Saying Hello

System

Greetings'

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I must confess I am quite new to the whole chat room scene so bear with me.

I have just recently traded in my old Saeco VV for a second hand Rancilio Sylvia and I cannot truly express firstly, how delighted I am with this machine, and secondly, what an amazing difference i am experiencing in my espresso making :o

Since I prefer my coffee a little stronger than some I have been utilising the double basket constantly but I wonder if this is completely necessary?

Also, at the present stage I simply have the plastic tamper originally supplied with the machine (although there are great plans afoot to upgrade to a 'Pullman'). Has anyone had great success using the 'twin' pour attachment with the plastic tamper? The literature suggests it is possible but quite difficult to achieve. I would love some advice.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers.

Matthew_White

Hi and welcome to the Crema forums! I am not familiar with the Silvia but I will say this much: ensure that and tamp you do get is a good fit. I bought an aftermarket one for my home machine only to realise that it is too small, and is of limited use to me. I tend to use the double basket almost exclusively at home.

mattyj

I'm an expobar user, and I use my single basket all the time ... ... to stand my tamp in! It's really good at protecting the base of my tamp, you see. Either single baskets require a huge improvement in technique, or they just aren't as well thought out as double baskets (blaming the tools again...). I only ever pull shots with a double basket. If I'm making a weak coffee for a friend, I stick a demitasse under the other spout and drink that one myself! And welcome! What grinder are you using?

Unknown

Gotta love this forum. Thanks for the reply guys. At present I have been lucky enough to borrow a 'Lux' which in my limited experience of grinders appears to be doing a great job.   This all seems like a bit of a quantum shift to me. I was quite happy with my VV for a time but my personal experience was that it was not a machine that enjoyed a good tamping...seemed to get most upset at the very notion of it So now I have been lucky enough to move into a whole other world, of grinders, and tamping, and other subtle joys. I will confess the first long black I made for my wife took about 45 minutes to create, and forty of those were getting the grind right I'll tell you about the three luke- warm lattes I served up. two nights later another time. Cheers

Unknown

Wow the Silvia is popular.  I'm a very happy new Silvia owner also and haven't looked back.   Double basket only for me and the same as Matthew, I use my single to store my tamper.. The plastic tamper (standard one) I found COMPLETELY USELESS.. I could not get an even tamp for the life of me. This caused all sorts of trouble with extraction.. I also hear that buying a 14 gram (double) La Marzocco basket for the Silvia makes much better and more consistent crema.. I'll be grabbing one in the next few weeks so I'll let you know the how it goes.. Go RANCILIO! Paulie  ;D