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Rating: Poor, low-end Roman coffee
Facing the Vittorio Emanuele metro station and what’s more imposing, the Giardini Nicola Calipari (just a few blocks south of Rome) you run into the Lulu Bar Caffè. It’s a place that’s pulled out of a Chinese mafia movie. Inside you have lots of quiet starting middle-aged, heavy-set Chinese guys (I’m from California and grew up with Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Hong Kongese, Vietnamese, etc. friends so I’m not stereotyping asians here!). But yes, very much a scene of imposed hush and privacy here. But through this, there are slot machines blaring on the left hand side, and your good mix of immigrants with very different italian accents (incidentally they were all- all male) drinking their coffee. The two baristas where a middle-aged and then much younger Chinese ladies that were bright, happy and extremely accommodating. Let’s see what this crew is serving up!
I paid first, because usually in the confusion of lots of folks, baristas like to see a receipt placed on the counter:
Presentation: This was what I got. It was sleek, rather large cup, the spoon was clean, on the mark. Things were god. There were a few coffee grounds on the bottom of the cup, and it let me know that the tray on the machine was dirty. But, incidentally as I was drinking the coffee, the baristas were busy cleaning up the set. Water was very happily given after I asked for it. It was rather full large heaping to the rim glass of water.
Temperature of Cup: It was good, I was surprised. Danesi brewers tend to do extremes, either scalding hot or wet cold cups. Here we had a happy and correct medium between these.
Quantity: It was a full shot. Not doppio, but well towards the 2 ounce mark. Yet in the cup, it was a good size shot.
Temperature: Yup, this was good as well! Bravo! I’m starting to think differently about Danesi coffee.
Volume/Consistency: Thin, cutting, and wet. I had just come from drinking a really great espresso and this difference was just too obvious. It was razor thin.
Crema: The crema was picture perfect – that is – if you like mass marketing campaigns and sleek glossy poster designs where monotone colors help you differentiate what’s good from bad… the crema was shiny, glossy, acrylicky in view, and was thin, grainy and yet not persistent.
Odor: AHh… here’s where we start diving low really fast. When I smelled the coffee, boy was it rancid! A deep perfume of dark-charred roasted coffee rose into my nose. I felt a shudder go through my body as I smelled this and immediately got ready for a powerful and tough experience ahead.
Taste: Yup, there it was, I was missing one of these. A very rancid, deeply bitter cup of coffee. The guys next to me where downing these as if it was a shot of amaretto or something sweet- they looked a lot tougher than me, but boy was this simply a very rancid, deeply bitter and cutting coffee!
Overall: I tried to do it, but at this stage of the game, I felt I gave a good enough description of its good and bad qualities. For some, this surely is a ‘good coffee’ – for the hard-core Romans who like their coffee as astringent as possible, and who douse 2 packs of sugar in it to calm it down- but for me it was simply an undrinkable coffee. Had to leave the cup unfinished…
The setup: It was a clean, and very decent setup. They had a machine that I’m still to identify precisely but it was a ‘Danesi’ branded three-group machine, E-61 group based. The grinder was Mazzer. And the coffee was a locally roasted Roman brand of Danesi Caffè. I must admit, that I haven’t had any remarkable experiences with their roasts. And I am indeed willing to keep on trying and be convinced!
Lulu Bar Caffè
di Sun Ximu
Via Alfonso Lamarmora 3-5
00185 Roma