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  • Dragunov21
    replied
    Originally posted by fruity View Post
    You forgot the mandatory reminder to prime the boiler and ensure the steam knob is properly closed. ;-)
    I'm one of the natural-selection crowd :P

    Last thing I do after steaming milk and when turning the machine off is purge steam pressure and refill the boiler.

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  • Yelta
    replied
    Originally posted by JoeB View Post

    I think that the PID is probably the most useful mod to the silvia and makes it an excelllent machine for the $.
    The Silvia is excellent value for $ without a PID, rather than modify it spend a few hours learning to use it right out of the box, not a difficult task.

    Leave a comment:


  • JoeB
    replied
    Hi Bob,

    With your budget you can certainly pick up a bargain machine from a CS'er here or buy new - choice is yours.

    I had an em6910 for 6.5 years and it was faultless. I had no problems with the em0480 either. I've recently upgraded to an ECM and a Macap, only because I wanted a bigger machine. I'd have happily bought another 6910 or a 7000 unit, they are very easy to use and good quality coffee can be easily produced. Excellent value for money

    If I had been a CS'er before I bought the 6910 and was able to choose again within the budget, I'd probably look for a PID'd Silvia and a Rocky, or a K3 that a lot of members here swear by.

    I think that the PID is probably the most useful mod to the silvia and makes it an excelllent machine for the $.

    but Grinders…. ha. too much choice there. Have a read of the grinder threads and perhaps check out Chris' talkcoffee site and check out all the different models. choice is hard. But the Grinder is what makes all the difference to your coffee.

    Hope you find the right machine - don't be afraid to test them all out and reserve your decision until you are satisfied that you have the machine that is right for you.

    Leave a comment:


  • fruity
    replied
    Advice needed for purchasing sub-$1000 machine

    Originally posted by Dragunov21 View Post
    Or just get a plug-in timer and have your machine turning on half an hour before you usually get up...
    You forgot the mandatory reminder to prime the boiler and ensure the steam knob is properly closed. ;-)

    Leave a comment:


  • Dragunov21
    replied
    Or just get a plug-in timer and have your machine turning on half an hour before you usually get up...

    Leave a comment:


  • mentasm
    replied
    Well I can definitely say the Silvia will still pull a great shot with around 10 mins of warm up and a warming flush of water through the group head before pulling a shot. MIght not be 100%, but its still gonna be 90% and for a ryshed before work coffee its 100% fine.

    Leave a comment:


  • JetBlack_Espresso
    replied
    Originally posted by Hildy View Post
    smaller machines with less metal and smaller boilers will have faster heatup. that means gaggia/saeco.


    it's not necessarily a good thing.

    The biggest factor in heat up time with machines in this class is boiler/group head configuration. The Silvia group head is offset to the bottom of the boiler whereas the Lelits and Gaggias have their group heads attached directly to the bottom of the boiler. This leads to a difference in heat up time which may be significant to you depending on your morning routine. When we Scaced them, the Lelit was ready* in 10-15 minutes and the Silvia took 30-40. (* by ready, I mean brew water close to 90 degrees. The machines were switched on from cold and left to idle - except for pulling a short shot every 5 minutes to get a temperature reading).


    charlie

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  • samububi1
    replied
    agree with Tony Silvia / Rocky combo

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  • joes
    replied
    The BES900XL has two boilers with one dedicated for steam. Steaming is quick and easy, and it reliably makes a good cup of coffee. Not sure what prices are like where you are, but one can buy one for about $1000 in NA.

    Leave a comment:


  • ceeldee
    replied
    Hi,
    Its not clear to me whether your budget is $1000 for a coffee machine only or a coffee machine plus grinder for $1000. There will be quite a difference if you are spending $1000 on a coffee machine or $700 with
    "free" extras plus grinder. Obviously there is no such thing as a free lunch but there maybe a discounted lunch. So you will probably get different advice depending on the answer. The grinder, as you have no doubt found from many sources is as important as the coffee machine albeit somewhat cheaper.

    Leave a comment:


  • artemidorus
    replied
    Originally posted by CafeLotta View Post
    Heat up time isn't really an issue if you steam first, flush water through to cool and then brew.
    The Silvia can easily be induced to keep its element on until it is ready to go. As soon as the thermostat switches off from its first heating period, I place a cup under the group head and turn on the brew switch, and turn it off again when the thermostat comes back on. This takes about one small cup of water and about 15 sec. The water moving through the group head and the basket warms up these parts pretty rapidly. Repeat as necessary. Two cycles gets it acceptably warm, three as hot as you'd ever need it. (Or else just get it going 20 minutes before you need it with a digital power timer).

