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QUADRANI BAR CAFFÈ, VIALE DI TRASTEVERE 110, 00153 ROMA
Rating: Standard, Low-End Roman coffee
The Quadrani Bar Caffè is one of those places that sees to always be busy. The morning that I passed by, it was quiet outside but had a good 5 to 6 folks either sitting looking at the Lotto screen, or at the bar finishing their drinks. Its a rather large double locale, with the left hand side being the standard 7-Eleven like unit, towards the center is the bar, and then on the right hand side are a slew of tables. As you can see, the storefront says it is a ‘cafe, restaurant, and sweets’ place. All-in-one type of business. Its even been mentioned in a Wall-Street journal article about cafes in Rome, so I’ve been curious as to what happens in here with its coffee. As usual, things don’t hold water. And this, even after months of going through ‘Roman’ cafes and not just putting on my wannabe hipster sensibility of wanting ‘Third Wave coffee’. However, as everything, there’s three time rule. If by the third time the coffee is bad, then we can give a safe opinion. At the time of writing, this is what I got served to me.
After I paid first at the register (which seemed odd in this establishment), I presented my receipt at the bar and got this:
Presentation: I got served a nice large rather boxy vintage cup. It looked vintage at least. The porcelain was a bit off-white, the ‘Casali’ logo on it was fading, and it looked classic 80s. The saucer was not original to it. No water was offered, and well, i was given the look to mind my own business and down the darn thing. The spoon was a little over the top in relation to how big it was, and the space it had to stir any sugar a client might want to put in there.
Temperature of Cup: The cup was warm, very warm, almost too warm.
Quantity: It was rather small shot, especially the large size of the cup. In a regular espresso cup, it would have probably been a full one ounce or maybe a bit more.
Temperature: When I drank it it was hotter than expected. It wasn’t scalding, but borderline. I should have let this one sit just a bit longer. Mind you, Romans are trained to drink their espressi scalding hot… so take these observations with a grain of salt.
Volume/Consistency: Thin, watery, wet, and runny. Nothing holding it up except H2O. No oils, no nothin’.
Crema: The crema had a nice light brown sheen to it. It even had some slight peppering on it that gave it signs of some former life. However, it was thin, non persistent, and didn’t add much to the conjunct. The properties of the crema could have been due to the coffee mix, or the setup. I believe it’s the latter.
Odor: No odor here, just stale coffee.
Taste: Well, let’s say that it was extremely rancid. It was so cutting that it took a lot of will power to drink all of the cup. I drank so much simply because I wanted to give this darn espresso a real chance to change my mind, but nope, each sip took, turned for the worse. It was simply deeply rancid coffee. It felt like the water was off and the beans just charred.
Overall: Not a pleasant experience, even by Roman coffee standards, let alone by a Third Wave palate… The only thing not making this not a straight-out ‘poor’ coffee was that it wasn’t scalding hot.
The setup: They had a rather large La Cimbali machine on the move. The grinder was hidden behind but it was also the same brand. Well, the coffee I had to confirm what was being served. The barista the served me, pulled the shot and left the scene of the crime immediately. Actually, folks were surprised to see me waiting and I felt like the barista kind of walked in and filled somebody else’s shoes for a second. Then, while I waited for somebody, the cashier lady passed by and I asked her for the coffee brand. She said it was El Mokado Caffè, an Ariccia based (near Rome) roaster. It is usually very good, so here at this place we’re simply discussing the setup that’s at stake.
Quadrani Bar Caffè
Bar Tabacchi Tavola Calda
Quadrani Giovanni
Viale di Trastevere 110
00153 Roma
Tel. 06 5810623