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LA LICATA BAR CAFFÈ, VIA DEI SERPENTI 165, 00184 ROMA


Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee




My experience of the La Licata Bar Caffè is an interesting one (here's their FB page). Often I taste a few espressos in a row, and am able to gage how each of them compares to the other. This is the place I tasted right after having coffee at the Roscioli Caffè Pasticceria. This latter place has received lots of hype, and brews Giamaica Caffè (rated by some to be in the top 10 roasters in Italy.. I AM skeptical of these bs blanket statements by the way!). The La Licata Bar Caffè is located in Monti right next to the piazza della Madonna dei Monti. So lots and lots of traffic by hipster Romans and tourists alike. It has a no frills attitude, that is not necessarily welcoming, but not rude either. So let’s give it a try.​

Asking for coffee got me the following:​

​Presentation: Nice cup. Clean, not too big, and look at this, no label either! Usually something’s up when a cup has no label. No water offered, but it seemed he would have obliged if I had asked…


Temperature of Cup: Yikes, damned hot it was I say.


Quantity: It was a good full one ounce (30 ml) espresso. I was happy.


Temperature: Well, nice, the espresso itself was very good. It wasn’t so hot, nor boiling. I did wait about a minute an a bit more before having it (as the cup was indeed too hot).


Volume/Consistency: It was thin, not silky, nor runny but had a slight oily texture that pushed the consistency more towards a purer thinner paper quality than satiny. Not altogether unpleasant.


Crema: It was dark on the outside, with a little peninsula of lighter area to one side, so a bit over extracted. It had a grainy consistency, almost sandy. It wasn’t particularly oily, and yet it was persistent.​

Odor: Wow, dark roasted coffee smell. No caramels, no other magical non-coffee smells were present. However, it was decent, and not charred coffee that was coming out of the cup.


Taste: It was bitter, not rancid, and controlled. It tasted a like it was a lighter roast than the smell of it, as I felt that characteristic high acidity of lighter roasts. Also, something that augmented that was a slight tingling after-taste to the drink.​

​Overall: It was a decent coffee, it wasn’t a nicely finished on the edges as I’d liked it, but it was good. Straight-up solid mid-range coffee. Its characteristics were the high caffeine /acidity and a thin, sharp consistency. Let’s say that it held its own in comparison to the coffee being served at the Roscioli Caffè.


The setup: It was nice, they had a vintage looking Vibiemme (VBM) machine, with a Faema grinder. There was also a small, and better direct dosage Astora grinder for decaf (man, those decaf drinkers get all the best stuff!). The coffee being served, well… here’s what they told me, and this was after asking the barista and the guy at the register. The barista first said, ‘coffee’… I asked, what is the name of the coffe, the brand, is it Negresco? Gima Caffe? What are you serving…? He replied, “hm… it’s an artiginal coffee, its specially roasted for us.” He wouldn’t bother with me anymore and gave me the gesture to run along… So I asked the same question to the cashier and he, having overheard the barista, said the same thing. I said if I could buy some and he said ‘no’. End of story.​


Bar La Licata

La Licata Paola

Via dei Serpenti 165

00184 Roma

Tel. 06 488 4746

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