Rancilio Silvia V1

Miss Silvia #2 review after 9 years of #1 review – Yep, had Miss Silvia for 20 odd years. Still smashing 15 espresso's a week. This thing will outlive me. Not sure I would buy if you need to froth milk regularly as it's a single boiler machine. Easy to perform maintenance on it. If only my Bosch stick vacuum and electrolux washing machine was built as good as this bad girl.

Perfect for a home machine – I have had this for 16 years without a problem as she produces a great coffee. a little practice is needed but worth the effort. Just recently the pump is losing pressure, any ideas where can I get a new one? Show details

One of the best products I've ever bought! – I have had this machine for around 20 years and it has been used every day. The quality of coffee produced is unbeatable as is the reliability. I had a thermostat go faulty once about 10 years ago but a quick internet search had a part ordered and the machine up and running by the next day at a total cost of less than $20! Just buy one and buy the Rocky grinder as well. A couple of the best products I've ever bought! Show details

Can't live without my ‘Miss Silvia’ – I have had my ‘Miss Silvia’ Generation 1 coffee machine since 2008. She’s still going strong and I’m still in love with her. She consistently produces a high quality espresso and the froth for the cappuccino takes some practice to perfect, but is smooth as silk when you get it right. She’s definitely saved me a heap of money and sure beats going to my local café for my daily hit.  Show details

Cannot be killed, making excellent shots every day for 15 years – This has got to be the cockroach of the coffee world, I bought my V1 after much research back in 2003 and it is still going strong making multiple shots of excellent espresso day in, day out. Being a fully manual unit all aspects of your process need to be scrutinised like grind, quantity, tamp and possibly even temperature surfing if you're not… Read more

in the PID club but the results are well worth the extra work that having this level of control returns.

This has not been without its ups and downs, those being generally perishing of gaskets in the group head, steam wand every three to five years and also the one under the boiler once but because the construction of this machine is so simple and sturdy, I managed to do all these maintenance jobs myself with a little help from YouTube and taking lots of pre-disassembly photos .

Yes, my frame is also rusting but is far from needing to be replaced with only the section under the drip tray really showing any major corrosion. If there really is a down side to owning this machine it's the constant sense of disappointment I feel when Sydney baristas charge me the the better part of four bucks for shots half as nice as I get at home for much less than half the price.

The Best Coffee Machine for the Money – Great coffee machine, I have had this for 17 years and is in use every day, i put a new boiler in a year ago ( did it myself) and is like new again. Would recomend the Silvia, easy to use, easy to clean, but wouldn't be good for large amounts of coffee.  Show details

This is for a thoughtful person and is a little like playing golf, but less complicated – The coffee that you get is the result of your appropriate knowledge of the bean, the grind, and so on with the Rancilio itself. Just don’t expect its best result until you have learned all the controls and methods. The sense of satisfaction and joy at sipping your best result is wonderful. Do read the manual and collect all the. users comments… Read more

online, I have a fat book of them and my 160 step guide for best results, for me anyway.

The machine is solid and. beautiful to work with, just needs a similar quality bean grinder, I use a Mazzer Mini.

It has no fripperies, no auto transmission, just a manual, using motoring terms - it us up to you every step of the way.

You won’t be disappointed unless you prefer an automatic machine, then buy one.

This will keep you advancing in product quality as time goes by.

awesome machine. Get a PID. Patience – Makes Great coffee .Using freshly ground beans. Spent a long time trying to get it right. Nearly gave up . Realised my cheap grinder wasn't helping. Bought a K-3 Touch.70%better. Added a PID 95%better. (forget temp surfing).digital scales measuring to .01. 99%better. the rest is technique. If you spend time tuning yourself to the machine … Read more

using ,60mil (double shot basket),25-30sec,92degC as a ''rough'' guide,

and 17.5 grams of coffee you will be happy with the rancilio.

If you want a machine the whole family can use ,get one that's fully

automatic. I think rancilio should make a PID mandatory. Most of the cheaper

brands come with pressure guages. temp is more important than pressure

when deciding to flick the button. IMO.

Had mine for 12+ years – Perfect reliability No problems with spare parts (only needed a tine spring for steam tap). Makes 4+ coffees EVERY day. Pulled boiler apart only twice to descale. Easy job all you need is hex key and screw driver. (Takes some before photos to, particularly wire locations). I would definitely recommend!!

