IL BARETTO CAFFÈ, VIA DEL BABUINO 120, 00187 ROMA

Rating: Standard, normal Roman coffee

The review of Il Baretto Caffè near Piazza di Spagna was suggested to me by a reader a few months ago, and I thought I’d be great to go give it a try. There’s another ‘Baretto’ in the Trastevere area that seems to be a more hipper version of this older-styled bar. I’ll get to that in another post. Having coffee here, after having had some other espressos just before was not a bad idea, let’s see why.

Asking for a coffee got this placed in the counter:

Presentation: It was a nice cup, small, compact, had two brands on it. One of the coffee being brewed and another of the cafe’s name. I was happy. No water offered, there were too many tourists craming the bar for this… but is this an excuse?

Temperature of Cup: Warm but not scalding, good control of the temperature of the machine.

Quantity: It was a short shot, on the ristretto side, but not quite there.

Temperature: On the mark, it was perfect to drink.

Volume/Consistency: It had a sandy body to it, it was thickish, but not silky.

Crema: The crema was dark, and had a silky wet paint-like sheen. It wasn’t very thick nor persistent.

Odor: Here I was happy, there was a deep smell of darkly roasted coffee. I was glad!

Taste: Deeply bitter, strong coffee, bordering on rancid.

Overall: This espresso was so bitter, it made my tongue a bit numb! But it wasn’t rancid, it was bordering on being rancid, so overall it was good. Had the body of the coffee been a bit thicker, and the flavor a bit more pure it would have been a very good espresso. As is, I was happy but not thrilled here.

The setup: They had a very nice La Cimbali three group espresso machine with with a like grinder. The reason the coffee was not so hot on my list, is that it is Marziali Caffè which is a super stout Roman espresso roaster. I’ve had better versions of their coffee, and yet this was decidedly not poor at all. I’m glad I stopped by!

Il Baretto,

Giacomelli Patrizia,

Via del Babuino 120, 00187 Roma

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