the right pump to install and we didn't want to wait for repairs, so we picked up an Isomac Venus. Big mistake. The Rancilio seemed to get hotter, heat up more quickly, provided more pressure, a perfectly even shot every time, and was still trucking along without a hiccup after 8 years of constant use. Venus is, by contrast, only about a year old, is having trouble maintaining pressure in a shot, occasionally doesn't heat the boiler all the way, the power sometimes flickers and makes a "zap" sound like a loose connection somewhere. It'll need to go in for an overhaul.
I did end up repairing it but we were using Venus in the kitchen so we sold Silvia for chump change... and boy do I regret that. I wish I still had that machine. I'd have done far better selling the new Venus.
Unless you need a super-automatic to grind your coffee, tamp it for you, wipe your nose, powder your bottom, and read you a story before bed... you seriously can't do better than the Silvia.
Does Not Have Temp. Swings!, This is a really good Espresso Machine. It's build is very high quality and the build seems to be of commercial level. It's also very attractive.
I took measurements of the temp 3 times after the boiler light went off(that is when the water is freshly heated) and the temp. was consistent each time at the same degree. This should correct the rumors I read everywhere that this machine has wild temp swings. It does not. However, you will need to learn it's charactistics and temp surf as you would any other machine without a thermometer. I used the thermostat in a cup method to measure mine(google it).
I wanted to keep the cost down so I did not buy a PID or a thermocouple thermometer. I don't really believe they are necessary....all you have to do is learn what temp. the machine is at however minutes you choose after the boiler light goes out.
This is my first espresso machine. I don't know how other machines are, but the machine is picky about espresso grind. I have a stepless Compak K3...and it seems the slightness adjustment on the grind influences the shot. So there is not alot forgiveness if using the improper grind. Again, this may be the same for more expensive HX machines....I do not know since I never owned a HX machine(that's an extra thousand dollars for a decent one).
Steam wand is good and plenty powerful in my novice opinion. I'm still working on microfoam but I was surprised on how good my last results were. The goal is small foam...not large foam.
I've gone through alot of coffee learning. This is no easy skill to master.
If your drinking pure espresso, you'll notice the diff. between this machine and a $6,000.00 at a good coffee shop. But if you drink milk coffee drinks, it will be very hard to tell the diff.
Great machine for experienced brista's, (What's this?) Both me and my wife are experienced Beristas and we since our previous machine just broke we've decided to get a new one.
We've been using this machine for the last few week at least once a day and it's amazing!
It took us some testing and playing around to get the espresso flow to the right speed and crema and the same for the milk foam but now that we've found the perfect measure we enjoy each and every capuchino cup.
Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine
Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine. Rancilio is a company with a long tradition and our production of high-quality espresso machines dates back to the twenties.
