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…
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…
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…
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&…
I’ve recently started to drink a lot more espresso than milk drinks and this change really made me appreciate better shots over imperfect ones. With milk drinks imperfections are smoothed out to some degree and I started to realise I wanted better control over temperature, as surfing temperatures [1]…
Whilst I love my Rancilio Silvia the one weak spot is the chrome-plated group cover. Unfortunately, despite appearances, it’s made of plastic and the chrome film has a tendency to bubble up and peel off over time. I use my machine twice a day and this is the second…