Rancilio Silvia E V6 Home Espresso Coffee Machine
The Rancilio Silvia is one of the most well known single boiler espresso machines on the market, released initially as a limited edition gift to Rancilio’s distributors.
If you’re looking for a single boiler espresso machine at around the entry level price point, the Rancilio Silvia deserves to be on your shortlist, if it isn’t already.
A bit of trivia for you, which I wasn’t aware of until a recent conversation with the oracle of coffee machines Mark Prince from Coffee Geek, “Miss Silvia” was named after the grand daughter of the founder, Silvia Rancilio. It must be quite strange to know that your name is famous worldwide, although back to front ;-).
| titlestrong Features and Benefits |
showbullet Stainless Steel Casing |
showbullet 0.3L Marine Grade Brass Brew Boiler |
showbullet Solid Brass Group |
showbullet Dimensions of 23.5cm wide, 29cm deep and 34cm tall (approx) |
showbullet 3 way solenoid valve |
showbullet 2L Water Tank |
showbullet 58mm heavyweight, angled commercial portafilter |
showbullet Stainless steel steam wand on a ball joint, single hole steam tip|
The Rancilio Silvia is considered by many to be the ultimate entry level single boiler espresso machines at around the £500 price point.
Personally, if I was thinking along the lines of the Gaggia Classic Pro, this would be the most obvious alternative machine.
Actually the most common question I get when it comes to alternatives to the Gaggia Classic is the Bambino Plus, which I don’t think compares to the Classic at all, it’s a very different machine aimed at a very different user.
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The Rancilio Silvia, for me, is the other machine to consider if you’re thinking about going for a Gaggia Classic.
Silvia is a bit more money, but these days there’s actually not as much difference in price. The steam power of the Silvia is amazing, and although that’s a good thing, in time, it’s not the most forgiving of steam wands to learn with. It’s similar to learning to steam milk with a commercial espresso machine, but that’s great once you get the knack of it.
As with the Classic, Silvia is a bit unruly where temperature is concerned, so a temperature surfing routine is required in order to get consistent results, or the fitting of a PID.
I like the Silvia, what I love about it in particular is the look and feel of the portafilter, which is the same portafilter they use in their commercial espresso machines.
The shot potential is great, as I’ve mentioned the temperature drifting in between shot temp and steam temp does take a bit of a routine in order to get consistent results, or you could fit a PID to make life easier.
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The steam power is brilliant once you get used to it, as it’s very powerful as I’ve mentioned.
Negatives?
You’re not going to get a perfect espresso machine for this kind of price, in fact it’s probably fair to say there’s no such thing as a perfect espresso machine, even if you’re going into the several thousand pounds territory, there are always pros and cons.
But there really aren’t many negatives that I’ve been able to find, just a couple of things that I see as cons, really.
There’s the requirement for temperature surfing as I’ve mentioned, which isn’t a big deal.
On the V6, for some reason they’ve opted for a big chunky hex screw to hold the shower screen in place, instead of the usual screw that would sink flush. I don’t get why they’ve done this, I don’t think it’s a massive issue, as this shouldn’t really interfere with the puck unless the basket is over dosed, but I just can’t see any benefit of using such a big screw that protruded into the basket like that.
It takes a couple of minutes for the steam to reach full temperature, and again this isn’t a huge deal, it just means that a workflow which involves steaming the milk first so that the boiler is heating up while you’re grinding and prepping the puck.
This is one of the main differences when it comes to the Silvia Vs the Gaggia Classic, although the Silvia has some pros over the Classic, one pro of the classic is that the tiny boiler with the pretty big (by comparison) element, means that steam is ready much faster – although the Silvia takes much less time to steam thanks to the greater steam power, so it’s probably fairly even in the end.
Overall, I think the Silvia is a great single boiler machine for the money, and when it comes to machine grade, home barista espresso machines, there’s not much at this kind of money that I think really out competes it.
