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ANTICO CAFFÈ CASTELLINO, VIA CESARE BATTISTI 134/135, 00187 ROMA
Rating: Standard, low-end Milanese coffee
The Antico Caffè Castellino, right on Piazza Venezia in the heart of Rome gets a lot of good press. It’s an old cafe, it’s got a spectacular view of the ‘wedding cake’ monument, or ‘typewriter’ as Romans call it. Whatever, the roaster being brewed here (Caffè Cosmai) gets a lot of good press so I said, maybe we’ll have that rare combination where a reputation is hard earned, yeah? Let’s see. And remember, I’m looking for an artisanal Third Wave coffee, and if it’s Roman, then a good Roman coffee (which there are indeed a lot of these here!)
Asking for a cup of java got this served:
Presentation: So, to start, I liked the cup. It was small, fluted (which is my favorite shape these days), and again, compact. The saucer was multi-use, rings there for different size cups (Americano, cappuccino, etc). The texture of the saucer was cool and the writing coming off the ceramic was fun. the spoon was… err… off key. Water was served immediately, a nice start overall.
Temperature of Cup: Here’s another reminder that indeed, I was, after all, in the smack center of Rome. The cup was Boiling hot. Ugh…. I guess I’m still not ‘acculturated’ enough to enjoy boiling hot cups.
Quantity: The shot was rather long for the short cup. It was probably 1 cm too long. That transfers into a big difference in the espresso taste.
Temperature: Ahh… damn it! Super hot coffee, burnt my tongue! I shouldn’t have thought that if the cup was now tepid, the drink inside would also be a bit cooler.
Volume/Consistency: Watery brew. This is in line with the temp of extraction and the darn length of the shot.
Crema: It was a dark, thinnish, but lasting crema. Throughout the drinking it thinning.
Odor: Wait a minute, we are in Rome, but the beans being served are NOT Roman. So, accordingly, there was a very deep and rich dark roasted smell, this was nice!
Taste: It had a dark wood taste, very bitter, the temperature kind of ruined it all. But it wasn’t rancid, but it could have gotten there.
Overall: OK, nothing top-notch, nor top of the list, but simply an OK and rather low-end experience given the hype it gets online. More akin to a pedestrian Roman coffee than something from the North of Italy. If it wasn’t for all the good press surrounding this roaster, I would have said this is a standard mid-range Roman coffee.
The setup: They had two La Cimbali machines. One a 4 group M39 and another an older 2 group machine. Then they had a La Cimbali grinder.
What got me interested in this place, more than the touristy flare of the locale, was the coffee being roasted, it was Caffe Cosmai this is a Milan-based roaster that has really meticulous eco-friendly roasting methods. And they sport this caffe as one of their flagship stores in Rome.
Anyhow, the locale is ultra touristy, a bit of a dump in my opinion, and simply nothing particularly special. Just a pit stop for exhausted people trying to soak in all the history, as most folks are who are passing by this part of town.
Antico Caffè Castellino,
Omnia Service 2000 S.R.L.
Via Cesare Battisti 134/135, 00187 Roma