    Leave a comment:


  • Barry O'Speedwagon
    replied
    Welcome cc,
    It's obviously up to you and your tastebuds / wallet, but I would be careful how you go about identifying relevant 'reviews'. In many cases it is the operator's inexperience with the pricier options that can make such comparisons a bit 'iffy' (not to mention reviews 'planted' by marketers). In other cases, the reviewers are comparing the Sunbeam to fully automatic machines, paired with pretty ordinary beans (in which case they may well be 'spot on'). I suspect you'll find that the coffee produced by many of the pricier machines (when prepared well, using fresh beans and decent grinder) is superior to the Crema, however, how much you value that (likely) superior taste is ultimately up to you.

    P.S. Your suggestion that you use less coffee to produce a stronger brew on the double shot sounds a bit askew. Might be b/c your higher dose was causing a lower volume of coffee to be brewed, which you might then have diluted to a greater extent with milk / hot water.
    Cheers

    Leave a comment:


  • Coffeeconvert
    replied
    Hi 13Bob,
    Am exactly in the same boat! This is my first post...At the moment I have a Sunbeam Crema which kicks out a beaut coffee but as the coffee is coming out the steamer activates and I have to stick a cup under the steamer. At a garage sale a couple of months ago we then saw a Krups, the lady said her husband had just left her and she was selling everything of his not nailed down! She said he had only just purchased it and she was not a coffee drinker. The Krups had only been used a couple of times and we picked it up for $30.00, Perfect condition and couldn't believe our luck! However, the steamer on the Krups was terrible,but the coffee came out stronger, so we used the Krups to pour the coffee and the sunbeam Crema for the frother. Perfect Combination! Within two months the Krups pump has gone, rang up a service man who wants $88 for a quote to fix which will be taken off the price. Hubbe now says he can pick up a brand new Sunbeam Cafe Crema with a two years extended warranty, delivered for $180.00! I have been looking at the more expensive machines from $1,000 and the reviews and it seems that many who have purchased cheaper machines have said they deliver better than some of the machines three times the price. I am now figuring if we are happy with the Sunbeam performance(have now figured you put less coffee in for a stronger brew on the double shot!) for $180.00 with a two years warranty it might be the way to go...so looks like we are now going to have a Sunbeam Crema with steam that comes out at the same time as the coffee and a Krups two months old with a pump gone going for cheap if someone wants them that knows how to fix them.

    Leave a comment:


  • CafeLotta
    replied
    Originally posted by Hildy View Post
    smaller machines with less metal and smaller boilers will have faster heatup. that means gaggia/saeco.

    it's not necessarily a good thing.
    Not necessarily a bad thing either depending on your budget and usage requirements.

    The heat-up time on a Saeco Via Venezia is very quick due to its small stainless boiler. For a quick coffee on the run it can be quite handy. The downside is that it forces you to get your technique right especially when using an unpressurised portafilter instead of the standard pressurised one. Temperature surfing is almost mandatory to get a good result but not all that hard to learn. It cools quickly after reaching full temp when the thermostat cuts power to the heating element but taking the time to learn the machine can provide decent results. They are not as forgiving of bad technique as a larger brass boiler machine which heat and cool slower.

    I would imagine it was designed as a entry level boiler machine that heats up quick for that 1 or 2 cups in a hurry. Will it make a Rocket quality espresso? Of course not. It sits below the price range of the Silvia and would struggle to match its quality of brew consistently. Having said that, I really enjoyed the challenges of the Via Venezia and would say that it is a really good if not at times frustrating training tool that will quickly highlight any shortcomings in brewing technique, especially when used with a bottomless portafilter. It will teach you the basics of a single boiler machine. At the price point that 2nd hand machines are at ($100-$150 for the latest model), it definetly deserves a place in the coffee machine market. Breville 800ES steam wand mod makes it even better but steaming is slower than larger machines like the Silvia.

    The Via Venezia was my first boiler machine and I found the subsequent transition to a Silvia was seamless and very easy thanks to my "training machine".

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  • blend52
    replied
    Originally posted by Vinitasse View Post
    A cup of hot instant (heated via microwave) can be had in about a minute
    i think a Nespresso would even beat that !

    Leave a comment:

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