Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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68 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "real" espresso maker for the home!, December 26, 2006
This machine is the perfect blend of quality, durability, and ease of repair for a home machine under $500. It makes espresso that rivals any you can buy at a coffee house.
I've been making home espresso for 25 years and have used many different machines of various prices which all died. I bought one for $250 from Starbucks which died in one year. They told me parts were not available. This machine is practically bullet-proof. I've had it for over 5 years and it is still running like new. Sure it hurts to spend this much on an espresso machine, but how many $250 machines will you go through? Learn from my mistake(s) and get a good one.
All the parts inside are commercial or semi-commercial grade. Anyone who works on commercial espresso machines can work on this one, and the parts are readily available. It's all stainless and cast iron. Very nice.
It has a 3-way solenoid, which you want, trust me. The 3-way solenoid lets pressure escape from the basket when you switch off the pump so that the coffee grounds fall out of the portafilter handle in a solid little disk instead of a soupy mess.
You DO NEED a good grinder made for espresso to use this machine. The pump puts out a solid 9 bar, which means most grinders can't get the coffee fine enough. A burr grinder is the only way to go. This makes the grounds fine enough that a shot will take about 20 seconds to make. Any less time for a shot and it means your coffee is too coarse. If you don't want to buy a grinder right now, there are some good preground espresso coffees in a can (such as Illy), but it will go stale fast. You'll want the grinder.
If you want great espresso, and a reliable machine, you can't go wrong with the Silvia. Take a bit of time to learn proper technique and you'll be happy with this one.
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62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best machine for under $500, January 10, 2007
Miss Silvia is not for everyone, but she can reward a little effort and patience with truly great espresso. If, after reading this, you still think $200 is too much to spend on a grinder, look instead at machines with a pressurized portafilter (Saeco/Starbucks Barista).
Start with the freshest coffee. You might as well discover home roasting. It's very economical, easy, and fun. In fact, you can quickly pay for Miss Silvia with your savings when you pay $3-5/lb for green coffee!
Trust me on this: Your grinder is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than your machine, and few grinders under $200 have a fine enough adjustment mechanism to find the "sweet spot" for the particular bean you're using. Grind controls extraction rate, and you're shooting for 20sec for a double shot. If one click on the grinder throws your extraction 5-6 seconds...you'll quickly become frustrated. Good espresso grinders have at least 40-50 settings. Of course, you need to time your shots to get an idea of what is happening.
Give her time to warm up. Google "silvia temperature surfing" to learn how to manually control the brewing temperature, or "PID Silvia" to give Miss Silvia digital temperature control (you now have a $1000 machine for $550).
Put it all together, and you'll soon see just how good espresso can be. Should you currently be addicted to Starbucks, this will cure you. You might even start looking forward to the morning's first espresso shots around dinner time!
Why Miss Silvia? A reasonably sized brass boiler (thermal mass). Heavy chromed brass portafilter (more thermal mass). Three-way Solenoid valve (depressurizes the group head after pulling a shot). Very well documented on-line. Easily serviceable with widely available parts. Good looking, too!
Final recommendation: If you can't afford BOTH Miss Silvia and the grinder, buy a great grinder and an inexpensive but good Gaggia with lots of brass but no 3-way valve.
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122 of 135 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rancilio Silvio Espresso Machine, April 11, 2005
This espresso maker is a beautiful, quality machine. However, it is advertised as simple to use and that "one can have great espresso, lattes, cappucinos and more, just with the touch of a button". This, unfortunately, is not the case. My husband and I have had espresso makers that were easy to use. But, this maker requires finesse. We carefully followed the directions time and time again only to have produced warm, bitter and or weak espresso. When I spoke with a person at the distributing company, he told me that making espresso with this machine is an art and that one has to work at it. He stated that we needed a thermometer ("digital is best") to test the water temperature, that we needed finer grinds of espresso and that we would just have to experiment. He stated that these machines are not for novices. I told him that the advertisement stated this was a simple machine to use and he replied that that is wrong.
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