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Rating: Poor, low-end Roman coffee
The Bar Caffè Checco er Carettiere in Trastevere is really quaint, from that 'traditional' Roman bar point of view. It's a cafe, a pastry shop, and an ice-cream parlor. Its in a cool locale with fun heavy and imposing looking arches. When I walked inside it was packed with south American tourists, and I had to squeeze myself onto the bar as they were packed in tight. As I sat there on the bar, I could hear the owners of the bar chatting with other locals, and it's always about somebody not getting payed, or about some economic problem. That's the 'lingua franca' of bar talk here in Rome.
Asking for a coffee got me this:
Presentation: Well, even though it was packed, the barista wasn't spitting out espressi like mad, so he had time to give me a cup of water, but he didn't. Maybe because at the time that I had the coffee, it's only tourists doing such mad things. But either way, since it was Trastevere I'm not sure if I would have been charged for a cup of water or not. The cup was clean, a rather elegant upward fluted cup that was nice. It fit the surroundings, and it fit Trastevere well, I thought... The spoon was to measure. All was in order. I even liked the 'mondicaffè' logo on the inside of the cup. There were custom order pieces.
Temperature of Cup: Boy, first negative mark- it was super hot! I had plenty of time to listen to the chatter around me.
Quantity: Short shot, that was positive.
Temperature: After I waited a bit, it was good and it was ready to be tasted.
Volume/Consistency: It was almost transparent how thin the coffee was. It felt as if the barista had pulled a third shot from a portafilter that hadn't been cleaned and left on the machine. That's how it tasted. But yet, I saw him fill it up and pull the shot... strange. Very thin, very light, very watery.
Crema: The crema was dark, sandy-looking and not persistent. Not really oily.
Odor: Nope, either there were too many people in the room and all I could smell was the perfume emaniting from the ticketly packed folk, or the heavy and rather hot air in side the bar.
Taste: It was very bitter, quite bitter. It was so sharp that it contrasted quite poorly with the thinness of the coffee.
Overall: I tried to finish it but simply couldn't. It was too bitter, and too thin, and just not a pleasant experience. The only thing going for it was the shortness of the shot, and the fact that it cooled down consierably by the time I tried to drink it.
The setup: I was suprised by all of this, because the Grimac espresso machine was an E-61 based one that was theoretically perfect for kicking out thick creamy espressi. The grinder was a normal work-horse La Cimbali.... But again, I was suprised because the brand that they were brewing is a normally good coffee, it's the Roman based Mondi Caffè. They do single-origin coffees and tend to be on the lighter side of roasts.
Checco Er Carettiere
Bar Pasticceria Gelateria
I Dolci di Checco S.A.S.
di Porcelli Laura & C.
Via Benedetta 7
00153 Roma
Tel. 06 581 1413
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