Recently got this setup, after viewing many videos and reading many guides finally got some decent looking shots. For me it came down to tamping and which coffee used in order to get this shot by going against the norm of 30lb and fresh roasted beans, instead I'm doing very light tamp (less than 5lb) just enough to flatten the surface and using Caffe borbone coffee packaged over 8 months ago (http://www.caffeborboneusa.com). I've tried a couple of fresh roasted beans from local roasters and it grinds very clumpy even at coarser sizes never get a shot looking like this, I guess I want to be able to get a shot that looks and tastes good from fresh beans so if you have the same set up as me please let me know your routine.

ps- sry for the mess this coffee beans are very flaky when being ground.

Congratulations on getting something you like. You didn't mention anything about the most important thing: taste. Was it to your liking or just good looking? With regard to what you mentioned about fresh beans, don't let avoidance of clumping hinder your dialing in process. Grind fine even if it clumps. I normally just bang my portafilter on the tamping mat to break up any mean looking clumps and then tamp the small ones to oblivion. That doesn't always work though - if it fails the shot will be too fast for the fine grind likely due to channeling. Nevertheless I couldn't be bothered to introduce more steps into the process (I'm open to correction but I don't think it makes much of a difference on small single boiler setups as far as actual taste goes). Nevertheless if you do a search here on HB for "distribution" you'll find there's no shortage of guidance on dealing with clumps. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

To be honest in relatively new to drinking espresso without putting sugar as I always used to do, so I'm on the hunt for the miracle bean that tastes sweet without putting sugar. To answer your question it tastes a bit bitter but is drinkable, I don't have enough experience with tasting great espresso to compare but by far this is the best one i've had even comparing to specialty shops I've visited (mb they were slacking that day). I'll test with the clumps advice thx!

I would by some fresh roasted beans and then try this. I would try the WDT (a method where you take an object like chop sticks, or even a paper clip and stir the grinds to break up clumps and distribute the grinds better than any grinder). It may seem silly and "take a long time" but it's really a 5 second process! Try the WDT method and then tap vertically to settle then tamp even! It really helps a lot. Your shot didn't look bad at all to me. Make sure you stir the espresso before trying it. That will make sure your first sip isn't the bitterness of your crema. That flavor is not how you want to introduce your senses to an espresso! It carries through the whole shot when that happens.

I know that the vario and miss Silvia are capable of amazing espresso, and most of the time great; just not consistently The combo does require a little more work and a lot of solid and consistent technique to make that amazing shot. Have fun with your set up!

I got a medium fresh roast from 5 days ago that grinds perfect no clumps, still light tamping otherwise i'd have to grind coarser which gives me very watery taste.. also got a scale and seems like 15g gives me nicely 30g of a shot in about 23secs before it gets too blond, taste is better for sure but this specific blend from the local roaster is kinda lime/citrus almost sour. Thx for the help guys, cutting up clumps seems kinda tedious and non practical for a daily routine so I'll stay away from oily/dark beans... still in the hunt for that naturally sweet/milk chocolat taste people talk about on some of these beans, if you know of an online seller that sells these beans let me know please. I'll post a video soon

Interesting enough after getting a scale and using the WDT as recommended with the same coffee beans/grind size it slowed down my shot by an extra 10 seconds which put me at a 40 second shot but with very nice even shot coming out of the bottomless portafilter, with maybe 2-5 lb of tamping (credit http://www.pidsilvia.com/ light tamping technique). I'll make it coarser and try 15g instead of 16g of beans.. seemed like the basket could use less coffee (default basket that came with the machine), taste was not bad surprisingly but def on the bitter side, check out the video let me know what you think.
ps- baby in the back wants coffee!