Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Rating: Standard, mid-level Roman Coffee
Here’s a really lovely staple of most tourists to Rome. It’s in the Monti area, and sits at the bottom of a beautiful building, right next to the Cavour Metro exit. The Bar Venezia Caffè dal 1922 has a rather large interior, that is decorated in yellows and light wood panelling, and thus reminiscent of traditional Roman food establishments. It’s always packed with a decent mix of locals and tourists, and during the summer it is just spilling with folk. So, with so many people’s lives affected by their little espresso machine, let’s take a look.
Asking for coffee at the bar got me this (out of courtesy to the baristas I paid first and presented them my receipt on the counter):
Presentation: Ahh yes! Water served immediately, and without asking. The cup was clean, crisp, and the espresso, unfortunately squeezed out for another cup as well so I got the nice ‘drip’ on the side of it. The cool thing of the cup is that it has a nice ‘BV dal 1922’ logo on it. Dug it. And the handle was interesting.
Temperature of Cup: It was great, not hot, not cold, perfect.
Quantity: On the spot. It was exact, almost at a milimeter below the halfway point of the cup. Great.
Temperature: Great as well. There was a nice fusion between the cup and the espresso- just as it should be. Feels like you’re pouring the actual ceramic into your mouth.
Volume/Consistency: It was lighter than I expected, it was thin, but not in a bad way. It was not outstanding, but raspy yet not rough.
Crema: It was light brown, not persistent. While its placement in the cup showed a nice buoyant ring, it wasn’t too oily as I’d have liked.
Odor: A dark roasted burnt smell arose from the cup. It wasn’t inviting, but not offensive either. I was glad something was rising up into my nose from the cup, and not the other way around!
Taste: It was very bitter as we can expect, but it wasn’t rancid. It didn’t have any oily profile so it didn’t have any type of complexity to it.
Overall: Given the thinness of it, and as you can see above, the lightness of the brew. It was a rather flat, decent, well executed coffee. Straight mid-range espresso. This itself speaks loads of the cafe and it’s management. At a place with so much traffic you’d expect others (which I’ve already reviewed here!) to cut corners everywhere and make more profit. Hell they have a steady source of income. But what this place does right are consistent quality.
The setup: And this is how they achieve it. A workhorse Faema E-71 with a grinder that looks like an old Anfim or Faema itself? Couldn’t tell. The coffee was Caffè Negresco, which is a local Roman roaster with very strong potent and robust coffee. But what was great about this bar is that the two baristas operating the machine knew what they were doing. I’ve been here quite a few times and it’s consistent good quality. Even if it’s not the best coffee in Rome, it’s a dependable, solid-quality coffee that’s being churned out. And in my opinion, this is what keeps the crowds constantly in flow.
Bar Venezia Caffè Gelateria Tabacchi
Flama Bar S.R.L.
Via Cavour 207
00184 Roma