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Rating: Standard, Mid-level Roman espresso
The Caffè Dell’Arco is a no frills kind of place. When I walked in the owner of the barista was sitting there in the dim light checking his old semi-smart phone. That’s odd because this is one of the new places in Rome that accepts the WIN Point cash-less electronic payment, an Italian wide e-payment network (Piace Punto) that offers its users discounts for spending in the WIN network. So that was a nice surprise. When he saw I took a photo of my coffee he asked if I liked the cup. I said yes, and he replied that the cups have been disappearing… people like to take his cups. I said I only like to photograph them. Then the discussion came onto where I was from and well.. to the his take on American coffee. He called it in his dialect a “na ciofeca” essentially something crappy with no real character. He said this, what he served, was real coffee. Again, this conversation shows that while I might have a bias against this extremely bitter and at times purely rancid espresso served in Rome, it’s what people here like and expect. The owner was cool about it and very jovial, a guy in his late 50s that seemed pretty fatalistic, and with a sense of humor.
This is what I got placed in front of me:
Presentation: The cup was a cherry bright red, and it’s a nice change. The interior a nice white that contrasts yet again with the dark brown coffee. It’s a rather large cup that serves for macchiato. It’s large size also helps to hone in any coffee smell that might be coming from it. No water was offered, but we were talking so I assume that the barista/owner felt I could have just asked for it. The spoon, if you look, had a ‘Lavazza’ brand on it, so it seems that at some point in the café’s history, it changed coffee brands. Bravo for choosing something local!
Temperature of Cup: The cup was very hot, hotter than I would have liked. And the thing was that he took the cup off the second row of cups. Meaning that it wasn’t first in line against the espresso machine- hence a bit cooler than the other cups.
Quantity: The espresso was a full one to one and a half ounces (30-40 ml.). In this cup it looked just right. It probably was a bit too long for my taste, but no complaints. I could have been a lot worse in this style of cup which gives a barista more wiggle room.
Temperature: After waiting a bit, I had the coffee and it was still very warm- but not scalding. It was on the high-end of what I can drink without getting burnt. This is oh so typical of Roman coffee.
Volume/Consistency: It was thinner than I expected. It was not thick, nor silky but rather wispy and light. Not sandy. It was not paper thin either, but light, very light and I could have had another espresso immediately.
Crema: The crema was uniform, thin and persistent. It didn’t show much character and shows, in my opinion, that there was not enough coffee in the porta filter, or the grind too thick.
Odor: There was a thin smell of dark roasted coffee here. I was very glad, and happy to sense this in the cup!
Taste: The taste was strong, but not powerful. It was a mild espresso that left room for being able to savor it and taste the coffee profile. It was flat and unidirectional as all Roman coffee is. There are no bursts of metaphors here, just straight bitter.
Overall: Without any rancid notes, and no oil content the coffee was a good standard, and surprisingly light affair. After speaking to the owner and learning his opinion of the Roman coffee, I was expecting instant death in a cup, or edible tar. But no, I got a light, strong and repeatable espresso. It was good.
The setup: they had a nice and tidy San Marco semi-automatic machine, with a DRM grinder that was boxy, sleek and somehow cool- I'm starting to like more and more these DRMs!. I liked the difference in contours between the San Marco, with its lush curved ends and the square box DRM. The coffee being served was one I hadn’t had in a few weeks, the Caffè Gran Santos. This local Roman roaster usually offers up some really good and thick espresso that is not rancid.
Caffè Dell'Arco
Viale Delle Milizie 88-92
00192 Roma
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