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Rating: Standard, above average Traditional Roman coffee
The Sofio Cafe is nestled in a very residential area, and appears almost unexpectedly. The concentration of cafes in this small area of Monteverde is surprising, the Francesco Catel street is touching via F. Ozanam which has a good number of cafes on it already. So let’s see how this place survives the competition.
Asking for a cafe gets you the following:
Presentation: There was no water offered, but the cup was clean and presented in a generic white cup. I’m sure water would have been given if asked.
Temperature of Cup: Very good temperature, warm, but not scalding and at the right temperature.
Quantity: The cup was ver big, it could have been a very long espresso but it was short, and good.
Temperature: Given the combo above, I was able to try it almost immediately and it was at a good temperature.
Volume/Consistency: After the first sip which was a bit watery, the consistency of the espresso improved and it actually was very silky.
Crema: It was not too thick, nor very persistent, but it wasn’t blond, nor overly dark. It was good.
Odor: Again, I sound like a broken record, but it didn’t have much smell. Not much odor.
Taste: The thing that made this espresso good, was the consistency of the shot, it had body and while the flavour was closed without much fruity tones, it was still nice. Pleasant.
Overall: It was an above-average experience. While the cafe did not make fuss about the brand of coffee the were brewing, the coffee was better than most. But what made this place special, where the two baristas. They treated everybody like family and filled the cafe with their happy comments and shouts of ‘buon giorno’. It was uplifting. No complaining heard, no sad tales as you usually hear in most bars, but just strong energy from you very amicable baristas.
The setup: One we’ve seen many times here, a simple La Cimbali three-group espresso machine, with a Mazzer grinder. The coffee was a Pavia based Mokasirs Caffè.
The locale is big, lots of tables, and lets you lounge about for as long as you like. Its nice.
So at some point in the past this was a Sicilian pastry, half of the big locale is closed, a reminder of this past is shown in the sugars they offer… Sicily figures prominently there.
Sofio Caffè,
di Giovanni Sofio
Via Francesco Catel, 18/20
00152 Roma