Quote:
Originally Posted by edslunch
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. What I've learned here and elsewhere is that I need to get a new grinder, a scale, buy beans every week, and that the Silvia is an extremely temperamental beast. 
I don't doubt that but all I want is to stagger out of bed and pour a decent shot or two to kick start my day, not become a high precision barista. i think the answer is to get a new machine that is more forgiving (but no, NOT a nespresso or other k-cup style one). I'll gladly settle for a merely decent pour at this point. |
What's wrong with the minipresso for those basic espresso needs?
If it's espresso you want, you could consider a Nanopresso. Minipresso is 8 bar of pressure. Nanopresso is 18 and supposedly easier to clean than Minipresso. (Higher bar is supposed to make up for loss of pressure, but you're actually brewing at 9 ish bar)
$130 ish all in for the Nanopresso is all you need and I presume it's more forgiving than your Silvia. You could pre-load the grind at night then just stumble out of bed and basically add water in the morning and pull your shot. That's far less than the suggestions on how to improve your Silvia experience.
But what confuses me the most is that you seem to mention you got 20 years of good performance of the Silvia and then it just suddenly stopped being decent? If the liquid is flowing through way faster than previously, then one thing I'd investigate (and I've seen happen before) is whether there is an issue with the basket (ie: accidentally replacing it with the wrong one or repairing it or some component within it that is incorrect).