Rancilio Silvia Pro

The Rancilio Silvia has been in production since 1997. I first bought one around 2006 along with some colleagues to make coffee at work. After seeing that it was a great machine I got one of my own not long after. Some years later I decided to add a PID…

Horsham Coffee Roasters

I came across Horsham Coffee Roaster's coffee when buying some of their "Trailblazer" beans from FCB (The Flying Coffee Bean) that has an outlet in my local station when I was running low. The Trailblazer blend was pretty good, and I thought I've got to check out the…

Howto: Fix a macap grinder jamming on start-up

I recently had some issues with my Macap M4 grinder. The symptoms were that every once in a while when powered up the grinder would jam. This was quite irregular but over time it got worse and worse. After a while it got to the point when it jammed up…

Silasket Silicon Gasket for the Rancilio Silvia

I decided to try a silicone gasket for my Silvia after having a bad experience with a string of non-OEM rubber gaskets that seemed to disintegrate all too quickly. The genuine Rancilio ones seemed expensive and hard to get hold of in the UK without spending a fortune on postage…

Micro Roastery Temporada Espresso blend review

We stumbled across the Micro Roastery whilst visiting Canterbury. It's possible to find this place by using just your sense of smell alone as the wonderful smells of beans being roasted are detectable from a long way from the front door. Roasting takes place in-house and the site is also…

How to clean a doserless Macap M4 grinder

I decided to give my grinder a bit of a spring clean recently. These instructions are for a doserless grinder but the same steps should also make sense for the doser version just you've got a doser to clean as well :). Required tools Allen key (to fit the adjustment screw…

Rancilio Silvia: How to fit a new group head cover

Rancilio Silvias are robust machines. They do have one achilles heel though, and that's the group-head cover. Over time it will eventually bubble and the chrome will start to peel off. You'll find underneath the chrome foil is a plastic surround. Ever since the Mk2 Silvia this has been made…

Fixing a sticky steam valve on Rancilio Silvia

The Rancilio Silvia is a robust machine if you look after it. It's easy to fix if anything does go wrong and parts are pretty easy to come by. One thing that does happen over time is that the Steam/Water valve can become "lumpy" or "sticky&…