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Rating: Standard, solid Roman coffee
The Concas Bar Caffè is on a bend of the Viale di Trastevere that is a weird no man’s place. It’s got little foot traffic, its neither here nor there, always quiet, and yet, there are a few cafes struggling to make out a living. The Concas Cafe is one of those places that seems to do what most Roman establishments tend to do best: survive. Somehow they do it, and by the looks of the couple running the show, they’ve been at it for decades. The barista is an older gentleman, that knows exactly what he’s doing with his espresso machine. Each move was calculated, precise and felt like he’d been serving coffee since his late teens. So let’s see what he did.
Replying in the positive to the barista’s question, and specifying I wanted it ‘semplice’ (not sure if they do this here or not, but that’s what I say when I get asked if I want a coffee (to make sure I don’t get a latte or macchiato). Whatever, I got the following:
Presentation: It was served in a nicely shaped cup. It was rather egg-shaped, but small. It was clean, no messy runny sides from the portafilter. Spotless I’d say. No water was offered, but the barista’s no frills attitude would have obliged had I asked.
Temperature of Cup: Very good. It was warm, on the hot warmer side, not scalding.
Quantity: Yes, shorter espresso. Compact, tight, and probably more towards the .7 oz or 20 ml size. Nice!
Temperature: Nice, hot, warm, great. Not scalding, not boiling. This was good.
Volume/Consistency: It was thinner in taste than I expected. Yet it was creamy, silky, had a graininess to it that I appreciated.
Crema: It was solid- dark, oily in view, thick, it looked mean and bitter as hell…
Odor: Nope, didn’t find it. Ok, I’m lying. But there was a slight, ever so slight odor or darkly roasted coffee.
Taste: Yes, it was bitter, not as bitter as I imagined it to be. Especially because, yes, you saw right. It was MokaSirs that was being served, and I’ve had terrible experiences with this northern Italian brand. But it was a light bitter- a mild bitterness. I liked it!
Overall: I would say that it wasn’t as thick, as full bodied, as complex as I’d like it to be. It was a solid, full hands on, robust espresso that didn’t offend, that wasn’t disgusting and yet that was filling and to the point. I liked it.
The setup: Here’s what the experienced barista chose as his tool of choice: A beautiful 1980s semi-automatic, all nuts and bolts Astoria three-group machine and grinder. I love Astorias, and instead of all the La Marzocco crazy stupidness in the US and UK, there’s plenty of machines being made in Italy that rip ass any day on the hipster trends.. This is one of them. The coffee was MokaSirs… not my favorite, and perhaps, this indeed was one of the best versions of it I’ve had so far. Not a small feat in my opinion!
Concas Bar Caffè,
Bar Tabacchi Lotto
Concas Giovanni
Viale di Trastevere 211, 00153 Roma
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