ROSSANA 1946 BAR CAFFÈ, VIA DEI CHIAVARI 16-18, 00186 ROMA

Rating: Poor, rancid Roman coffee

The Rossana 1946 Bar Caffè is a good place to chill. It’s close to the Campo de Fiori, yet very quiet and calm. It’s got two large umbrellas outside and plenty of people relaxing. The décor of the place is the standard dark-wood lined with panels in burgundy or green, simply the standard fare for a ‘traditional’ conservative café here in Rome. The staff seemed interested in what had happened to one of their employees knee on their way to work that morning, and the service was a bit dim. It was three young ladies and myself at the bar, one a Slavik, another a Filippine and the others German. And with me the American, we had a crowd. But the barista didn’t give much of a hoot for service, who cares right? We’re tourists after all, a dime a dozen here in Rome, … what a pity this had to influence his ‘service’ I thought. But then again, ‘service’ (being polite, courteous, and generally well mannered to clients) is an ‘American’ thing right? …

Asking for a coffee got me this:

Presentation: Short stout cup of the kind I like. Their shape defines the amount of coffee you can pour into it, and usually – it’s a short affair. No water offered, and I got a short glass only after I asked for it. Things are OK so far. Spoon was clean, small and perfect for this cup.

Temperature of Cup: Well, it was hot, it was super hot. I somehow lost my concentration (was I looking at the other folk next to me on the bar, or listening to the poor employees motorcycle accident that messed up her knee? I don’t know). But read on…

Quantity: Very shor shot, a ristretto in any other place of the world. I was happy.

Temperature: Yeah, piping hot damned coffee. Somehow I didn’t realize how absurdly hot the cup was, but when I put it to my lips it really burnt my tongue like crazy! Damn was I angry!

Volume/Consistency: It was grainy, thickish, and held its own.

Crema: Crema was darker than pictured, persistent and yet thin. No real signs of oily fresh beans, but whatever. It did its job. I looked ‘classic’ and good.

Odor: No real odor. Nothing new in Rome.

Taste: Ah… here’s the next kicker. So far, except the stupid temperature of this espresso, things were good. And I could have waited (like I did!) for the cup to get cooler. But mama mia, it was rancid, the espresso was just terrible. It tasted like Coca-Cola and rancidness together.

Overall: Overall, I simply couldn’t bother finishing it. It was yet another one of those espressos that are off, not right, and something’s wrong. Why chance it? Maybe it was the high temperature that charred the beans beyond taste, or something with the water filter not being clean, I don’t know. But this espresso was simply terrible. I’d love to be convinced otherwise. I couldn't finish the cup...

The setup: They had a decent E-Nova Faema 3 group espresso machine that is smart, and capable of beautiful espresso. The grinder looked like some type of Astoria, and the coffee was Haiti Caffè Roma. A Roman based roaster. It usually delivers a lot better espresso than this!