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Rating: Standard, very good Roman-styled Lavazza coffee
Here’s a nice surprise for those of you with an inclination for motorcycles. I like bikes like any person, not crazy about them, but notice a nice one when I see one. I’ve past this café probably a hundred times and thought I should go in there on day. When the day came, I was very glad that it was a very nice experience, a lot better than I imagined! The Ducati Caffè Roma is right next to the Largo di Torre Argentina plaza and touching the small area on its lower right hand corner called the Piazza dei Calcari. It is a café, but also a restaurant, and souvenir shop- that is, what a traditional café here is in Rome- a catch all convenience store selling coffee (see their facebook page). Let’s see what I’m interested in, which is just a black traditional espresso, with no bells, or whistles.
Asking for a coffee got me the following:
Presentation: Yes, a nice Ducati branded cup of coffee, water was served immediately, and the cup was the size-style that I am particularly fond of. The cup of water was large but not overfull. Things started off well.
Temperature of Cup: Even though the espresso was brewing at a very high temperature, the cup itself was warm and very good. Not scalding, not burning your fingers nor your hand.
Quantity: Just right, it was a short espresso, not long, not super ristretto, just a well rounded one ounce espresso (ca. 30ml).
Temperature: Well, the brewing temperature was hot as hell! Look below at the machine and you’ll see it was brewed at 95 Celcius! This equals 203 Fahrenheit… Usually the parameters are between 190 and 196 F. … But the espresso in the cup was actually not extremely hot. It was very hot but not scalding. But I admit I also waited about a minute before consuming it as I didn’t want to be burnt.
Volume/Consistency: It was thicker than I expected, creamier and silky. It had a thickish consistency and wasn’t wimpy or thin in any way.
Crema: The crema was thin, fluid, elastic and peppery (more than you can see in the picture). It was very dark and monotone and didn’t show much signs of over-extraction. However it was uniform, and showed a limited oil profile. It was persistent and added to the taste experience of the espresso.
Odor: There was a very good dark-roasted smell of coffee. This is the ‘typical’ smell that Folgers wants us to smell when we open up a can of their coffee (yes yes…) and it was present here. I was glad!
Taste: It was a very bitter but not rancid coffee. It had a tangy, spicy taste that was interesting and tended towards a pepper flavor.
Overall: While the taste was honed in, it didn’t have a broad taste nor other third-wave coffee qualities. It was solidly Lavazza, which isn’t bad, but it was indeed one of the best Lavazza’s I’ve had in Rome so far. Let’s see why…
The setup: They had a beautiful La Cimbali M100 machine with independently controlled group head temperatures. As you can see, all read 95C. The grinder was a Mazzer. What made the coffee good was what I witnessed while having my coffee. A person walked in and mumbled that he wanted a coffee ‘to go’. But the barista didn’t hear it, and gave the guy a coffee in a ceramic cup. When she realized this, she immediately pulled the cup from the bar and threw the espresso away. The guy got all worked up, asking why she threw it away- She replied that the coffee doesn’t taste the same. Whether that’s true or not, she went on to explain how she really cared for how the coffee was brewed, how it tasted, and the experience of drinking it. She seemed like she really gave a crap about what she served! And this translated directly into how good my cup indeed was! Bravo!
The Café has lots of cool stuff, Ducati’s on the wall, on expo, historic photos, etc, and then even in the gift-shop section you can buy a cup if you’d like. Pretty cool- trendy café.
Ducati Caffè Roma
Manage S.r.L.
Via Delle Botteghe Oscure 35
00186 Roma
Tel. 06 6889 1718