ORANGE CAFFÈ, VIALE EUROPA 3/B, 00144 ROMA

Rating: Poor, low quality Roman coffee

The Orange Caffè is at the west end of the EUR Viale Europa street and given the rather serious upscale locales, I expected a lot from it. However, demand for trendy-expensive cafes is probably already met by the other establishments, and walking in you can easily see this caters to a more unassuming crowd. The coffee costs what it does at other nonchalant places (80 cents at time of writing) and the decorations are toned down. Not to be elitist, but this seems like the bar the employees of all the high-end shops come for their breaks.

Asking for a coffee got this thing placed on the counter:​

​Presentation: No water offered, but the baristas were kind and I’m sure they would have obliged. Cup was clean, spoon too, and the coffee looked like a witches brew with the bubbles.

Temperature of Cup: Cup temp. was on bordering hot, so I decided to still give it a chance before dooming it.

Quantity: The shot was short, and for the larger size cup, it was just right.

Temperature: The espresso was indeed quite warm still. I had to wait another few instances. When I do this, baristas think there’s something wrong. Most Italians drink the espresso scalding hot!

Volume/Consistency: Given the temperature of the coffee, I wasn’t surprised the espresso was watery. Yet it was still a bit silky, after all.

Crema: Crema very thin, non persistent, and bubbly. The bubbles aren’t a terrible problem, it just means it’s over extracted in my book.​

Odor: None, as usual.

Taste: The espresso was extra bitter, almost rancid. And what tipped it towards the ‘poor’ scale is the metallic taste at the end. It gave the espresso a really bad aftertaste that made me worried about what kind of water was being used, or if the boiler was clean.​

​Overall: So the conclusion of this espresso experience was that I simply couldn’t finish it. And that is a definition of a poor quality espresso.

The setup: Like other bars I’ve seen, this coffee house had a ‘Danesi package’ they had the propriatory Danesi espresso machine, and what looked like a Mazzer grinder. The coffee being brewed was Danesi Caffè, which is a local Roman roaster that does very dark, intensely bitter coffee roasts.​

One thing about this cafe is that if you’re not up for a coffee (given what I say here), they Orange Caffè part of the name also speaks of the ‘orange juice, fruit drinks’ that are also served here. Those were done on the spot and from fresh fruit. So they looked a lot more appetizing than the coffee. Given the heat of a Roman summer, that seems more promising.

Orange Caffè,

New Gest S.N.C., di Margani Saverio & Co.

Viale Europa, 3/B

00144 Roma