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BARBERINI CAFFÈ, VIA BARBERINI 15-17, 00187 ROMA

Rating: Standard, mid-level Roman coffee


The Caffè Barberini was an interesting place. It lies on a street that reminds me of downtown NYC, and yet still very Roman. It had Caffè Tazza d’Oro sign on the outside, yet as we know, here in Rome nothing is as it seems. The cafe advertises itself as being around since 1928 and thus, it must be doing something right. The interior has lots of low-key no-frills tables on the left hand side, a long bar on the right where all the folks in business suits were lined up having their morning coffee. Towards the rear there’s the 7-Eleven like cashier with all the stuff you’d ever think could be sold in a cafe/convenient store. We’ll let’s see what they’ve been doing right that’s kept them in business.


Asking for a coffee at the bar (after having paid), got this placed in front of me: ​

​Presentation: Nice clean white cup. There was a drip on the side as you can see from the porta filter being milked for a second espresso. No water given, but served after I asked for it. No logo here, so what’s the deal?


Temperature of Cup: It was good. Warm, not scalding, had a nice resonance to it in my hands.


Quantity: A solid large espresso, probably talking about 1.7 to 2 full ounces. So almost a double I’d say, no?


Temperature: Actually, the espresso was rather lukewarm. It was interesting. Nice effect. Very low temperature, probably 91 to 90 C. Nice I thought. I can actually taste all of this espresso!


Volume/Consistency: Here’s where we see how it all comes together. It was not thin, nor sumptuous, it was rather thinnish, silky only if I forced this idea into my head, and lacked the volume you’d expect when the coffee has a rich oil spectrum in it.


Crema: The cream was darker than the photo shows, it was thin, and showed some ice-berging of it’s texture to let me see some life in it. It was not persistent, so a very light espresso texture.​

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Odor: No identifiable smell at all here. All I could smell was the cigarette smell emanating from the guy next to me.


Taste: Since we’re not dealing with a Third Wave gourmet roasted coffee (at least this is what all the above indications tell me), we can expect that this indeed had it’s basic bitter taste profile. It was in no way rancid, and showed some texture more than thin runny coffee.​

​Overall: It was a solid mid-range coffee. It wasn’t bad, poor, yet not interesting. The only thing distinguishing this from other cafes was that it was a tepid coffee. Rather cold, it was indeed exciting because I could explore its taste gamut, unfortunately the beans and the fine tuning of the machine didn’t give me much material to work with. Fun either way!


The setup: They had a beautiful four group Astoria espresso machine, and a like-brand grinder. Very nice. Now for the coffee being brewed, if you have a second for a story, read on: ​

​I thought they’d have Tazza d’Oro, but when I asked the barista what coffee was being brewed, he said…. “what?” yes, this is the expected response. I asked what was the brand of coffee being served, and he didn’t know. I said, “really?” And got a reply, “coffee”. I asked who knows what they put in there? and the barista, who was very easy-going and relaxed all the time, even when there where was an eight people deep line for the coffee, told me to ask the cashier. I went back there, and well, after a long story… the owner of the bar told me that they have their own ‘mix’ of coffee roasted for them. He had no idea what type of beans went in it nor the percentages. Nor could he tell me the name of the roaster who did his roasting… Are these secrets of the trade? Who knows. But all I’m learning here in Rome is that asking questions is something that you’re not supposed to do. Transparency, is well… an American illusion I guess!

Barberini Caffè dal 1928

Gruppo L.A.D. S.R.L.

Via Barberini 15-17

00187 Roma

Tel. 06 4202 0007

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