LINARI CAFFÈ, VIA NICOLA ZABAGLIA 9/A, 00153 ROMA

Rating: Standard, good traditional Roman coffee

Across town and in the deep of Testaccio, I was surprised, yet again like I was when I ran into ‘Il Pozzo Caffè’, when I stumbled onto Linari Caffè. Like most coffee houses here in Rome, a ‘Bar’ or café is usually a catch-all term for a ‘coffee, pastries, ice cream, restaurant whatnot place’. And so the same here, yet the flavor was different and it was successful. It was 11am on a Thursday and it was packed with Italians. I was, apparently, the only foreigner there. They were mostly folks past their mid 30s and seemed well to do, or at least not of the working-class type that would –perforce- be working on a Thursday morning! But you be the judge from the pictures.

Asking for a coffee got me this:

Presentation: The place was busy with a large almost 360 degree bar at full capacity. No water offered with the coffee, but when I asked for it, I got a smile and a cup a full. The cup had the Linari logo on it, this got me interested in what coffee was actually being served.

Temperature of Cup: The cup was good, I could drink it almost immediately

Quantity: As is usual for this espresso (at least in all the versions I’ve had it), it came in a very small fluted cup, and the espresso itself was short. Almost a ristretto.

Temperature: The espresso was at a good temp.

Volume/Consistency: Quick thick actually, better than I expected.

Crema: The crema was dark, thin, and dissipated very quickly- easily.

Odor: No real ‘coffee’ odor as I would qualify it. I feel I waste my time trying to see if it smells!

Taste: Not rancid, but almost there. Very bitter, jutting, and cutting espresso. Very much on the extreme spectrum of what a Roman coffee is.

Overall: Given that all the normal factors of a good coffee where there, and it wasn’t butchered, this is a good ‘normal’ traditional Roman coffee experience. It wasn’t great as the taste of this roaster just doesn’t provide any type of complexity: neither taste-wise, nor texture, nor oily, just a rather strong, potent coffee punch.

The Setup: They had an oft seen setup, a nice La Cimbali M39 Classic espresso machine with a what looked like two large Mazzer grinders. I had to ask twice regarding the coffee. They were brewingLa Marziali Caffè. As we know, this is a local Roman roaster that does very very sharp roasting (aka, stomach cutting bitterness and tough espresso). This is a put hair on your chest type of espresso.

The interesting thing is that La Marziali Caffè brands their coffee for this café. I saw all the coffee cans being sold, and asked what coffee was inside and they said it was indeed La Marziali Caffè- cool I said!

This locale then seems much more about a place to go, to see and be seen, than to savor a coffee. But hey, you can’t have it all, all the time.