Hi guys - long time lurker, first time poster. Hoping to get some help with my Rancilio Silvia. I've been trying various stuff, and I'm just having issues getting decent crema out of it.

The initial espresso is quite dark with no crema for about the first five seconds of the pour, then I start getting some crema out. The final product has crema but it's a bit thin. Coffee tastes...okay...but has a bit of a bitter/sour tang to it. I'm thinking this is related to the lack of crema at the start of the pour.

This is an early Silvia with a PID and adjustable OPV retrofit. Blind pressure is in the 9-10 BAR range measured via gauge. PID is set to 228F which seems about right...I'm not getting any significant steam/spurting when I first switch on the water. I've tried a little hotter and it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

I'm using fresh Illy canned beans with a Rocky grinder. Extraction volume and speed seem fine, it's just that the pull is really dark and crema-less for the first portion. I'm tamping to 30# on a scale and I'm even weighing out 14g, though I've also tried cramming in a little more with minimal difference. Puck always seems a little wet when I'm done.

The espressos I'm getting are really consistent, they're just not super good. I'm running out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Gubi wrote:I'm using fresh Illy canned beans with a Rocky grinder.

In my limited experience, if Illy isn't stale when purchased, it will be very shortly after opening (1-2 days). Get some genuinely fresh coffee from a reliable online roaster. There's plenty of recommendations in the Coffees forum.

Welcome to HB

Get FRESH beans, look for a local roaster or order on-line.

What espresso blend to start with?

The expiry date of the Illy beans is one year or so, chances are they were roasted months ago

Before posting make sure you do a search and check the faq's. There are plenty of threads discussing the Silvia and 'no crema, bad taste' issues.

Thanks for the tips. Yes, I'd done some searches but most of the issues listed pointed to things I've already tried (pressure, tamp, grind, load weight...)

What I did not mention was that I have tried other fresh beans (we've got a local cafe that roasts weekly) and it didn't really seem to help. I'd decided to stick with the Illy for testing as I figured it would have the least batch-to-batch variation and I'm trying to minimize my variables here. From what you guys are saying, though, this may not have been the smartest move.

It's been a while, though, so maybe my memory is going - I'll try some of the recommended beans to see if it fixes the problem. Any other suggestions on things to check?

Gubi wrote:Any other suggestions on things to check?

There's obscure possibilities, but let's start with the obvious: Fresh coffee. My Illy experience was much like yours. Truth be told, producing espresso with lots of crema with fresh beans is not difficult. Getting the best flavor profile for a given coffee is a lot more challenging.