A great home espresso machine. Make sure you invest in a good grinder too.
Positive Product Points
Beautiful solid machine. Professional portafilter rather than "home style" crema enhanced presurized affair. Consistent results for consistent grind and tamp. Easy to dump stainless steel drip tray, not some cheap plastic...
Negative Product Points
The only negative comment I can think of is I should have fork out the $$$ sooner!!!
Detailed Commentary
This machine is not for the person who wants a simple, easy to use, press a button and it does the work espresso machine. Grind and tamp are critical as they are with any professional style espresso machine. Super Automatic espresso machines are easier to use at first and more consistent at first. However, for simply superb espresso this machine is hard to beat. With a good burr grinder (I use a Solis Maestro) fantastic consistent shots are not a problem. I believe the elusive "God" shot is achievable with Miss Silvia. Of course, nothing but home roasted beans has every passed my portafilter!
Buying Experience
I paid, they promptly shipped. (purchased new via eBay)
Three Month Followup
See 1 year follow up...
One Year Followup
3&1/2 year follow up: She was a great mistress, a great first machine. She was finicky which forced me to learn good technique.
After using Missy daily for 3 years, temp surfing for reseasonable shot temps, I finally got off my butt and PID her. So much nicer to walk up and be able to just pull a shot or two at desired temp. Also added tank float valve auto-fill at the same time. Dang! The best $25 upgrade imaginable! Had borrowed a pressure gauge and discovered Missy was running no flow 15+bar shot pressure! OPV mod followed.
For the longest time I knew when pulling a series of shots the shot temp would rise shot to shot for about 8 shots then stabilize. Phenom' was same before and after PID. Tried various methods of measuring shot temp but until the Scace Thermofilter released never really got a handle on it. A couple hundred test Thermofilter shots later came to the conclusion there was virtually no way to accurately maintain shot temp in a series with just boiler PID. Shot temp would rise shot to shot peaking about 15F higher around the 8th shot. Discovered the solution via Andy S, electric grouphead heater mod. Was planning to do it, even ordered all the parts but upgraded to a Bricoletta and sold Silvia instead.
