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Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee
Rome's cafe culture keeps on surprising me, even after visiting over 250 cafes and counting. The EUR area is packed with offices, and thus, packed with cafes. As I walked around an area I thought was surely free of cafes, there I found a handful of places. I decided to visit the Shakespeare Bar Caffè. It’s right next to a really fancy hand-made tailor suit place that has really sharp pieces there, and probably sharper prices. The Shakespeare café is small in its interior, yet has a covered outside patio for folks to sit and smoke at ease. Inside I encountered a curvy bar, with a barista cum owner that looked like a late 40 something mom with tattoos peering out from various parts of her visible skin. She was really accommodating and I felt like a part of the family in her care. Without being overly sexist, the barista simply made everybody who walked in the door feel welcomed by some prepared salutation or comment regarding some prevous conversation they’ve had.
After she confirmed what type of coffee I had asked, this is what I was served:
Presentation: This was a cup I’ve encountered before, and usually I cringe when I see it as it’s a very powerful coffee, capable of tearing a hole in my stomach. No water was given, but I felt I could have asked. In Rome, people are outspoken, so thus, if you want something, you’re expected to say it. The cup was clean, the spoon short and proper, all was good.
Temperature of Cup: It was hot, not over the top and impossibly hot, but on the higher end of what I can comfortably hold in my fingers for more 5 seconds.
Quantity: The potential for overdoing it in this cup is big, but the shot was short, restrained, and yet not a ristretto. It was great. Funny that I saw that she gave shorter shots to other clients in their cup. Maybe she saw I was not a regular and spitted out ‘more for my buck’. But yeah, this was a longer pull for her than for the other clients. I think the shorter shot would have been good.
Temperature: The espresso warm and cooler than I expected. Nice.
Volume/Consistency: It was oily, syrupy, not very thick actually, thin, but akin to drinking sunflower seed oil vs. olive oil.
Crema: The crema was dark, persistent, and yet also thin like the consistency of the coffee.
Odor: Yup, warm dark-roasted coffee smell. This was great!
Taste: It was rich, a whole lot richer than I imagined, it was thick and not extremely bitter. It was a sharp, extremely sharp espresso that made my mouth somewhat numb by the bitterness. It was nowhere rancid, but bitter.
Overall: It was a very simple espresso in its taste, it was not complex, just upfront strong and punchy. Really, the saving grace of this coffee was its consistency. That while being thin, it was oily and this is what made it interesting and actually quite decent.
The setup: It was actually quite simple and in my taste, quite good. They had a Royal Espresso Diadema espresso machine, I’m coming to really like these Royal Espresso machines lately! The grinder, another brand that I’m appreciating more and more, Anfim. It was a really solid and excellent flat burr grinder. The coffee is Circi Caffè. This is a coffee that is usually extremely bitter and sharp, and much like Palombini, tends to easily dip into the rancid coffee family, so common here in Rome. But here it was decent, under control and not offensive.
Bar Shakespeare Caffè
Sortero Adriano
Viale Shakespeare 61
00144 Roma
Tel. 333 736 1365
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