# Bit of advice needed: Minima vs Rancilio Silvia



## Macjester (Aug 2, 2021)

Hi all. I have recently joined the forum and I'm learning a lot.

I currently make my coffee with a Rancilio Silvia machine which I bought, second-hand, from a close friend a year and a half ago (also bought his Eureka grinder). It seems to do a very good job for me compared to, for example, my old stove-top induction pot. My friend was a bit of a coffee fanatic and bought himself a new ACS Minima machine to replace the Rancilio. Tragically, he died of cancer earlier this year and his wife wants to sell the Minima and has asked me if I could help.

I'm tempted to buy it from her (she's thinking about £750 - it's immaculate) which is a budget stretch for me. But my main concern about buying it myself is: will I notice a significant difference in the coffee it makes compared with my Rancilio? (Assuming, of course, I learn to use it properly, first).

Any views from the 'big coffee brain' out there would be gratefully received.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@Macjester Buy it, much better machine and you will notice the difference.

Plus you can always add a flow control paddle in the future.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Macjester - I'm very sorry about your friend, such a tragedy, and hope his wife and family are doing well.

with regards to the coffee machine: Yes. They are miles apart. You'll notice a massive difference taste wise (no more temperature surfing), you'll be able to tweak the water temperature to what you want, you will be able to control (adjust via OPV) the pressure better, and the milk steaming is significantly better. And there's no waiting between brewing coffee and steaming either.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Macjester - the only thing worth mentioning is water quality. I know there are many Gaggia Classic and Rancilio Silvia owners out there who use tap water or Britta filter water and descale their machines periodically. Those machines have been going for decades. With a dual Boiler, or HX machine, life is no longer straight forward, and you will need to avoid descaling all together as there are many more pipes and restrictors, not to mention that calcium will simply precipitate to the bottom of the boiler and it will be incredibly hard to efficiently and effectively descale the machine.

So, before committing, so think about what water you'll be feeding your machine with. Once you make the jump to a proper prosumer machine, you'll never look back. 👍


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## profesor_historia (Sep 1, 2020)

Just an observation, they can be miles apart but the steaming on the Rancilio it is extremely good, at least this was my experience and God knows, I had almost all models of Rancilio Silvia 😅. But yes, they are miles apart although not very fair to compare a single boiler with a double boiler one IMHO😃😅.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@profesor_historia - are you saying the steaming on the Rancilio dual boiler is on par with the single boiler version?


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## Macjester (Aug 2, 2021)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @Macjester - the only thing worth mentioning is water quality. I know there are many Gaggia Classic and Rancilio Silvia owners out there who use tap water or Britta filter water and descale their machines periodically. Those machines have been going for decades. With a dual Boiler, or HX machine, life is no longer straight forward, and you will need to avoid descaling all together as there are many more pipes and restrictors, not to mention that calcium will simply precipitate to the bottom of the boiler and it will be incredibly hard to efficiently and effectively descale the machine.
> 
> So, before committing, so think about what water you'll be feeding your machine with. Once you make the jump to a proper prosumer machine, you'll never look back. 👍


 This is a very good steer @MediumRoastSteam. Thanks.

I live in Scotland so my tap water is very soft - so might not be such a big issue? But I will investigate a bit more.


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## Macjester (Aug 2, 2021)

DavecUK said:


> @Macjester Buy it, much better machine and you will notice the difference.
> 
> Plus you can always add a flow control paddle in the future.


 Thanks @DavecUK. It's looking like I now have a Rancilio Silvia to sell!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Macjester said:


> Thanks @DavecUK. It's looking like I now have a Rancilio Silvia to sell!


 Just list it on the forum classifieds, it will sell quick enough if it's priced right..


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## allikat (Jan 27, 2020)

With soft water, your issues with limescale are going to be limited. If your kettle has been getting daily use for years and it's not showing significant scale, then neither will your espresso machine. An annual treatment will be plenty.


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## profesor_historia (Sep 1, 2020)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @profesor_historia - are you saying the steaming on the Rancilio dual boiler is on par with the single boiler version?


 It's different of course because of the logistics and the different types of machines but I used to steam very good with the V6 single boiler model, very powerful, on the DB is not so powerful but more than enough. I would go back to the V6 without any problems if I had to 😃. With the pro I never steam in the same time although I can, but I found out its easier one step at a time. Basically you can steam perfectly with both machines.


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