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Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee
Spinelli Caffè is on Via dei Mille, right next to the Nicaragua Bar Caffè. Funny how Rome is, that it can have two cafes sitting right next to each other, literally, and both can still eek out a living. Funny also how different both places felt. The Spinelli Caffè was packed with cops when I went in. It was also packed with office workers, and it was packed with a very amicable atmosphere. There were probably folk from the Ministry of Interior or the Bank of Italy that are hugging the café, but either way, it was packed. The barista was very courteous, and greeted everybody by already setting out what they wanted before they asked. When I walked in, he asked me if Id also like a café, I agreed. While I had my coffee, the funny thing is that almost everybody I saw come in and go, did so without paying. Hadn’t seen this before, but I’m sure it’s related to them coming for lunch or something and ordering a ‘menu’. They had a small room in the left hand side of the bar with some tables. There were also tons of people getting ‘to go’ plastic bins full of stuff they had right there on display on the small bar.
This is what I got for a coffee:
Presentation: While I waited, the barista placed this really large black, rubber looking saucer on the bar. Boy I thought, I hope it’s not a gargantuan espresso cup. But to my surprise, this is what it was, a smaller than expected, round, and nice cup. The spoon was teeny as well. No water offered, but I felt I could have asked and that it would have been given without hassle. The coffee was freshly ground for me, I was in luck as the big batch of cops that entered before me had emptied out the hopper on the La Cimbali grinder.
Temperature of Cup: The cup was warm, not hot, and great temperature.
Quantity: It was a full on one ounce (30ml) espresso. Not overabundant, and on the mark.
Temperature: Yup, this was also on the mark. We’re doing good, the coffee was warm but not scalding.
Volume/Consistency: It was thin, but not runny. It had a thin film of coffee grinds that I could physically taste in my mouth. It was interesting as it indeed had oils that were coating my mouth. It was an impression of a light coffee, one that probably should have been just a tad bit shorter.
Crema: It was uniform in color, grainy, thin, and also, almost non-persistent. After the 2nd sip of coffee I had, it had almost disappeared.
Odor: No coffee smell, even though I saw and heard the coffee being ground for me. Maybe, I got the very end of the last batch of ground coffee in the hopper?
Taste: It was of course flat in taste, in relation to fruitiness or complexity. This is expected with Roman coffee. It was bitter, but not rancid. However, it was very sharp, and filled my mouth with a tingling that I experience in other coffee as well. Almost a numbness to it all.
Overall: It was solid mid to lower end Roman coffee. It was a whole lot better than the neighbor’s coffee. But it was simple, with a uniform taste that shot through whatever other taste in my mouth I might have had. It is like the glass of water you’re supposed to have ‘before’ to clean the palate, this washed away anything of lunch that might have been left and filled it with caffeine. Not necessarily a bad thing, and it was, again, a coffee one can’t complain at.
The setup: They had the pervasive machine in Rome, the La Cimbali M34 four group espresso machine. The Grinder was the same brand. The coffee, a new one for me, was Caffè Mauceri (Facebook here). This is roaster close to Rome in the coastal town of Civitavecchia, which is just north west of Rome. I hadn’t tried their stuff before, and by what I got here, it seems to have a lot more potential than what I got here. It didn’t have a rancid profile and probably, had there been more coffee in the portafilter, I would have gotten a lot thicker and juicier espresso. Will hopefully get to try it in a different place!
Spinelli Caffè
Chicco Caffè S.R.L.S.
Via dei Mille 58-60
00185 Roma