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Rating: Standard, low-end coffee served
Here’s one of those occasions where I’m dissatisfied. The Caffè dell’Orologio on the Piazzale Flaminio (right above the Piazza del Popolo) has a great name. It’s got a big clock on the top of the cafe and it’s locale is really cool. It’s architecturally interesting with copper, brass and marble all over the exterior, some fancy ironwork, and lots of glass. It’s really a place you want to make your morning, or evening home. Even looking at their website, you think, cool place to make your own. But, the coffee didn’t hold up. Simple as that. Life is like that, time to move on.
Asking for a coffee at the busy bar got this reaction:Presentation: Nice clean cup, crisp, all in order. No water offered, but it was given to other folk when asked.
Temperature of Cup: The cup, yup, hot as hell, too hot. I’ve done how many reviews so far, and I still can’t and don’t want to get used to a boiling hot cup.
Quantity: It was a short shot, good quantity for this type of bowl shaped cup.
Temperature: It was still darned hot after waiting at least 2-3 minutes. I remember waiting for the coffee to cool, and staring at a youngish Roman girl asking for coffee next to me after I arrived. She grabbed the cup as soon as she got it, and proceeded to down it entirely as if it was cold water, and then leave. So yes, this is what Romans like. Scalding hot coffee. But is that the point of this blog? Daily fix it isn’t, but trying to seek a decent cup of java!
Volume/Consistency: Watery, runny, not exciting.
Crema: It was dark, had some hope in it’s texture, and became thin quite quickly and not persistent. The setup wasn’t fined tuned, or the beans just don’t give anything more than this.
Odor: Nope, who needs an aromatic espresso if you’re going to just down it in 3 seconds flat?
Taste: It was watery, but also, strangely enough, I could takste some dark smokey wood flavor, but then, it became extremely extremely bitter.
Overall: Since it didn’t hit full throttle rancid, I’m not giving this a ‘Poor’ qualification. But indeed, it was do damnend bitter, that I simply couldn’t finish it, it was crappy indeed. And now, yes, I see why this girl grabbed her bag tightly inhaled, and downed the coffee so quickly- any other way is impossible!
The setup: It was a classic combo for success. They had the Faema E61 Legend three-group machine, and a 80s Faema grinder. The coffee, as the cup shows, was Danesi Caffè, which I’ve rarely had good versions of. So the equation was offset by this factor, sadly!
Caffè dell’Orologio
di Simone Andreucci
Piazzale Flaminio 34, 00196 Roma
