Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee
It was about 3 minutes to closing time for the 370 Gradi Bar Caffè on the Viale Beethoven in the EUR area. The barista-owner was busy cleaning up shop and there was a friend-client of his who was pouring out his pocket onto the counter to come up with .90 cents to pay for the coffee. As the barista saw me come in, he hesitated for a minute, as if to tell me to stay or go, but when I said all I wanted was a coffee (which I saw him preparing for the guy already there) he gave me a nod that all was fine. The locale is divided on two levels, the opening bar area gives way to a smaller area in the back that is raised about a meter off ground with some tables. The place is sleek, clean, greys, blacks and lots of white. It is not trying to be ‘Roman-chic’ (which is usually gaudy), but simply clean, professional and in order. Something that the ton-load of business folk in the EUR area will feel comfortable in. By the time the barista had acknowledged that I wanted a coffee, he was already grinding coffee into the porta filter, so I was just in time.
This is the cup I got placed in front of me:
Presentation: Nice, clean, to the point. Rather large cup, made for an abundant drink. No water was offered, and he probably would have obliged, but hell, it would have added those few precious minutes to his closing routine before being able to head home after a long day. I didn’t ask.
Temperature of Cup: It was good, warm, not boiling.
Quantity: Short shot, even better. At this hour I couldn’t stand having a triple espresso as some places delve out.
Temperature: Good temperature as well. Great.
Volume/Consistency: It was initially thin. Thin at the top somehow (which is counterintuitive when you take in the crema), and then became very creamy. Sandy almost and crispy texture. It was good.
Crema: It was cakey on the borders, in the center a bit thin, and started to clear up like a cloudy sky as I waited to drink the coffee, so in a matter of 15-20 seconds. It added to the coffee towards the second half of the drink, not in the first two sips.
Odor: There was no smell of coffee. Not sure when the coffee was grounded into the basket of the grinder.
Taste: It was a very simple, easily confinable taste- it was very bitter, tended towards rancid (never got there though) and very sharp. Bitterness and dark-roasted coffee was the profile that predominated. No fruits, etc. that we would expect of lighter roasted beans treated to different roasting and post-roast care.
Overall: It was an OK coffee, solid. Fantini is a decidedly ‘traditional’ Roman roaster that aims a giving a taste of ‘tradition’. I’ve had conversations with baristas as to why this coffee and it’s because for them, it typifies “Roman” coffee. Can’t argue with that, can I? It was solid mid to lower end coffee. No complaints.
The setup: I guess with this beautiful Royal Espresso Galileo and a Fiorenzato F5 grinder we could have done a lot crazier and tasteful things with the coffee. But the limits of the Fantini Caffè probably wouldn’t have allowed us to do anything better. I’d be interested to get a chance to play with some of these charred-to-death coffee bean roasts and see what one can do.
Bar 370 Gradi Caffè
Hosny Ahmed
Viale Beethoven 20
00144 Roma
Tel. 06 591 9489
#Bar370GradiCaffeVialeBeethovenRoma #FantiniCaffeRoma #RoyalEspressoMachineRome #FiorenzatoGrinderRome #BestespressoinRome #Bestcoffeehousesinrome #Bestcafesinrome #BestcoffeeinRome #cafecoffeebarsreviewsespressoRomeItaly #EspressoRomaRecensione #RecensioneCaffeRecensioniRoma #CoffeeInRome #ThirdWaveCoffeeRomeItaly