Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Rating: Standard, mid-level Roman coffee
In the heart of the Monti area, between the famous Via Cavour and Via Panisperna you find the promising cafe Er Baretto ‘L’Arte del Caffè‘. Its a laboratory for ‘Roman’ styled coffee, meaning not third wave, but the traditional mixed flavor coffees.
Look at a screen-shot of their online menu:
At some point I’ll have to review these types of espressi, but they’re essentially coffee ‘n somethin’ (they’re actually quite – indeed- quite good). Either way, the cafe has a pretty outside with dainty flowers. The interior is similarly more reminiscent of a ‘girl-centered’ (sorry for the sexist remark) old-lady tea drinking room than a hipster cafe or pure steampunk coffee house, which is what the vibe tends to be at other coffee centered places. Its almost looks like an art-deco haven, but it’s quite there. Its very dark and calm and the interior is bathed with crass soft jazz (the same that is constantly spewing from their website) and that’s odd since the St Louis School of Music in Rome is just down the street… you’d think that they’d at least put some John Coltrane or something!
Either way, asking for a coffee gets you the following:
Presentation: Interesting, no water was offered. but the cup was large, a cappuccino cup? At least a macchiato cup! It was white, crisp, had a fun handle, had a well placed Mondi Caffè coffee roaster logo on it, and it had the cafe’s logo as well – which is a flower design cappuccino. Given that Mondi Caffè is associated with the nascent third wave scene here, I thought this would be a stellar espresso. But let’s not jump to conclusions, you can never do that in Rome, that’s for sure!
Temperature of Cup: It was good, rather cold I’d say. Fingering the cup from the top, the rim wasn’t that hot, nor was the handle. It was tepid, and that’s OK.
Quantity: The espresso was rather long. It’d have to be just because the cup was so large at the bottom. This was going to be a long ride!
Temperature: The espresso was not scalding, nor cold, it was actually good. So I didn’t realize where the cup was pulled from, and there was indeed quite a lot of cups stacked up on the machine. But the odd thing about them is that they were all ‘facing’ up. So the rim of the cups was in open air and thus, not cradling in the heat from the boiler.
Volume/Consistency: Thin, a bit silky, but not as textured laden as I’d hoped from this roaster and from the name of the bar. I expected something that’d be a definitive step above the rest. It was a light affair, just like the soft jazz in the background.
Crema: It was light, thin, sandy in texture, and definitely not persistent. This is due to Mondi Caffè generally being full Arabica or high content blends. Either way, not very oily as I’d expect.
Smell: It was indeed there! There was a warmth to the smell of coffee that I hadn’t experienced in a long while here in Rome, bravo!
Taste: The taste was pleasant, it was lightly bitter, quite thin, smooth, and nowhere near rancid. It had a flattish profile, without the perception of any floral, nutty, or tangy flavors.
Overall: It was an OK cup. Not oily, not very creamy. It was simply a mid-range Roman espresso. It was particularly softer than others, but not in the light-roast acidic vs bitter sense, but in the thinly brewed coffee.
The setup: They had a beautiful Faema three group beast with a like-branded grinder. The coffee being roasted is Mondi Caffè which is a East-Roman based roaster that is promoting a bunch of young baristas and semi-third wave events in Rome. Not their best representation here.
And the odd thing is that the barista (see the photo gallery on the Er Baretto’s website) is a competition barista, always ending up in the finalist list of competitions. So interesting to note that there’s not more fine-tuning of the coffee.
Er Baretto
L’Arte del Caffè
M. & M. San Giorgio S. A.S.
di Eskandar Magdi Michaeil & C.
Via del Boschetto 132
00184 Roma
Tel. 06 482 0444