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Rating: Standard, decent mid-range Roman coffee
Getting out of the metro at Piazza Bologna you’re faced with this small bi-locale that is clean, crisp, professional and welcoming. The interior is decorated in the Roman-chic definition of every color being either a shade of pure black or white. It had a TV blaring at one end with news, some folk chilling inside, the placed bathed in a weird neon light pale greenish color. The only thing that didn’t fly in this place was that it was damned cold! Maybe because it was raining outside and the bar was wide open, but this had an effect on the coffee, as you’ll see.
Asking for a coffee at the bar, got me a conversation with the barista. He was a young guy, very tall, and had a great sense of humor. After some chatter, filling in the space of the time it took him to prep the espresso, I got served the following:
Presentation: Nice, I love these types of cups. Fluted small cup, very compact, everything opens up to give you an experience of the coffee, and if you’re in a rush- the sensation that you drink the coffee more quickly from this kind of cup. No water offered, maybe because it was so cold outside? Spoon was the right size.
Temperature of Cup: Mamma, it was cold! Yes, freezing cold. The problem here is that there was a jet of air-conditioning cold air directed straight at the area between the bar and the espresso machine. Whatever it was, it made de cup extremely cold.
Quantity: Very short, ristretto-styled espresso. I was very happy. I wonder what a ristretto would have looked like!
Temperature: Well the espresso itself was good, it was somewhat tepid, but not too much. This is probably the effect of the cold cup on the drink, absorbing some of the heat.
Volume/Consistency: It was thin, not razor thin, but liquidy runny. Yet this wasn’t a negative thing. It was a light affair in this small sized shot.
Crema: There was some tree-ring like grooves of darker oil in the espresso, but overall the look was grainy, it was persistent, and a good 2-3 mm thick. Not bad for such conciseness.
Odor: Wow! There was indeed a smell of coffee! It was a warm coffee smell best described as a dark-roasted coffee. No complex flavors or smells here.
Taste: It was indeed a bit more complex in the end that I imagined. It was an initial bitter flavor that then opened up to a nutty overtone. Maybe it was the olfactory sensation mixing with the palate, but it turned this light espresso into a flavorful cup.
Overall: I got what made this espresso tick- the cold cup! While this was bad in the drinking of the coffee, as it was jarring to have a cold ceramic cup pressed against your lips- it helped open up the flavor of the coffee. It was in the end a really very good coffee, only that it was soured by the cold cup. Had the cup been warm, on par with what it should be in an espresso, it would have been a really great drink. I should try this another day when the AC is not on!
The setup: They had a ver nice, surgically-clean setup. The machine was a Rancilio – which is rarely seen here in Rome – with a matching grinder. The coffee being served was Caffè Moca, a south of Rome Pomezia based roaster that I’ve encountered quite a few times here.
Bologna Bar Caffè
G.C. SAS di
Carmesini G. E. C. SAS
Piazza Bologna 25-26
00162 Roma
Tel. 06 4423 3258