After much, much contemplation The Journal finally decided to take the plunge and blow a huge chunk of it’s savings on a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine and a Rancilio Rock S grinder. There are already tonnes of reviews on the 2 machines, very detailed and concise ones. Google it or visit CoffeeGeek for the large resource. So I won’t attempt with a technical review here, but rather an entry on my experience dealing with little missy here.

The Journal took a weekend for a Barista training workshop at Highlander Coffee. Though a little pricey for 2 half day lessons, I’d recommend it to anyone interested in getting their hands caffeine stained. Phil and Cedric are some of the most frank and friendly guys I have ever met. Willing to share their insight to a Cafe set up and sent us on a crash course in espresso making and some latte art. I knew quite early on, that I would eventually plunk some cash on a good quality machine and asked the guys what was out there. They mentioned the Silvia and even sent me on to CoffeeGeek and CoffeeCo. So off I went on to CoffeeGeek to read the reviews and the forums. Gosh, so detailed some of them. Despite what was said about Silvia’s temperament, I decided I would lay my hands on the Rancilio based on performance, price range and the good recommendations. So I set out to find a Singapore distributor / importer for Rancilio, or someone who’d ship the Silvia here.

Alan from Coffee Co runs a great business and exports many different kinds of espresso machines and grinders. Check out the website for ordering and perhaps try some of his roasts. He ships across Australia and Asia; Singapore, Hong Kong. So I gathered he had received many orders from here before. I emailed him some queries on shipment pricing and a question on the Rancilio base he was offering in a package. He was honest and suggested, I not order the base as he felt it was quite useless and would cost me more to ship. I was bought on his honesty, but contemplated further as it was a huge some to part with. About S$1,730 (w/o delivery) after A$ conversion.

Chatting over beer one afternoon, an acquaintance mentioned he had seen posters in Spinelli’s which were offering the Silvia. I chugged over to their website and eventually found the said poster online. For S$1,600 they are throwing in a whole bunch of extras like cups, and a pitcher, on top of the Silvia and Rocky (including the base). This sweetened the deal so much more. I gave Ross a call and discussed Warranty. He suggested I come in to the showroom, so we did some 3 weeks after the call (further contemplation in that time, at which time the Highlander guys told me that they were bringing in a few sets of the same value/package) . I had seen Ross before at this year’s Barista Championships, ponytail and all. Ross is really friendly and knowledgeable, we chatted about coffee and he showed us the machine in the Spinelli’s office at Peninsula Plaza. I had made the right guess, that the P/L margin for selling the bundle at that price was very narrow. I decided on the Doserless Rocky, as Alan from CoffeeCo (as did Ross) had suggested before, because I wasn’t going to be making that many cups. The demo machine was his last, so we paid a deposit and waited for the shipment.

Half a week later, Ross gave a buzz and delivered the machines the next day. Ross was very helpful as he took the time to change the plug heads to our local wall socket fit and demo-ed the machine. We made several cups, tuning the grind setting and showing me how to pull a shot and maintaining the two machines; from back-flushing to making sure I didn’t overheat the boiler. I half expected him to do that, as I read on this post on CoffeeGeek. Eventually, we stuck with the “10″ setting on the Rocky and foamed a few lattes.

So here we have Silvia and Rocky sitting in our kitchen. In Part 2, The Journal will talk about first impressions and our first real extraction.

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