Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Rating: Standard, low-end Illy coffee served
The Doney Caffè is a luxurious place. Its got two parts, a cafe and a restaurant and they’re separated by a wall and different entrance. Its right next to a five-star plus hotel and most folks in the place were all wearing fancy suits and dress. Interested to know what the upper crust of visiting tourists to Rome experience, I decided to give it a try. I knew straight off the bat that it wouldn’t be a third-wave establishment, but who knows, maybe, just maybe, they’d be doing something interesting with their coffee for such an international and monied crowd.
Asking for a coffee got this:
Presentation: Yes, Illy coffee. It’s like Starbucks for the US. But OK, there’s been good Illy served here in Rome, so I thought, let’s go ahead. No water was served, and this is even after the barista-manager asked me if I wanted a glass of water. I said yes, but he was chatting so much with his co-workers that in the end he forgot and went about some other business. Ah, the charm of Rome! Cup was clean, rather large, and spoon just the right size.
Temperature of Cup: It was decent, good, not too hot.
Quantity: It was a good on the mark espresso. Just right I would say for this size cup. Everything’s relative, isn’t it?
Temperature: It mirrored the cup’s temperature. It was good, not too hot, and I could enjoy the coffee freely.
Volume/Consistency: Interesting, it was indeed silky, had a consistency which reminded me of a macchiato. So this was very positive.
Crema: Picture perfect I’d say, if your’e an Illy Executive. But it showed no character. It was glossy, not-persistent, quite light brown, about 2mm thick and uniform. To me, that’s solid extraction, but no interesting life in there. But that’s of course, my opinion. If you’re from the US and walk into Rome and have this for the first time, you’re probably good to go.
Odor: Yes, but this time, it was of charred deeply roasted black as coal coffee. Not very appetizing and it was making my stomach turn even before I had the espresso. Go figure a way to make something appetizing!
Taste: Oh boy, what a typical ‘American’ reaction did I have. God, it was bitter! I drank it as usual without sugar, but boy, it was damned bitter. It wasn’t rancid, but man it was almost there.
Overall: I’d have to say that there were plenty of factors keeping this espresso ‘up’ in the normal standard Roman category, but what pulled it down into the low-end type was the simple horribly bitter nature of it. It was not rancid, simply so bitter that it was difficult for me to actually enjoy any part of it. Simple as that.
The setup: They had the standard Illy coffee setup- a La Cimbali XP-1 machine made expressly for Illy, the grinder was also La Cimbali. The coffee, yes Illy.
Either way, the place has what most Roman cafes do not have, which is ample room to sit and lounge about. I saw a family and plenty of folks with computers on and just chilling there. Nobody is going to kick you out if you’ve had just one espresso in the last 2 hours. So this is a nice thing to know, especially since the US Embassy is just a block away – and you’ll need a place to chill before going there. Overall very nice, with yuppy soft-Jazz music being played in the background.
Doney Caffè
Wero Management SRL
Café & Restaurant Doney
Via Veneto 145
00187 Roma