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Mute-on said:
Perhaps I can put the earlier suggestion of Silvia and K3 into context.

The Silvia was my first machine 16 years ago with a Rocky grinder. The Rocky has 58mm burrs.

I replaced the Silvia with a La Cimbali Junior (AUD now around $3,000) and continued to use the Rocky. The only difference in output was very fast steaming with the heat exchanger and 2 litre boiler. The Silvia is perfectly capable of an espresso of equal quality, and possibly better if PID'd.

I finally (2 years ago) replaced the Rocky with a Compak K10 (AUD $2,000 new) that I bought second hand. The Cimbali has had a new portafilter gasket in the last 15 years, and that's it.

The espresso quality improved with some blends and roasts compared to the Rocky, but not all. The blend, roast, freshness, water temp control, weather, humidity, tamp pressure, volume of grounds in basket, and phase of the moon make as much difference as the equipment at this level.

So, spend under $1,400 and get truly excellent espresso and small volume of lattes, if your technique is perfect, or spend $5,000 and get truly excellent espresso and higher volume of lattes, if your technique is perfect. See where I am going here?

Feel free to read everything written in the last 16 years about the Silvia, Rocky, Mazzer mini, etc, and every machine made since, but you will still end up in the same place.

Just trying to save you some time and $$, and get you drinking your first amazing home made espresso sooner, mate.

All the best.

J :)
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Thanks Mute-on, I get what you are saying.

It's rare tahat I make more than 2 lattes at a time and vey rare that it's more than 4. So I guess it's option B and invest in a good grinder.
 
Nemo said:
What do you mean by good water?
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At least in Denmark we have very hard water with lots of calcium so filtration is needed. Both for the taste of coffee and for the health of the machinery.

Lars
 
Lars said:
At least in Denmark we have very hard water with lots of calcium so filtration is needed. Both for the taste of coffee and for the health of the machinery.

Lars
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+1
Water must be good just like all the other pieces of the puzzle. When I lived temporarily in Brisbane, the only way to have a decent brew was to use bottled water. Didn't want to invest in a decent filtration system.
 
Nemo said:
I've just been reading about this. There are a few approaches but apparently a lot of home barristas grind one baket full of beans and the rule of thumb is that this produces a slightly overflowing basket of grounds.
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I always single dose. I could do a better job of storing the beans while they are being used but I am a bit lazy and they get consumed within a month if roasting (one week to rest, three weeks before they are used).
 
Lars said:
At least in Denmark we have very hard water with lots of calcium so filtration is needed. Both for the taste of coffee and for the health of the machinery.

Lars
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Same here. I always use filtered water, though through an extensive experiment on the aforementioned forums, it was found that a particular brand of bottled water yielded the best results in the cup
 
Well, no, there's a sediment pre-filter.

I actually insralled the 0.5 um carbon in an attempt to filter out parasitic cysts from the rainwater (lots of possums on the roof if you catch my drift).
 
Nemo said:
Wow, a specific brand of water? Does that mean my rainwater filtered through 0.5 um carbon is not ok?
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Yup. This one:

DW11164a.jpg
 
In reading some of the websites that have been suggested in this thread, there does seem to be an optimum hardness of (I think) 40-90ppm. Less than this apparently doesn't allow propper extraction, more causes too much problem with limescale. So rainwarer maybe not ideal?

Even if filtered twice ;-)
 
Lars said:
I call bulls*it..

Lars
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The thread was waaaay too long, I couldn't be bothered to follow so I won't defend . I just know the outcome was that dude.

I use a lot of water cleaning the machine and backflushing after every shot and no way was I going to use bottled water for that. So filtered water it is for me.
 
Silva was my first quality espresso machine which I used 7 years until I upgraded to an Isomac about 9 years ago. Quality espresso from both machines, however I can make several drinks at a time much more quickly with my Isomac if I have company over. I have had a mazzer mini grinder for 9 years as well. I will never need another grinder but maybe a bit of overkill for general home use.

Have always used filtered home water never a problem for me.
 
I've read a quite few reports of Silvias rusting really badley (to the point of being unusable after several years). Can anyone with experience comment on this one way or the other?
 
Nemo said:
I've read a quite few reports of Silvias rusting really badley (to the point of being unusable after several years). Can anyone with experience comment on this one way or the other?
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Sounds a bit strange as all the bits with water are made of brass, including it's boiler. What exactly is rusting?
 
Nemo said:
I've read a quite few reports of Silvias rusting really badley (to the point of being unusable after several years). Can anyone with experience comment on this one way or the other?
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I didn't experience this, and neither have I heard of it. My Silvia was extremely robust, and the chassis very well powder coated with no bare spots.

I suppose if you leave water in the drain tray for a long period, or let it overflow regularly, this could cause corrosion. Then again, that would be user error nor a fault of the machine.

