curious to know how you like the weight aspect. i bought that one first but it wasn’t as good as i thought and just got the regular.
also, i need to contact Baratza and send them all the espresso threads - i deserve a kick back!
Love this thread. I’ve been running a Rancilio Silvia for 4 years now (non-PID) paired with a Mazzer Mini.
As long as you cruise the coffee forums you can pick up really top notch equipment at very reasonable prices.
The mazzer for sure was a solid investment since it is not a stepped grind system and I can make adjustments millimeters at a time. I’ve wanted to upgrade the Silvia for quite a while now but the next stage would probably be a $2k drop for dual boiler, PID’d Expobar just for increased consistency. I’ve just gotten used to cycling the boiler and timing shots/steam on my Silvia.
Agreed on dialing in shots. Every new bag of beans I end up having to pull at least a couple of shots before I get the grind set up right and then adjust over time as the beans continue to mature.
One day when we are getting a house built, I’d love to get a GS3 plumbed in, but that dream may have to wait for a while.
Albert - you owe it to yourself to check out the breville dual boiler machine. has all the functions and more of a much more expensive machine.
i had the expobar machine and it was fine, but not amazing considering the price.
i have had actual dreams of owning a gs3
I will! After this thread I’ve been browsing coffeegeek (wineberserker…coffeegeek…). Would love to get a mechanical/electronic upgraded system without having to cough up the equivalent of a La Tache!
Thanks for your thoughts on the Expobar as well. The problem with the next level machines is that a lot of them all look quite similar, have similar features and the pricing is quite variable so it gets a bit muddled.
Hahaha, actual dreams of a GS3 are definitely next level!
agreed. the main things that i think folks need for truly great espresso at home is a double boiler (to avoid HX temp issues) and a good PID; things like variable pressure, pre-infusion, etc. are very handy, but not absolutely necessary. those machines worth buying really start at $2500 while the breville is half that (and easily returnable, better customer service, etc.)
Jonathan was on the wait list for one of the 30 that were scheduled to come into the country in '07 - wait list while the US government determined whether it was military grade equipment! Not joking. He ended up not being able to wait any longer, and got an S2 Spaziale Vivaldi with the Chris Coffee modifications. It plus the Mazzer Mini are a great combo, but we may breakdown and get the GS3 once the new kitchen is built.
I’m running a plumbed Duetto III right now that I like quite a bit, but expect that I’ll eventually look to upgrade that. I’d love a Speedster but, not being particularly mechanically inclined (i.e., I’m not able to maintain/fix it on my own), would probably go with a GS3.
I am a bona ride gadget geek, but can’t imagine I want more than my R58. The cost benefit has to fall off somewhere.
well, it never falls off, just tapers. i will say that at that level, the consistency of temperature, pressure, etc. are unrivaled and that’s really what anyone is chasing.
but far more important…it looks like this… 
but what i rellay want is…
not pulling shots of espresso so the weight doesn’t matter–just grind and put it into my Technivorm.
alan - it’s designed for espresso and comes with ceramic burrs. if you’re not ever intending to do espresso, you should get a different grinder that will excel at grinding course grinds more consistently.
the good news is that you can save a lot of money.
My Baratza Vario arrived yesterday afternoon, and I gave it a spin for the first time this morning. Man it was frustrating to get this thing dialed in, compounded by the fact that I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet!
It appears I had been tamping way too hard working with the Krups grinder. With the Baratza, my grind was well out of the espresso range before I could get any draw at all. So I started over with lighter tamping, and probably pulled a dozen shots before I got something drinkable. I used up nearly all my beans, so I’ll need to restart with fresh ones tomorrow. So the journey continues…
larry try to keep your tamp consistent. around 30lbs. then adjust the grind. try 1Q at round 13.5 seconds for a double with a good tamp. adjust from there.
The main two I go to are run by the owners, full time, though they have a couple of employees who are pretty dedicated to the craft. One roasts its own beans, the other buys from local roasters on a rotating basis. Both are constantly tasting, adjusting temp, grind, pressure. They have more experience than I could ever hope to duplicate. And the results are extremely good, good enough for me, anyway 
As you can see I ended up at 2W, ground about 9s, and what I think was a really light tamp. I’ll try 1Q tomorrow and between now and then I’ll try to find a way to measure my tamp pressure.
a bathroom scale would work. you just need to be in the neighborhood and be consistent.
i’ve found that tamping is really the last yard in espresso. you can have a $20k machine and if you don’t tamp correctly, evenly, etc., you’ll get crap.
Ok…question…currently a comfortable Silvia user. Would I be happy with a refurb Gaggia Baby Class for $164.00 all in as a backup/second machine?
Funny, the one bar I frequent (where we’re long time friends with the owner) has a triple of your top one. And the other bar that opened recently closer to us has a double Slayer. I wish I could try them side by side, can’t say that I can tell the difference from memory from one day to the next.
For those lusting over a GS3 or Slayer, I understand and share your feelings, but both are too rich for me. As a result, I’m closely monitoring the Vesuvius and Lucca as more modestly priced options to replace a 5 yr. old Giotto.