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ANDREOTTI CAFFETTERIA PASTICCERIA, VIA OSTIENSE 54B, 00154 ROMA
- Nov 11, 2015
- 3 min read
Rating: Standard, low-end Illy being served
That’s the nice thing about Rome, each time you think you’ve passed a niece espresso house, you turn a corner and find yet another one. The Andreotti Caffetteria Pasticceria is a place that’s been kicking out pastries and coffee since 1931. A little less than a decade ago, according to it’s website, it was revamped. It’s a nice place, sleek as all new places are, and inviting. Has ton’s of people in it, even more pastries, and lots of sitting space outside. It really looks like a place where you can relax in a very nice surrounding. And this is no small feat on the Via Ostiense which apart from the Cafe Letterario (which is always closed!) there’s really not many semi-decent places on this avenue. Everything is kind of down and dumpy. So quite a nice change.
Enough about decor and junk, let’s go straight to the meat of the question:
Presentation: I paid first because there was a ton of people on the bar, and usually the barista doesn’t want to be held responsible for a non-paying client. So I made eye contact with him, and he looked away… he was busy drying cups. No stress, no problem. He and another barista then took a slew of orders (like six or seven) and didn’t seemed to committed. My espresso was milked from a double espresso, and no water was offered. Surely they would have given it, as I saw others on the counter.
Temperature of Cup: It was warm, yes, almost too darn warm. But it was still good.
Quantity: The cup is big and the espresso is rather long. It cold have been about a fourth-shorter for me and would have been stellar.
Temperature: It was rather on the very high temperature side. I didn’t burn my lips or tongue, but felt like a less calloused US drinker would have been burnt (unless, of course, they’re used drinking McDonald’s coffee! … yeah sorry I had to slip that one in somewhere!).
Volume/Consistency: It was thin, no body, couldn’t put my arms around anything and rather flat. The volume of the espresso didn’t lend itself to feeling any oils lingering on my palate.
Crema: Had some signs of life in it. It was darkish, had some currents in it reminding me of lava flows, and yet it was thin, dissipated quickly, and wasn’t really oily.
Odor: There was indeed a darkly charred coffee smell, which is definitely not usual for Illy coffee. I think this coffee was simply over brewed with a temperature that was too high. They didn’t flush the group before serving, nor did they seem attendant to the brew temperature.
Taste: Well, it was extremely bitter (no surprise here), but bitter in a way that Illy usually isn’t. Illy is like a Starbucks, you know what you’re getting (usually) – and this wasn’t the norm, it was almost rancid, yet didn’t get there.
Overall: It was simply low-end because of how darned bitter, thin and hot the drink was. Had it been a bit cooler, a bit shorter, and not so deeply bitter with a charred coffee smell, it would have been quite in the main and on par with other good Illy coffee I’ve had. But again, maybe this is to be had with sugar. Or as I’ve noted before, most places that serve pastries serve bitter-hell coffee. Maybe it’s to contrast the sugar bombs you’re also ingesting at the counter? Or maybe it’s what all Romans say “it’s the barista that does’t know how to make good coffee” and while that is indeed true, it might explain what’s going on here.
The setup: They had the normal La Cimbali three-group XP-1 and similar brand grinder like all Illy coffee setups do. It’s a great combo and able to spit out some amazing things if the will is there. Don't you love how they just placed the illy can on the hopper of the grinder?
The had an important piece of equipment sitting up on a shelf next to the other Illy cans… can you see the lever-tamper? Boy why didn’t they use it? Maybe just the fact of pausing one second with that contraption would have made the barista give out a better cup of java.
Pasticceria Caffetteria Andreotti S.r.l.
Via Ostiense 54B
00154 Roma
Tel. 06 575 0773
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