# I have made the leap of faith....



## hornby8 (11 mo ago)

I have been looking for along time and i am finially writing my first post!

No longer than 5 minutes ago did i make the plunge into the coffee home barista hobby!
I made my first of many purchases towards my very own set-up!

I bought a Niche Zero!

I am super excited, and cant wait to start making coffee everyday!

hmmm....i just need a machine to make the coffee with...

I have been looking at the rancillio silvia....good move?

Thanks for reading my first post!


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## AndyDClements (Aug 29, 2016)

@hornby8 Good idea to buy the grinder first, and in particular the Niche. The other way round and you may have been tempted with shop-bought pre-ground and then been put off, and to go straight to the Niche means you've not "wasted" time and money buying something which you soon want to upgrade. Machine, really depends what you plan to use it for and how involved you want to be. Might be a good idea to let people know the style (e.g espresso, americano, white americano etc), and , flavour profile etc of the coffee you want, along with an idea of quantities, oh and price range. That way the suggestions may get you to the end-game machine as you've done with the Niche.


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## Tseg (9 mo ago)

Only a couple of weeks ago I also made the plunge with a Setti 270wi and Rancilio Silvia. My first 4 pulls were unsipable and I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. Observation: a good chance you will be dumping 50%-75% of your pulls the first few days, so buy a 2 pound bag of lower cost beans, like Lavazza Espresso . I then found myself buying an Aubin PID. That has REALLY helped with the consistency and greatly improved taste and ability to properly dial in my grinder. Today, I have fresh roasted Ethiopian beans arriving, so should finally start to glean full taste potential. It likely will take a week+ for you to get any semblance of a work flow. Anyway, I’m now really starting to enjoy my 2 morning cappuccinos. Of course I’ve also bought $300 in accessories. The good news is my capability is greatly improving on a daily basis. I won’t even begin to discuss my milk frothing learning curve.

Unfortunately, I’m already laying out my savings plan to acquire a Profitec Pro 600.

Good luck and stick with it!


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## Tseg (9 mo ago)

… oh, and don’t plan to sleep on the first night of having the machine as you will have taken many sips of espresso as you try to dial things in. I was bouncing off the walls, I guess you could try decaf when in learning mode?


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## hotCUPPA (Sep 24, 2019)

Can't see how you'd go wrong with a Silvia.

Solid build, quick to warm up, no frills, not much to go wrong, powerful steamer and pulls fantastic shots.

Get one and use for a while until you get a better feel for what you'd be looking for on an upgrade so you're sipping fantastic coffee while researching.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

New Silvia , overpriced versus its functionality , the PID makes it a different machine . 
If you have any desire to use lighter roasted coffee than the temp instability of an unpidded machine can make esprsso quite frustrating . 
( yes i have owned one, a lot of comment re how good they are can be from people who have never used one )


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## Tseg (9 mo ago)

Mrboots2u said:


> New Silvia , overpriced versus its functionality , the PID makes it a different machine .
> If you have any desire to use lighter roasted coffee than the temp instability of an unpidded machine can make esprsso quite frustrating .
> ( yes i have owned one, a lot of comment re how good they are can be from people who have never used one )


Right, I have a Silvia with PID (including steam control) and I'm nearly $1000US in after buying an open-box unit off an auction site. However, in my mind, $1K is about the minimum investment needed to:

See if coffee making is a hobby you may want to stick with
Deliver professional tasting coffee
Uncover what really matters to you in a machine and in a coffee
The PID goes a long way to providing the Silvia consistency. One then needs to determine if their future interest lies in:

Just getting a good shot of espresso/milk coffee consistently for 1-2 people
Getting a quick good shot of espresso/milk coffee consistently and quickly for 1+ people
Getting a quick good shot of espresso/milk coffee consistently and quickly for 1+ people while having a discussion piece/art on a table in hour house
Fine tuning higher level coffee flavor as a science
Fine tuning higher level coffee flavor as an art
+ multiple other variants of conclusions sought that will lead you to a different place of upgrade
If bullet 1 is all that matters, I imagine the Silvia with PID could suffice for a lifetime.


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## Tseg (9 mo ago)

... Note: $1K for machine + $1K for proper grinder and accessories, minimum investment to test hobby viability properly.


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## hornby8 (11 mo ago)

Mrboots2u said:


> New Silvia , overpriced versus its functionality , the PID makes it a different machine .
> If you have any desire to use lighter roasted coffee than the temp instability of an unpidded machine can make esprsso quite frustrating .
> ( yes i have owned one, a lot of comment re how good they are can be from people who have never used one )


would you recommend a PIDed silvia? i have read quite abit about them now and they seem to be frustrating without the PID. 
I thought about getting it and PIDing it on day one.

any recommendations on PID to use? ive seen good things for the mecoffee PID


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## sanadsaad (Feb 24, 2018)

I started with a Gaggia classic (with PID mod) to test the waters. Used it to learn more about coffee. Decided I needed precise tools to take my learning further. Stepped up to an EK43 and Vesuvius, both bought from this forum. You have a good grinder already. What’s your budget for the machine?


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## hornby8 (11 mo ago)

sanadsaad said:


> I started with a Gaggia classic (with PID mod) to test the waters. Used it to learn more about coffee. Decided I needed precise tools to take my learning further. Stepped up to an EK43 and Vesuvius, both bought from this forum. You have a good grinder already. What’s your budget for the machine?


thats my problem....i dont mind paying good money for a machine if i feel i will get the money out of it.
I just hate getting something that doesnt stand up to its cost.


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