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Rating: Standard, good Roman-based roaster
Walking in the hipster wonderland area of Monti (next to Termini station) I stumbled upon a Roaster and Cafe duo. On the right hand of the street (right next to the Cavour metro exit) you have the roaster (and wine cellar). Then on the other side of the street facing it on the adjacent corner, you have the cafe Er Caffetiere, which I’ll publish a review of tomorrow. Here was what I thought was a traditional Roman roaster right in the heart of the city. I said to myself “super cool”! Hipster nation and a matching roaster to boot. Or so I thought… But just like any newfound hipster’s shallow sheen, here everything that you see isn’t necessarily real. Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, apparently, is just as real, as anything in Rome. Read to find out why.
As usual, I’m a little skeptical of a roaster whose facilities don’t ‘reek’ of freshly roasted coffee… here I couldn’t smell any of it, even when ambulating in the small space of the roaster area.
When you walk in from the Metro-stop area you’re greeted by a roasting machine (see it peeking from the door there?) See the vent from it coming out on top of the door? Small scale production… I thought.
Here's a picture I took on a different day, the machine looks like a prop, more than anything!...
The lady selling the coffee seemed pretty informed about the operations in the ‘torrefazione’. I saw that on all their windows they had this Aroma del Caffè brand logo everywhere. I even saw plastic whole bean bags with this on their shelves. The little logos on their coffee bins even had the internet address of this place. So, thinking this was actually their own ‘online’ brand, I asked her,”cool you guys roast and sell your stuff online yes? I can buy online?” The lady said: Nope. She went on to inform me that Aroma del Caffè are only the ‘raw bean’ providers. She said: “We do all the roasting in house.” I asked, yeah? Then when do you roast? And she said that they roast every 2-3 days depending on how much is consumed. Cool, I thought, and said, then let’s go for it.
Whatever the story was at that moment, here’s what they were offering: Seven different types of coffee, each with their normal either/or/and Arabica to Robusta blend that is typical of Roman coffee blends. There are no designations of what estates, countries, etc., the coffee beans come from. That’s too much info, I presume, for the standard dumb (really???) tourist, right?
As you walk in, you’re greeted by the more expensive coffee blends. All are left out in the open air as is normal here in Rome. The ‘Roman air’ is part of the shabby-chic charm you take with you back to Rotterdam, or New Jersey at the end of your trip…
From left to right you have the following three blends:
1. Intenso: This is the ‘intese’ at 2€ for 100g and is a mix of 50% arabica / 50% robusta. This is what is served in the Er Caffetiere bar right across the street.
2. Soave: This is the ‘soft’ mix at 1.8 € per 100g, and is a mix of 70% arabica / 30% robusta beans.
3. Sublime: Yeah, you read it right, this is what we’ll be trying here today and it’s their top of the line. It’s at a whopping 2.20 € for 100g and the seller described it as the sweetest of them all. It’s a 100% arabica roast.
4. Decaffeinato: The decaf 100% arabica is the most expensive as it’s gotta go through treatment. I wonder how they do this here in the facility…. It’s 2.3 € for 100g.
5. Brioso: This the ‘lively’ blend. If I remember right, it is 60% robusta / 40% arabica and costs is 1.7 € per 100g.
6. Raffinato: The ‘refined’ blend is a 70% robusta / 30% arabica mix that is at 1.6 € per 100g. Here my memory might have failed me in the correct % mix of beans…
7. Tenace: Finally the last, cheapest, and most bitter as the roaster/seller explained to me. It was 100% robusta and sold at 1.5 € per 100g.
So that’s the scoop. Well… let’s go to the coffee I bought. I purchased 100grams of the most expensive. The ‘Sublime’. But let’s look at the packaging first:
Yup, there it is! That darned logo again, and the internet address… So I’m curious. As you can see, if you go to the internet site, what the hell happens? Well… low and behold, look for yourself:
Yup, there are the same coffee blends being sold by this roaster. Aroma del Caffè is indeed a local roaster, but it is NOT the Spartaco Torrefazione.
So, now that we know the Spartaco is just a reseller. It does NOT roast it’s own coffee (at least that which is sold in its premises to me on that day), and well, it’s a storefront for Aroma del Caffè. If you go to the “Botteghe” section of this latter roaster’s website you see the Spartaco Torrefazione listed there. Either way, let’s see how this other Roman roaster is doing:
Beans looked somewhat regular (hmm… quality control anybody?) And they didn’t smell fresh. Actually didn’t smell at all…
This is what they looked like when I ground up extremely fine. I wanted to make sure I could get some oil out of them.
I will admit that I overpacked this and it was a very long, slow and very heavy shot. Really thick, but it did the job.
I got some good oils from it, and you can see the freckles in the shot. Not the best of course, but what happened?
The coffee magically opened up, and you could smell fresh coffee. The taste opened up as well, it was not fruity, but it was not rancid, nor extremely bitter. You could savor some nuts and slight citrus tastes behind there. So I was very glad!
Overall, it was a decently aromatic, and somewhat complex, let’s say the most complex taste I’ve felt so far from any of the traditional Roman roasters. So not bad after all, actually pretty good!
Will I return to the Spartaco. Maybe. Can we blame a tourist attraction for doing what tourist shops are intended to do? Nope.
What can we learn from this? That ‘Torrefazione’ (or Roaster) doesn’t mean that the locale or business actually roasts their own coffee, even if all the equipment is there on display. Simply that they sell beans by weight. Good lesson, and good info to know while in Rome!
Spartaco Torrefazione, Vino e Caffè,
Er Caffetiere Sa. Pe. S.N.C.
di Pelle Spartaco E. C.
Piazza della Suburra, 1
00184 Roma