Haha... I had a Silvia single-hole-tip one on my Cremina for the past 3 or 4 months and remembered I had planned to post about it here. So just now I went to clean it to take a picture and I actually broke off the Tip. So I'm back to the 3-hole-tip original for now and I have to say it's not worse than the Silvia one for me... it's far from perfect and I used to get much better results on my Pavoni but the Silvia wand wasn't the final answer either.

Anyone found any other alternatives in the meantime?

Oh, and for the record because I seem to remember someone asking... the outside thread to attach a new wand is M11x1 - even here, over in Euroland, I had to watch the bay quite closely for a couple of weeks to find a fitting thread cutter...

I'm sure Doug or Barb from OE might know, but couldn't you replace with the 2002+ Cremina steam wand which comes with removable tip? Then replace tip with some other aftermarket tip?

I don't think I can because my steam wand is completely horizontal... most 67s don't even have it that way I think. Not sure where it came from.

It looks like this, though... so I probably need an S-curved one instead of the very straight 2002+ one.



Doug or Barb, any ideas? You have anything that could fit?

This is what my construction for the silvia-wand looked like, by the way... a process I'd like to avoid going through again...

I'm not sure it would be worth doing but seems like you could try a more radical approach and try changing out the entire valve like this here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bezzera-BZ35-BZ ... 3a6c1fe3dd

I have no clue if this one would fit but by changing the valve to something more commercial you could find much greater variety of wand/tips. including those fancy and pricey tips that make you a professional barista

I have to think that the great folks at Orphan Espresso might have an answer for you but you might need to contact them directly.

I have been using my '77 cremina with 3 hole tip for about a month and a half now and I can not get good foam out of the thing. There was a short period, a week or so where I was using very little milk in the pitcher, and I was able to create some so so micro foam, but the volume was just not enough. To me the problem looks to be the angle of the holes, they are too horizontal and won't mix the milk vertically well, thus I get better foam with less milk? Do vertically oriented holes produce better foam?

Is there some special technique for using the 3 hole tips?

I saw some people somewhere put the new cremina wand on there old cremina, so that is an option, but kinda expensive.

What about the option of destroying the original wand, threading it, and putting a custom tip on it?

or more practically would plugging up two of the holes, then angle the wand out so the open hole faces down more be a good solution?

Blocking the steam holes (I blocked 3) has been a very good solution for me, for now. It makes steaming microfoam effortless. Be it 3 oz or 6 oz, stretched 33% or 100%, in 12oz Espro or 16 oz knockoff Motta, a breeze all the way. Without blocking the hole, there's no single time that I managed to get creamy microfoam,. The only downside is the psychological issue (Don't feel right as if we're restricting the true potential of Cremina) and another is the slower steaming speed. I really like the 15 seconds steaming speed and also if we waited for too long, the crema will start dissipating and harden. And all the pros pour milk almost immediately after their shot is done, so I wanna do that too. But that's the trade-off. Another possibility is that my skill isn't good enough(or lack of) even after practising for months. I just can't get the 4 hole tips to work.

Anyway, try blocking 2 holes and see if it helps. if it doesn't work, block all 3 holes like I do.

So after blocking off two of the three holes on my 3 hole wand and angling the open hole downwards I am now making way better foam, it doesn't heat up nearly as fast though, but it stretches the milk very well. I really think now that the horizontal angle of the 3 hole tip is to blame for the poor foaming ability. If I could widen up the one downward hole I bet it would heat the milk up faster.

I managed to get my hands on exactly the wand my C67 came with, just without the tip but with an M7-thread on it... now all I need to do is make a couple of different M7-tips to play with.