Hi,

This is my first post to the forum after spending significant time lurking and reading. What a wonderful resource you have here!
I've been doing pour over coffee for the last 5 years and want to make my first foray into real espresso. Here's my current situation:

-Living in Los Altos with off the charts hard water (>300 ppm).
-Interested in making cappuccinos and flat whites only (no straight espresso)
-Primary application is just one drink for myself in the morning.
-May rarely want to make 3-4 small milk drinks for friends. This is relatively low priority as it will be rare.
-Budget around $1500.

Goals: 1)fast warmup 2)minimize frustration 3)make decent latte art

I've decided that to skip past the low end single boiler designs and have tentatively selected Quick Mill Silvano with Baratza Vario as the setup. My reasons for doing this are:

-Since the water is so hard and I won't want to install a house softener in the near future, I will use Crystal Geyser bottled water. This way I won't have to descale.
-Silvano is a single boiler with PID and thermoblock so less bottled water would be wasted on flushing compared to HX.
-PID means I will probably have more espresso consistency compared to an HX (Astra Pro for example).
-The thermoblock steamer would suffice for making cappuccinos and flat whites since I don't drink large latte's.
-I get a 2 year warranty from manufacturer with 1 extra year added by my Discover IT card.

My only concern is that the boiler is brass and the thermoblock has a copper pipe running through it. Questions:

1) Is Silvano a reasonable choice or am I going to regret not getting an HX from the start?
2) Should I be concerned about the brass boiler and the copper piping from a health perspective? They both may contain a bit of lead and the copper could also corrode throwing patina into my steamed milk. Legitimate worry or not?
3) Silvano manual states to use soft water and never descale. Is it really reasonable to expect never to descale the machine as long as I use Crystal Geyser? Or is this wishful thinking?

Thank you,

Alex

I have the Vario-W and Silvano. I personally love the setup but I prefer straight espresso with occasional machiatos. If you are going to be entertaining frequently and always make milk drinks you may want to look at a double boiler. I have made up to 5 back to back capp/latte/machiatos without any problems with the silvano; however, when compared to my friend's Vetrano 2b, lets just say there is a lot to gain from a double boiler. As for the health concerns I believe Chris Coffee website said something about the newer models containing no lead now or something. I dont' believe the boiler or thermoblock has changed but shoot him an email. The newer model is the SIlvano Evo which includes a shot timer. The vario is a kiler deal and my recommendation. I would recommend you step up to the Vario-W if you can as this improves your dosing consistency and is an awesome technological feature, although many people will single dose the vario without any problems. Also look at the Baratza website for refurb deals as that will significantly lower cost.
good luck!

Thank you for your response. I've been look at Profitec 300 as well for the dual boiler option, but it's almost $500 more. I am actually also torn over the Vario vs Vario-W. Being able to grind directly into the portafilter seems very handy so I'm leaning towards the regular one.

Profitec is a nice option. If you really like your milk drinks, are in a hurry to steam milk, or have to make several milk drinks in a row you will like the dual boiler over the silvano. That being said, I make latte art just fine with the Silvano and I've never really found myself waiting on the machine for the steamer to be ready again. BUT, like I said, I don't make milk drinks often. Funny, I actually started out with a goal make mostly milk drinks. I hadn't gotten into high quality coffee much and wanted to get into espresso mostly for the art. Then when I started getting into it more and more I quickly dropped out of the milk drinks after I started using better beans and higher quality machines.

As for the Vario vs Vario-W I think the weight based option is awesome and worth the price. I change beans frequently, single dose, and am limited on time in the morning before work. The W helps with all this. I've gotten a pretty good eye for dosing and can estimate usually within 0.1g; however, when changing coffees you might think, " that just needs a little more or less punch" and boom just tap the button and you've got your new dose. And its reproducible. If it cuts you off a little early you just blip the button until it reaches the programmed dose. Alternatively I pre-weigh for another device I have and that takes much longer. Also I hate the idea of striking off excess coffee (AKA wasting), and the weight based grinding helps with that too and helps to more easily refine the dose you need. Eventually you get a feel for different coffees and the proper dose and grind needed for them.

Silvano/Vario is what I started with. Lattes mostly, just for me. Absolutely wonderful, no complaints whatsoever.

I don't have experience with the Silvano, but I have been very happy with my Vario. I grind directly into my portafilter and use a separate scale. If you are heading into double boiler territory, I'd take a look at the Breville Dual Boiler. If I was starting out again and had $1500 to spend, knowing what I know now, I would've purchased a refurb Vario and a BDB (hopefully on sale to keep in the price range). The BDB isn't everyone's cup of tea for different reasons, but I am very happy with the combo. Best of luck!