I don't see cause for alarm.

J
 
Mute-on said:
I didn't experience this, and neither have I heard of it. My Silvia was extremely robust, and the chassis very well powder coated with no bare spots.

I suppose if you leave water in the drain tray for a long period, or let it overflow regularly, this could cause corrosion. Then again, that would be user error nor a fault of the machine.

I don't see cause for alarm.

J
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Thanks J.

Useful feedback.
 
Ok, I checked the threads and I think I read the post you are referring to. I did note that the replies were along the lines of my comment above.

However, if you are concerned with spray from the OPV missing the rear lip of the drain tray (N.B. This even happens a bit in my Cimbali), you could easily fashion a deflector plate, or even slightly reposition the OPV.

Alternatively, just pull out the tray and mop up any moisture after use. Easy :)

Like I said, I don't see it as an issue that would have any impact on your enjoyment of the machine. After all, it's what's in the cup that counts ;)
 
Nemo said:
I've read a quite few reports of Silvias rusting really badley (to the point of being unusable after several years). Can anyone with experience comment on this one way or the other?
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Not mine, for sure. I work it hard since 9 years and just had it professionally cleaned and refurbished . Needed a new pump but overall in very good shape and no rust whatsoever. As far as I am concerned its just a sturdy, reliable and durable espresso machine. If you are not regularly serving larger groups of people and dont mind to wait a couple of minutes before steaming creamlike milk foam for your cappuccino, its all that is needed.
 
I think the rusting thing is a non issue if you take the most basic care of the machine.

I would just echo what was previously said about a PID addition post purchase.

The machine is perfectly capable without it, however you sink-shot rate will considerably decrease with a PID.
 
I've been running a LaMarzocco machine with a Mazzer grinder for 2-3 years now and I couldn't be happier. It's an old pic, I've since replaced all the plastic panels and pieces on the GS3 with some custom wood pieces. I wasn't sure if I'd like the automation of the machine at first. Over time it's grown on me.

Typical routine now:

-Grab some new beans to play with
-Dial the grind in and set the auto dispense on the Mazzer
-Set the auto dispense on the GS3 (it measures by volume not time, which is nice)
-Whenever I need a shot it's just a matter of pushing two buttons. If somethings not right, I'll typically pick it up by the way the shot pours or by the time it takes to come out (it also has a shot timer just for reference).

I don't miss having to pay closer attention to the machine especially first thing in the morning. It takes a bit of the interaction out of the equation but it makes up for it in repeatability.

18513_20140925_203138.jpg
 
I've found too, and y'all are likely more than aware of this, the quality of the water going in is paramount to machine longevity. I don't have the specific parameters at my fingertips but I know when I bought my new set up a few years back I went through an extensive water testing process. There were like 6-7 different tests that I did to find out the quality of the water, mineral content, hardness, PH, calcium, etc. I hit the jackpot and turns out the water that I get from my fridges filtering system is 100% dead on for all of the parameters.

I know some people end up buying treatment systems or 5 gallon jugs with small pumps to feed their machines.

The last thing a person wants is to get 4-5 years into an expensive coffee setup only to have to start replacing boilers and other pieces due to premature wear.

Maintenance is something that shouldn't be overlooked either. I'm the first to admit that I'm not the best guy at staying on top of things, but even in the three years or so of this machine I've had to replace a few minor parts just due to my neglecting to follow a sufficient flushing and maintenance schedule. Once a guy pulls his machine apart a few times (imagine working on an import car but then remove ANY space to maneuver) you learn that it's a lot easier in the long run to just backflush it regularly and replace o-rings and seals as soon as they need it.
 
Who did you get the wood side panels from? I may dress mine up at some point. I've seen some on espressoparts.com, but have not seen them in person. Actually, maybe BurlSource would be open to... :biggrin:
 
For the record, I am not jealous of you people with GS3's. Not one bit. Nope, no sir, none whatsoever, nill, nada, nothing....

Okay, fine, I freaking wish I had one
 
WildBoar said:
Who did you get the wood side panels from? I may dress mine up at some point. I've seen some on espressoparts.com, but have not seen them in person. Actually, maybe BurlSource would be open to... :biggrin:
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I ended up just getting the panels and accessories in Walnut from the LaMarzocco shop.

https://home.lamarzoccousa.com/product/walnut-side-panels/

I had inititally planned on having Jason Holtz make me a set, but opted for the Lamarzocco ones just because I'm in Canada and didn't want to take any chances with fitment. (Not saying I doubted Jason, just that I knew for a fact that LaMarzocco would fit for sure). If I were doing it again I'd probably go with Jason. His pieces were richer looking and they cost a bit less as well.

https://www.custommade.com/custom-wood-panels-for-la-marzocco-gs3-espresso-ma/by/jholtzfurniture/
 
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