incredibly reliable - but not foolproof – The SIlvia is a really strong, heavy machine that looks great. Mine has lasted 15 years now and has had two problems in that time - both times boilers burning out or burning out of the heating element. The Silvia is not foolproof and take a deal of practice to get the hang of. They also do not cope with commercial grounds, they really need… Read more

fresh-ground beans and it has to be a quite fine grind or you get no crema and a fast pour - i.e. the coffee comes through too quickly. The one cup filter basket is also useless....So if you are going to buy it, get a good grinder from Rancilio or I have an Iberital grinder which is slightly cheaper and still fine. Make sure you grind fine enough and get a good metal tamper to properly tamp the grounds in the filter basket. The steamer can make very good quality milk if you are drinking lattes. Worth watching a few 'tips' videos on vimeo or youtube to see how people use it properly. One thing that affects the coffee is if you steam milk first, you need to bleed the steam out of the boiler before making your shot of coffee - or else you will fire hot steam and very hot water through the grounds and make a bitter 'cooked' shot. So better to either make the coffee first and then steam the milk or steam the milk but then bleed the steam out and even run some water back through the group handle to make sure you haven't got too hot water coming through. As I said, it is not so easy, but it can make excellent coffee once you are used to using it, and it is very solid and reliable.

Almost perfect, for the money – This machine, paired with a doserless Rocky, was my first coffee machine. As a beginner the machine proved very reliable and provided solid performance for many years. Not having all the fancy circuits like many of the more automated machines at similar pricepoints, this machine seems rock-solid and reliable. I must admit that I didn't have it… Read more

serviced more than once in the 5+ years that I owned it, and it never missed a beat.

I did add an aftermarket PID kit to help with temp consistency...do some research on temp surfing if you're not sure what this is about. The Auber Kit that I added also added a few other features like countdown timers and preinfusion, which were nice.

The machine has a small footprint which is nice on a bench that is not overly big. However this does mean that both the water tank and the drip tray are quote small and will need frequent attention. If you're only making one or two drinks at a time it won't be an issue, but you do need to keep an eye on both as there are no warning lights etc to let you know about water levels.

Speaking of making drinks, if you are looking to entertain and frequently need to make more than one or two drinks, this machine is probably not for you. As a single boiler it is only able to do one thing at a time, make espresso, or steam milk. Switching from one to the other takes a bit of time for the boiler to adjust temp and this impedes making multiple drinks in quick succession. I usually made an espresso for myself, and then a flat white for my white, so only needed to switch from espresso to milk once.

While I had the v1 of this product, I believe there were only cosmetic differences between that and later versions. So all limitations would still apply to later versions, but so would the reliability and performance of this machine.

I replaced Silvia with an upgrade to a Giotto Rocket Evoluzione (a much large capacity, HX, plumbed machine), and upgrade the Rocky to a Mazzer Mini.

The benchmark for Single Boiler home machines – Ive owned my Silivia for about 10 years now. Still going strong. What a great buy. I installed a PID temerature control a few years ago and it made this good machine even better. It does take practice to get right - but once you do you wont be dissapointed. Great steam compared to my mums more expensive sunbeam (their cafe series one), where the… Read more

steam dribbles out. Not enough to get any milk tumbling. Think classic Ferrari vs Hyundai Solid build, makes great coffee Needs a good grinder (not really a con) and practice.

Best Machine for the money – Over 10 Years and still going strong; used average 10 times a day never faulted. No junky Automation to break down. Professional quality coffee every time. Even the kids can use this with a little training. This is a great pair that is easy to use and makes real pro coffee. Warning you will become addicted to this coffee machine! Every thing ,… Read more

value, quality, reliability. Only one boiler, but for home use I can wait 30secs for the steam boiler to heat up.

9 yrs on and great! – Comments from Stewart459... good! Makes very good coffee, but is manual so you need to 'enjoy the process' and want the control that a manual machine gives... if you just want a coffee get an auto machine. Get a good grinder (I have Rocky). My wife even make good coffee with it. If you get any manual machine, and want great coffee, be… Read more

prepared to get training or spend the time learning and 'working it out'

Re boiler reliability - I can only go by my own experience in almost 10 years use I have replaced the boiler once (after about 6yrs)... but if you clean the machine after use by flushing the group head the boiler is filled and wont boil dry. BTW the comments about the element being at the top as a design fault implies the element can be uncovered easily from water. That is not the case as the outlet for the water is at the top of the boiler too, so even if you run the water resovior empty the boiler will still have water covering the element, only by lots of steaming can you drain boiler... same for any machine. Also note, there is a thermostat trip on the machine... for those that do get cold water take the top off and press the red button on the side mounted thermostat, before sending for repair and you might save yourself some money. If it keeps tripping replace thermostat.

Another good thing is that parts for this machine are easily available via mail, I am fairly handy so I service the machine myself, I get all parts (incl the new boiler) from these guys no problem. FYI-I have no affiliation to these guys, just passing on my experience.

I think this is the best machine for where it fits in the market, and at the price point is one of the best domestic single boiler manual units I think you can get. commercial grade brass portafiller and group head, great coffee, solid steel and s/s construction, easy to service and get spares Nothing for where it sits in the market.. Older models lacked the ball-joint steam nozzle. Small waste tray, no easy option to plumb in filtered water