The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

I'm at 10y with my VII and all seems well. I emailed Chris Coffee re any need to descale and they said no. Kinda surprised but I trust them. Trying to decide next move when this starts to fail. Between the GS3 and Decent at the moment.

Recently I'm getting air (?steam) mixed in with the water coming out of the group of my Vivaldi SII. This was certainly not happening previously. I don't think that the temperature is substantially off (by taste at least) but don't have a great way to check. I've back flushed and it didn't fix the p...

I have what might be a stupid question, but I must ask: When programming the single and double cup buttons, approx. how much volume are you filling the espresso cup up with? 2 oz for a single and 4 oz for a double? Also, approx. extraction time for each? I never pull singles and I think that very f...

Looks like you took the plunge on the Vario Bob...glad that it's working out for you. I've had the Vario for a few months and really like it. The Timer is a great addition IMHO and makes using it a dream. Very consistent in my hands and not much of a mess in my use. In case people are wondering it f...

That's the thing. The pump on the VII is so dang quiet the filling sound really jumps out when it kicks in. About 50% of the time I don't get that filling sound. I think its the brew pump refilling or something but I've determined it's all good. I think I'm a bit paranoid since it arrived with a few...

I've been noticing a high pitched sound when I pull shots. I think that it's water refilling the group boiler but want to make sure that this is normal. It is loudest when I pull water through without coffee in it. It sometimes occurrs when I brew but not consistently. My line pressure is 28psi. Vid...

Hope you are drinking some nice coffee soon. Death by a thousand refreshes of tracking numbers at UPS.com ...probably one of the rings of hell....Right next to ring where side-channeling happens with every shot and you don't know why.... I'm a couple of months in with the Vivaldi and couldn't be hap...

I'm so proud! Today my 7yo said that she wanted to make a Latte. She's been obsessed all day. She's weighing the beans, grinding, dosing, tamping, and pulling the shot. She also insisted on making latte art so here is her contribution to the thread. Gotta work on the Stockfleths technique though.......

Any suggestions on lighting to get shots (pictures that is) like that? Is that the stock flash or something else? Tried to get pics with my XTi but missed...have nice pictures of the group though....

Are you talking about running the hot water cntinuously with the machine on or using the drain with the machine off? That's what I'm asking about...I don't know what should be done (if anything). Cruiten or others do you dispense a certain volume of water via the hot water spout with the machine on...

If I don't use the hot water dispenser regularly, should I be removing water at a certain amount and interval as a maintenance to replace the water in the boiler (increased hardness as it sits there?)....the only reason to do this would be to reduce the amount of scaling I guess (~50ppm going in) If...

FYI I bought from CC just before the New Years and they gave me a $100 discount....I called in to place the order with Mary....

Took your advice with #1.

I'll start manually cutting off the flow until I get a handle on things. i'd like to use volumetric to simplify things as I get to know the machine and dial in the grind.

Chris Coffee comes through again. I sent pictures of the nut and my machine to them and they noted that the Capacitor was off its usual mount on top of the pump. I would not have known this as it was sitting vertical next to the pump and seemed fine where it was. Jason from CC talked me through the ...

Hello S1 lovers....I'm new to the community and thought I'd share my day 1 experience. I also figured if people like seeing iPod unboxing we've gotta show an S1 unboxing so here you go. I think that this will be helpful to those considering the plunge ..I know that I would have liked to see what the...

Quick question - I'm have the mechanical pre-infusion and have the double shot set for 3oz. It was set for 2oz when I got the machine and my first shot was less than an ounce - I assume due to the volume that goes into the pre-infusion chamber. What is the best volume for that mode? My double shots...

OK...just got my Vivaldi II today and only 1 thing is bugging me. The machine was in the box and I removed the warming tray to make sure the switches were properly set before I moved it to the counter. I removed the screw to the warming tray completely and then returned it. Moved the VII to the coun...

Thanks for the information and advice. My VII arrives today and I'm stoked. I passed on the timer and the drain kit for now so we'll see how this fits into our routine. Off to make sure that I have good beans to use today...recently pulling alot of Epic Espresso from 49th Parallel on my Silvia and b...

I'm about to buy a VII and am would like a timer I think to save on some energy costs. Question for those with timers...does it turn on both the group and steamer boilers together or can you use it to control only the group boiler (I suspect that it's both based on the documentation)? How easy or ha...