I've been getting by with vac pot coffee, saving up for a high quality grinder and either a La Spaziale or one of the better E-61 machines. But the economy keeps putting my target farther and farther away...

So last week I stumbled on a local Craig's list add for a doserless Rocky and Silvia only a few months old being sold by someone going back to Australia in 2 days. I offered $400 for the two machines along with a Rancilio base, tampers, 12 Bodum glasses, knock box, brushes, extra group head gasket and other odds and ends I would need anyway. What the hell? If it doesn't work out, I should be able to get my $400 back, right? So I come home with the back seat filled with coffee stuff. My wife takes one look and says "Good grief."

Expecting the Silvia to be temperamental and the Rocky to be mediocre, after one false start due in no way to the Silvia/Rocky, I have been completely surprised by what it can produce and its overall quality. I gave all of it a good cleaning, put some teflon pipe tape on the threads of the Rocky (as I have read here), found the thread on zeroing the burrs and dialing it in, and loaded it up with some Indonesian I had roasted a couple of days ago just short of showing some oil (I have been roasting beans for about 10 years). I followed all of the temperature control advice before pulling the shot. Unfortunately it resulted in some fair looking, but heavy and bitter tasting espressos. "Damn. I shouldn't have gone with the Sivia/Rocky" I mumbled as my wife shook her head.

Then I decided to try a different bean and blended some Cerado with about 40% Colombian and Costa Rican thrown in and roasted it about 10 seconds into second crack in my Behmor. (I spent time in Italy and knew that a blend of Brazilian and Central Americans is the usual stuff they serve everywhere. Maybe they know something.) Unbelievable difference! An inch of dark crema and a sweet full tasting espresso. OK, so they said the Silvia can pull a decent shot once in awhile-- maybe it was a freak. I dumped the portafilter and made another. It wasn't a freak. Over the next couple of days every shot I made was consistently outstanding. (I wonder how many people who complain about the Silvia's inconsistency actually have a problem with using the wrong blend or old beans.)

So for $400 I figure I have made a giant leap forward and am seriously thinking I should take rest the money I've been saving for the good stuff and put it to another use. I am getting to like the Silvia very much. It definitely satisfies my sense of a quality but minimalist experience. Thank all of you here for the shared information that let me get up to speed with this machine and grinder. It may be all I was ever looking for and didn't even know it.

I hate you! lol j/k Glad you were able to get great shots out of it.

I have the same combo and have been struggling, perhaps I'm over complicating it. What year silvia did you get?

She said she bought it in the fall. I am sure it is true because everything looks new. It is not the new version of the Silvia with the different looking portafilter handle, though.

I am only five notches above the zero point on my grinder. That seems to be the sweet spot for me. She had bought one of those "rimless" portafilter baskets (from Wholelattelove she said) which I have been using. I don't know if it makes a difference.

A chic with a rocky/silvia combo who buys ridgeless baskets? Damn, too bad she's moving to Australia lmao

So yeah, if she bought it in the fall, you probably have a newer one (not the latest one that just came out of course). That means you have the adjustable OPV and the 100 degree thermostat instead of the older 110 thermostat. F'n awesome price by the way!

tsenfw wrote:A chic with a rocky/silvia combo who buys ridgeless baskets? Damn, too bad she's moving to Australia lmao

She was a pretty unique female. And she was a purist for sure... as well as a bit of a free spirit. She was selling all her stuff and heading home to Melbourne where she was from originally. She didn't have a job to go to, or even a home there anymore apparently, and said she thought she would just "... do a little backpacking for awhile". When I loaded the stuff in the car she said, "Don't let anyone tell you you need to install a PID. The Silvia doesn't need it."

She also said her favorite cars were a Duesenburg and a Lamborgini. A Duesenburg for crissake! How may people even know what that is?. Only a little over 400 were ever made-- the last one in 1937. That really rang my bell since I happen to be a docent at a car museum in California and I own a 1934 Auburn Phaeton (my other passion besides coffee)... which as it happens, was made by the same company as the Duesenburg (Auburn Cord Automobile Co. in Indiana) which folded in 1937.

At the risk of being off topic in a coffee forum, here is my Auburn:

Off topic, maybe, but great picture. Enjoy your new rig. It will hold you for awhile, unless you spend too much time on this website in which case you'll soon be lusting after something different. Michael

Off topic? Why just look at the colors of that fantastic car....crema and all!!

omg he's right! hahahah

Looks a little blonde though!

If a young, naked, deeply tanned, blonde appeared on this forum, 3/4 of the regulars would suddenly get the urge for a cappuccino.

The other 1/4 are purists who disdain milk drinks.