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GIOLITTI CAFFÈ GELATERIA, VIA AMERIGO VESPUCCI 35, 00153 ROMA
Rating: Standard, very low-end Roman coffee
In the heart of Testaccio is an old coffee and ice cream institution, it’s the Giolitti Caffè Gelateria squirting out Java and cold mixes from 1914. Now inside, it’s got all that shabby-chic charm of Testaccio and Rome. But does its espresso still have the sharpness and edge it used to? Like most things Roman, it’s definitely steeped in its own past, and can’t seem to break out of it. Given that the rent is probably long paid off on the locale, the owners probably need just a couple of hundred a month to live and break even. This place is ripe for some investor to take it over and turn it into Testaccio’s prime coffee and ice-cream vanguard. At least that’s my opinion, of course!
Asking for coffee got me this thing:
Presentation: No water offered. Just a straight up rather large cup of coffee.
Temperature of Cup: Super hot cup, it was extremely hot.
Quantity: The espresso was short, or at least it was hiding down there in the large cup giving the illusion of such.
Temperature: Yes, still quite hot.
Volume/Consistency: Ohh.. that wonderful watery taste of runny espresso.
Crema: Super thin, not persistent.
Odor: What??? Are you kidding? In this heat!?
Taste: Not flavorful at all, it was runny, bitter and bordering on the rancid, and just few, if any positive points.
Overall: Since I could easily finish it, and it wasn’t outright bitter, it’s a low-end Roman coffee. It needs a little ‘makeover’ for it to be better. I always wonder, if there was just a little cash-flow infusion to some of these old establishments with some new management, almost any of these old places could be extra-extra cool coffee places. All the elements are THERE, except… the good coffee of course!
The setup: It looked for a intents and purposes like an old E61 based Faema, and the grinder definitely had the signs of a 1960s Faema grinder.
While there were Hag Coffee cups, the espresso being served was Mondicaffè. I asked and was given a good ‘idiot’s’ knod to say yes, indeed that’s what I was drinking. As if I couldn’t read my napkin holder:
Well whatever it said, I couldn’t make out the handwriting! How’s that for a clear marketing strategy!
Inside was that mix of relics and new things, and the charm of chillness and a relaxed atmosphere.
I liked the logo of the receipt:
Gelateria Giolitti Caffè
di Armando de Silvestro
Via Amerigo Vespucci 35, 00153 Roma
