The Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine is the current top-of-the-line home espresso maker being offered by the Rancilio Group, a well known Italian brand. With a stainless steel design and commercial features, this is a machine that will let you make professional cafe style coffee at home. You can really tell how much care has gone into the design and the features of this machine. There are a few minor complaints but we think this machine is top of its class. Alongside this, Rancilio also has a reputation for making great quality machines and the Silvia Espresso is no different! If you are serious about making espresso, keep reading this Rancilo Silvia review.
Contents
- 1 Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine: Overview
- 2 Rancilio Silvia Review: The Design
- 3 What do we like about the Rancilio Silvia?
- 4 3 Key Selling Points of the Rancilio Silvia Espresso Maker
- 5 Potential Shortcomings of Rancilio Silvia
- 6 Is it suitable for me?
- 7 Is this Semi-Automatic Espresso Maker worth the Price?
- 8 Rancilio Silvia vs Gaggia Classic Pro
- 9 Should I buy the Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine?
Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine: Overview
The Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine is the most recently updated version of the Silvia. If you have been a Rancilio Silvia fan, you will know that this machine has gone through a number of updates to what is now already a fan favourite. In fact, the first iteration made its debut in 1997! That’s more than 2 decades ago and it is still SELLING!
Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine
If you go to read any customer reviews, you’ll find they are almost all glowing! People love their Rancilio Silvia and for good reason. They are well made, last for years, and they make really great coffee!
With this iteration of the Silvia, Rancilio have updated the boiler, the milk wand and made some other minor design adjustments. All of the complaints we have about the Rancilio Silvia espresso machine are pretty minor – you’re looking at a great machine, with very few drawbacks. There are a few things we would have liked, especially a water indicator which seems to be an oversight, but generally we agree with the choices Rancilio have made.
Rancilio Silvia Review: The Design
The Rancilio Silvia espresso maker has gone with a slim and almost all stainless steel design. Plastic is being used only for the water tank and the tubes.
It’s got a two quart reservoir (67 ounces) at the back. This is almost the same as the Gaggia Classic Pro (a bit less though). But oddly, it doesn’t feel quite as bulky as the Gaggia Classic Pro (more on that below).
Also, it looks more elegant and compact. We always like stainless steel and the Rancilio Silvia is stainless steel all around.
It comes with a professional and ergonomic portafilter – which is exactly the same as you’d find on the commercial grade machines.
It has four simple switches on the front panel, and the top can be used to warm your cups before use.
No complex interface. Just 4 buttons
Bottom line: We really like the design. It’s elegant and simple. Nothing less from an espresso maker from Italy
What do we like about the Rancilio Silvia?
We’re going to get a bit more technical here than we usually would, but we want to talk about a few of the specific elements in just a bit more detail.
The Rancilio Silvia comes with a stainless steel boiler which is excellent for steaming milk, and an upgrade on the copper boilers of previous models. It is a single boiler. So you can only do one thing at a time – brew espresso or steam milk. But it works really well, so you can quickly finish these two tasks in a row.
Talking about milk, the milk steaming wand has also been upgraded – it’s now able to move in all directions. It is a bit difficult to get right at first. But it has the potential to make great frothed milk and allow you to make Latte Art.
Commercial-grade steam wand able to move in all directions
The portafilter (if we can remind you, it’s one of, if not the most important parts of the any espresso machine) is a professional standard portafilter with a 3-way solenoid valve.
Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine. It comes with commercial-grade portafilter
Side note: Rancilio Siliva comes with an optional pod and capsule adaptor kit as well. We would never use these, and to be honest, wouldn’t really recommend you do either.
3 Key Selling Points of the Rancilio Silvia Espresso Maker
1. This is a Professional-grade (AKA prosumer) espresso maker.
This machine is not joking! Together with the new and updated boiler, the commercial grade portafilter and the professional milk wand, the Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine is the real deal! And it makes really great espresso!
2. It is compact and elegant
We really like the style and the size of the machine. It’s got a compact design which makes it feel more accessible for an everyday kitchen than some of the other models around. We probably shouldn’t overstate the compactness of the machine. After all, it comes in 9.2 x 11.4 x 13.3 inches. But for us, we were quite OK with the size.
3. This is a high quality espresso maker.
Stainless steel for as far as the eye can see. The only plastic components of the machine are the tubes and the water reservoir. Everything else is stainless steel or copper. It feels sturdy and strong, and that this machine might just outlast us all.
Potential Shortcomings of Rancilio Silvia
No integrated grinder
You will need to invest in your own coffee grinder and probably tamper. Sure it comes with a tamper. But it’s plastic, best to be forgotten immediately after it arrives.
With a machine like this, you are kind of committing yourself to making good espresso. That means a good (and if you can afford it great) grinder and a decent tamper. Without these, you won’t be getting the best out of your coffee.
