COLLI CAFFÈ, VIALE DEI COLLI PORTUENSI 179, 00151 ROMA

Rating: Standard, normal Tazza d’Oro

Walking up the Colli Portuensi avenue, and heading deep in the Monteverde neighborhood you run into yet another nice coffee shop. This is an uncomplicated affair, full of people and a light and airy atmosphere. I liked it immediately, and was hoping for a nice espresso. ​

Asking for a coffee got this response:​

Presentation: Funny how presentation influences the experience of coffee. I liked the transparent generic saucer. It gave the coffee a spin I found fun. No water was served, but looked like they would oblige.

Temperature of Cup: Warm but not scalding, it was on the cusp of too hot.

Quantity: It was a short shot given the barrel like standard cup that they were using.

Temperature: Coffee was warm, not scalding and I was happy.

Volume/Consistency: Hmm… watery, thin, runny.

Crema: It played off the orange-red counter top. It was almost plastic in its sheen and uniformity. This is, by Roman standards, a good crema, but it showed no life. The beans were simply the same fare.​

Odor: Again, nothing to expect on the olfactory sense….

Taste: So here’s the low-down. It was a standard bitter, dark affair, not rancid. And actually light.​

​Overall: As I say at the top, it was a normal non-offensive coffee. Quite thin as the lack of oil suggests. A normal to lower-end Roman coffee.

The setup: They had a nice Enova Faema three-group espresso machine and a Casadio grinder doing the job of crunching and squirting the java away. The coffee, as you saw on the cup was theTazza d’Oro. Not much to comment on this brand!​

So in spite of the normalish coffee being served, the atmosphere made up for it.​

Colli Caffè

Rosa Vince S.R.L.

Viale dei Colli Portuensi 179, 00151 Roma