SNACK BAR LATTERIA CAFFÈ, VIA GALVANI 33/33A, 00153 ROMA

Rating: Poor, maybe the poorest Lavazza encountered

This is another one of those instances that I take a deep breath before entering and taking the plunge. The Snack Bar Latteri Caffè in Testaccio is actually one of those things that characterize Rome. Blandness you say? Lack of creativity? Why would you say that, maybe the ‘extra special generic name’ does… but, no, this is a relic of a past time. That’s what I’m referring to that is ‘Roman’. It’s actually quirky, crazy in its way. It’s stuck like in 1987 or 1988, with a touch of soft-glam punk, and angry Kiss stuff from a generation earlier than that. Lots of metal on the wall, with circular graining, feels like your in some WWF royal rumble cage…. So let’s forego this dumb intro and go straight at it…

Asking for a coffee got me this thing:

Presentation: Ahh… yeah. Decadent cup. Guns n’ Roses style saucer. Decadent, flower in red, b/w background… ahh… preparing for a sweet death. What the hell was in there? What are those, eyes peeking out at me? Yeah, those are bubbles all right! Water, that’s for idiots who think this fizzy drink isn’t wet enough… but said that when another client asked for water, the waiter gave it to her.

Temperature of Cup: Super extra scalding hot. Made me feel like a wuss for not being able to hold the cup in hand!

Quantity: Short espresso- the only good thing coming out of this cup.

Temperature: Damned hot, simple as that.

Volume/Consistency: Watery, runny, felt like dirty water. Hell, it WAS dirty water…

Crema: Bubbly crema, non persistent… Most horrible I’ve seen!! What the heck was going on with that espresso I can’t tell!

Odor: Charred death, rotten nothingness. Actually, no odor whatsover.

Taste: Not bad, almost rancid, yet it was just something about it that made not finish it…

Overall: It was quite terrible, the whole place made me think the coffee was being poured out of some guy’s old rainwater recepticle that had a few dead rats rotting in it.

Something was off with the coffee and just couldn’t do it.

The setup: Some type of old 1980s E-61 base group head machine. It was war torn and still squirting out it’s thing. The grinder? who knows, I thought it looked like an old 1970s Fiorenzato I had, but don’t remember which of the two it was… As I walked out I saw a Lavazza coffee bag sitting open next to the grinder. But I also saw Hag Caffè coffee bags littered around, the ones that you buy to make coffee at home. So it seems like desperate times leads to resort to desperate measures to keep the stuff squirting out…

Oh yeah, look at this place! I must say that the pastries under the glass DID look great!

is it great or what? Serious! Even though the coffee was terrible, the barista/owner was a cool guy, stuck in some time warp thing and seemed not to give a crap that I took pictures at his bar, he seemed amused at such a fool would do things like this!

Snack Bar Latteria Caffè,

Rinaldi Franco

Via Galvani 33/33A, 00153 Roma