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Rating: Standard, very good Roman coffee
The Ice Caffè Bar on the upper outskirts of Monteverde is a great locale to stop in for a coffee. It also doubles for a cocktail bar in the evening. By the looks of it, it has been recently revamped, and redecorated. Its interior is done in the not so ultra swank in the style of black-on-white chic (that is prevalent everywhere that tries to be more ‘upper crust’ in Rome), but it had some individual character, some different touches, it wasn’t gaudy. It was cool. And it still acknowledged we were in Rome, it had plenty of tables outside. I stumbled on it while roaming these parts of the city and I was so happy I did!
Asking for a cup of coffee got me this:
Presentation: What a lovely piece of art. The cup and saucer are nice, and what’s nicest was the dark contrast of the espresso against the red. Looked promising from the start. I must say that the bartender, a young guy, was the best educated I’ve experienced so far, and this is something given that we’re away from the touristy center of Rome. He asked if I wanted my espresso in a glass or ceramic cup, offered me a glass of sparkling water offered, and even if I wanted to sit at a table. Hands down, the best service so far in Rome. Quite a few baristas should come learn from this guy!! And to put the icing on the cake, the final touch to his etiquette, was his placing the handle of the espresso cup facing my right hand side, so all I had to do was reach and drink. Bravo!
Temperature of Cup: With this good start, which shows care for the client’s experience, we had a great temperature of the cup. Touched it and it was warm but not scalding, it was great.
Quantity: The espresso was a bit long for my tastes, so I left the verdict open on it until the end.
Temperature: Just right, hit the spot.
Volume/Consistency: I liked it, it was quite a silky brew, it was almost sandy at the beginning due to the crema, and by the end of the drink I could still savor a oily-thick consistency. I was happy.
Crema: Dark, thick and simply nice to my taste. It was all the front end of the espresso, and the grinder/machine/temp was honed in properly.
Odor: Smell of dark roasted coffee, very profuse.
Taste: As I mentioned above, it was silky, a very dark-roasted robust coffee taste, it was what I’ve come to learn is a very good Roman coffee.
Overall: A great place to have a decent Roman espresso. Given all the factors above, this is a winning combo for me. And I hope some of the tourists staying in the Crowne Plaza Hotel St Peters, EcoHotel Roma, or the Casale Altavilla find out this great representative of Roman coffee is right at their footsteps.
The setup: This great coffee was being squirted out of a La Cimbali M24 three-group semi-automatic machine with a lovely large Fiorenzato F6 grinder. The coffee being served was the very prevalent, and by now generally very good, the Roman local coffee roaster Gran Caffè Santos. And a very nice touch to see, which is definitely not se often, is they had a water filter (you can barely see it on the photo below, on the lower left to the open drawer). Good job!!
Given the chance, the hospitality, and the quality of the coffee, I’ll definitely return to this place in the future! Its a great coffee house.
Ice Caffè Bar, di El Agamawy Farouk
Via di Bravetta, 32
00163 Roma