Hi guys,
Ive dilly dallied around on this for quite a while and I think its time to make a decision so I need a bit of advice. Wed all like a $3k machine but practically its out of reach of most of us. Ive always liked the thought of a HX machine, however the majority of the time Im only making two milk-based drinks at a time; when I make more than that a HX would be handy but I reckon thatd be about a 1 in 50 occurrence. So really a single boiler is <grits teeth> adequate for me at the moment.
Im generally happy with the steam performance of my Silvia. Whats really starting to annoy me is the shot consistency, which I think may be temperature-related; its good, but I find I dont always get the same results from two consecutive shots. Channelling isnt too much of an issue, my dose technique is pretty good I think and the tamper tends to be the right size
. I was doing a lot of testing last night on our new blends and was frustrated that when the heating light was off and when I purged the head, sometimes it would come out as water, and other times it would be flashing into steam, which points to a degree of temperature variation in the boiler. I guess this is the reason people temperature-surf. So I guess what Im looking for is at least a Silvia, but more temperature stable. A better group would be better too if it can be justified. Finally, for reasons which Ive been unable to change, any replacement if thats the best option should be a neat looking machine, such as the Silvia or low-end Expobars, and not like the Giotto, VBM Domobar or any other machine with the E61 exposed. Dollars; well preferably as little as possible like we all say, but it depends really on what the options are. I cant imagine going on the high side of $1500 but even a PID upgrade of $250 or so would have to be justified. In hindsight, Chris Domobar would have been nice if it had more of a Silvia look to it, but I wasnt quite at this point when that was around.
So, options. I guess one would be to PID the Silvia. Another would be to sell the Silvia and upgrade to something else that has better temp characteristics, be it SB, DB or HX, but I suspect the latter two are going to be a bit pricey. Bear in mind the main criteria in this exercise is to get better quality espresso (ironic since I rarely drink espresso), and if it happens to have better steaming capabilities then so much the better.
What do you think?
Greg
Ive dilly dallied around on this for quite a while and I think its time to make a decision so I need a bit of advice. Wed all like a $3k machine but practically its out of reach of most of us. Ive always liked the thought of a HX machine, however the majority of the time Im only making two milk-based drinks at a time; when I make more than that a HX would be handy but I reckon thatd be about a 1 in 50 occurrence. So really a single boiler is <grits teeth> adequate for me at the moment.
Im generally happy with the steam performance of my Silvia. Whats really starting to annoy me is the shot consistency, which I think may be temperature-related; its good, but I find I dont always get the same results from two consecutive shots. Channelling isnt too much of an issue, my dose technique is pretty good I think and the tamper tends to be the right size
. I was doing a lot of testing last night on our new blends and was frustrated that when the heating light was off and when I purged the head, sometimes it would come out as water, and other times it would be flashing into steam, which points to a degree of temperature variation in the boiler. I guess this is the reason people temperature-surf. So I guess what Im looking for is at least a Silvia, but more temperature stable. A better group would be better too if it can be justified. Finally, for reasons which Ive been unable to change, any replacement if thats the best option should be a neat looking machine, such as the Silvia or low-end Expobars, and not like the Giotto, VBM Domobar or any other machine with the E61 exposed. Dollars; well preferably as little as possible like we all say, but it depends really on what the options are. I cant imagine going on the high side of $1500 but even a PID upgrade of $250 or so would have to be justified. In hindsight, Chris Domobar would have been nice if it had more of a Silvia look to it, but I wasnt quite at this point when that was around.So, options. I guess one would be to PID the Silvia. Another would be to sell the Silvia and upgrade to something else that has better temp characteristics, be it SB, DB or HX, but I suspect the latter two are going to be a bit pricey. Bear in mind the main criteria in this exercise is to get better quality espresso (ironic since I rarely drink espresso), and if it happens to have better steaming capabilities then so much the better.
What do you think?
Greg


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