ANTILIA PUB CAFFÈ, VIA DELLA SCALA 1, 00153 ROMA

Rating: Standard, surprisingly OK Roman ‘quasi-espresso’

Nestled in the middle of Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood is the Antilia Pub Caffè. Is this this a pure Roman cafe? Not sure, but it’s the closest thing in Trastervere to a cafe that I was able to find today (there is of course the Caffè delle Arance that I’ve reviewed here before). But in either case, this place represents, fortunately or unfortunately, some of what the future of coffee life in Rome might be holding in store.

Asking for an espresso gets you this:​

​Presentation: Yes, had it outside. On the street. They brought water immediately, it was a very hot day, so this is a nice touch! Clean cup, clean glass of water, slightly chilled, we’re doing good.

Temperature of Cup: Cup was actually cold, not warm at all, what’s going on?

Quantity: The cup was large, but the espresso short. It was decent, not ristretto but a conservative espresso.

Temperature: Very good temperature.

Volume/Consistency: Yes, watery, no silkyness, no thickness, liquidy as a drink should be, but not what defines a good ‘espresso’.

Crema: Very thin, blondish, and persistent. Temperature of espresso being shot through the coffee is too hot…​

Odor: Slight odor of dark roasted coffee.

Taste: The taste, here’s the thing, was decent. It was slightly nutty, had good rounded balanced coffee taste and was not bad! It wasn’t third wave, nothing spectacular, but was not overly bitter, nor in any way rancid. But thin, somewhat transparent, not offensive. Pedestrian.​

​Overall: Overall, not bad for a 2 euro espresso at a touristy locale in the heart of Trastevere. As a tourist, you won’t be served crap, nor walk away disappointed from here. Which is what happens quite often here in Rome…

The setup: So what’s the trick? Why did I say the ‘future of Roman coffee’? Well, look to the right of this barisita. Yes… What type of espresso machine is that? Well… it’s not a ‘espresso’ machine at all, but a pad espresso machine. The coffee is placed in a cloth-like pad that then gets the ‘capsule’ treatment of forced hot water. The coffee they were brewing was from Momento Espresso. This is a local Roman roaster and distributer. As you can imagine, the upkeep for machines is less, the cost is less, and the ‘know how’ is a lot lesser. For these corner-cutting Italian bars, this looks very promising. Especially since… we’ll the result was a lot better than regular charred espressos I’ve been having elsewhere!​

Antilia Pub Caffè,

Sieframarc S.R.L.

Via della Scala, 1

00153 Roma