No water level indicator
Not a disaster, but it’s a pretty easy and nice feature to include. And we think for the price, the machine should have been designed with one. Luckily the water reservoir is big enough that you are unlikely to need to refill if you’re only doing a few coffees at a time
Small drip tray capacity
We understand how this happened. Rancilio chose sleekness over bulkiness, which we think was the right decision and the one we would have made ourselves. Nonetheless, the drip tray is pretty small. And even if you’re only making a few espressos a day, you’ll be changing this daily.
Is it suitable for me?
Rancilio Silvia is really a semi-automatic espresso machine. This means you’ll have to learn how to make espresso. Not really a con and if you’re reading this review you probably already know how to make an espresso OR you’re looking forward to learning. But just so we’re all on the same page, you will need to learn how to operate the machine to get your favourite espresso taste. It’ll probably take you a while to really nail it, so we would encourage you to give yourself some time to learn.
Is this Semi-Automatic Espresso Maker worth the Price?
For all the features Rancilio Silvia comes with, we think this espresso machine is actually a bit of a bargain all things considered.
Hear us out. We know Rancilio Silvia’s price could hardly be described as a bargain, considering you could get a basic espresso maker for around $150-200. But this is NOT a basic espresso machine. This is a machine that will be pumping out great espressos and lattes for years. Not much has been overlooked and the machine is almost all stainless steel, including the boiler. That all adds up!
We can hardly find any faults with this espresso maker and the price is another win for them. There are cheaper and more expensive options on the market but you’d be hard pressed to find many other options of this quality at this price – with one key exception of course (more on that below!).
You will need to factor in the price of the grinder and tamper. You’ll need both of them (the plastic tamper that comes with the machine is essentially useless). If you’re serious about making coffee you may already have these. If not, let us tell you they are worth it.
Seriously grinding your beans immediately before pulling a shot will change your coffee and maybe even your life. All this said, it’s an additional cost, so beware!
It is made of stainless side panels and iron frame
Rancilio Silvia vs Gaggia Classic Pro
The Rancilio Silvia is almost always compared to the Gaggia Classic Pro RI9380/46 and for good reason. They are both great at-home espresso makers bordering on the professional-grade side.
The differences in the actual coffee they both pull are pretty minimal – they both have essentially the same commercial portafilter and they can both pull a really great espresso.
Having said that, we might slightly recommend the Rancilio Silvia over the Gaggia Classic Pro – it’s definitely a line ball. They are both fantastic machines that make excellent coffee.
However, we think the Silvia might just have a little bit more usability for the home coffee fanatic.
For example, if we start at the start, the Rancilio wins in the field of design. We may have been kind of harsh on the Gaggia design. But honestly it could have just a little bit smaller to accommodate the fact that it’s aimed at the home consumer, rather than commercial market.
Another classic example of this is that the Gaggia Classic Pro made their spout heads and drip trays so close together. There’s hardly a chance of fitting anything bigger than a tiny espresso cup between them.
It’s not that you can fit a travel sized coffee mug under the Rancilio or anything like that. But you can at least fit a normal cup under the coffee spout! They’re all tiny issues – just pour your espresso into another mug! But still it’s just annoying!
The Gaggia Classic Pro however wins on price, and by quite a bit. It’s over $250 cheaper than the Rancilio Silvia! With $250 you can buy a great quality burr grinder!
The question at this point is whether the annoyances of the Gaggia Classic Pro are worth the savings, considering both machines make great coffee.
Personally, considering that you’ll be using your machine almost every day for many years, a lot of time is going to just stack up for the minor annoyances. For that, I’d splash out a bit more for the more expensive model. But the decision is going to come down to every individual on what’s more important considering their circumstances.
Honestly, considering the technical abilities of both, it’s super difficult to declare a winner. But if we were forced to choose, we’d give it to the Rancilio Silvia espresso maker by a hair. It has just had a bit more thought put into it and we think it’s a better looking machine.
Should I buy the Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine?
We think the Rancilio Silvia espresso machine is a great machine. We found very few problems and were really impressed. For anyone thinking of investing in a semi-automatic espresso machine of professional-grade, this should go straight to the top of your list.
The one thing to keep in mind before marching out the door (or changing to your Amazon tab) is that this is a machine for coffee lovers.
You will have to learn how to make an espresso shot if you don’t already know how to do so. It’s not some super difficult herculean task. But at the same time, it will take a bit of time to learn before you’re pulling great espresso shots.
It’s certainly not limited to this machine – every espresso machine needs a bit of skill to pull off, but if you’re willing to invest the time, it’s worth it!
If you’re really just starting out and unsure how dedicated you are to making your own coffee, we might suggest buying a real entry level machine in place of this one just to see how you like the art of making coffee.
If you know you’re committed this machine is going to be a steep outlay – slightly over $700 plus grinder and tamper – but then it should last you years and years. Not to mention the savings on buying coffee at your local coffee shop.
The Rancilio Silvia espresso machine is a great machine that will last you a lifetime. If you’re not put off by the price and the time to learn how to pull a great shot, this might just be the coffee machine for you! So go ahead, click the button below to check it out!
