The machine is bigger than I expected, well it is deeper anyway, quite a beast compared to my small worktops, hence it is living on the kitchen/dining table.
It is quite a beuty, Jess thinks it looks like the controls for a steam engine
. I love the shiny chrome, and the E61 group is a work of art in my opinion.
The drip tray is nice and deep, although you do need this given the water flushing you have to do ith a heat exchanger machine to cool the group before puling a shot.
I like the handle operation to start the shot, this closes the 3-way valve (no solenoid) and activates the pump.
The water tank is large enough to not need filling too often, but you have to remove the top cover, which is also the cup warming tray, to get to it. Also under this cover is access to the pressurestat fro adjusting the boiler pressure, and hence temperature.
There is a nice big hot water dipenser tube, and a 2-hole steam wamd.
On to performance:
The first thing I will mention is how easy it is to get a good quality espresso from this machine, I have not had a poor one yet. The E61 group seems very forgiving of dosing and tamp and channeling seems to occur much less, even if I am sloppy in my routine. The Silvia will punnish any poor dose or tamp with a pale thin espresso.
The flushing of water through to cool the group does take some gettinh used to, and needs practice to maintain the same brew temperature.
I did run a couple of shots with the thermocouple poking out of the puck, and I saw a very small change in temp during the shot, 1C max change, which is really good.
The espresso taste is a step up fromthe Silvia: thicker, sweeter, and more syruppy, and the crema is denser, and almost always mottled. There is a smoothness and depth that I just can't coax from the Silvia. It is a subtle difference, but there nonetheless.
On to the less successfull side, steaming milk:
Overall I am not that impressed, getting good microfoam is hard work, and I have only really managed it once in about 13 attempts. I am used to a 1-hole tip and lots of steam pressure, and the Rituale seems weak by comparison.
I found it very hard to incorporate air wthought gig bubbles forming, and ther is no chance of getting the milk to churn, so little chance to mix the foam and milk together. Also the heating is curiously slow, about 50 seconds to heat the milk for 1 cappuccino! I tried a bigger pitcher, but that was no better, and really slow.
I must admit I was dissapointed with this side of an HX machine. It is nice not have to wait for the boiler to heat up to steaming point, but the poor performance offsets this.
All in all, great espresso, so-so steaming.
) is just a monster in the steam dept, and I'd kind of like her to be a bit more forgiving.