our small paradise, the kittchen with the newest toy. An Rancilio Silvia with a Barratza Vario for my coffee needs.

after being 6 years without a personal coffee machine, I finally have an espresso machine again and reading now 'The art to a perfect espresso' AKA http://www.homebarrista.net/.

As you can see there is also a DeLonghi Magnifica right next to the Rancilio, which uses the same coffee, so it permits me to compare my manually pulled shots to the 'one button make everybody happy solution.

Current progress:

I can pull shots, which taste significantly better than the DeLonghi to me, but during blind tests with my roommates we came to agree that the DeLonghi is sweeter and more consistent. But the lattes from the Silvia are several classes better and much milder.

Time to practice...