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Rating: Standard, mid-range coffee
I had been to Milan a few months ago for the first time and I was surprised by the café culture there. The cafes were very much like in Barcelona, or Amsterdam, London or the Scandinavian countries: Places were you go to hang out, modern, and with a flair of hipness to them. Here in Rome, traditional Rome, you’ll have to look hard for something like this. The recently reviewed Baretto Caffè in Trastevere is close. But when I walked into the Ibiza Café I found that same ambience of delicate, modern, and welcoming environment that I found in the north. This place is made to sit, chill and enjoy. It has free Wi-Fi, and has been open since the beginning of 2015. And the owners are actually from Milan, so they’re sent on instilling that same coffee culture here in Rome. They made me feel welcomed and told me I could chill as much as I wanted in this café! Really great.
Asking for a coffee got me this:
Presentation: It was a small rounded barrel-shaped cup that I liked. When I turned it over, I saw this:
Yup, the MokaSirs brand. I was not particularly excited because I’ve had this coffee quite a few times before, and it was always particularly poor and rancid. So I hoped I would have gotten some light-roasted, fruity coffee from the Veneto area, but nope. No problem. I liked the fact that the brand of the coffee is not right in your face, so that’s considerate. Water was offered immediately without asking, and I got a lot of very friendly conversation from the owners. They were very nice people!
Temperature of Cup: It wasn’t extremely warm, it was good. Just right, no burning or numbness of fingers or dead burnt skin on my lips! The cups were placed face up and on two rows on the espresso machine, so I think this is the reason why the temperature was so mild.
Quantity: Very solid- straight espresso, probably a bit less than one ounce. I was happy.
Temperature: Warm, good. Excellent.
Volume/Consistency: It was thickish, not heavy, and not runny. It was a lighter espresso not necessarily oily as I like it, but neither silky. It was a straight compromise between watery and sludgly. Good.
Crema: It was dark, grainy, persistent, and yet not oily or sandy. The espresso wasn’t overextracted, so that was great.
Odor: Slight smell of freshly grounded coffee. This is very positive, a rare occurrence in Rome!
Taste: It was bitter up front, a strong punch. It then opened up to the lighter bitterness and a flat profile so typical of Roman dark-roasted espresso. Then, I was left with an after taste that brought on the dark taste of coffee.
Overall: It was good, solid, and nothing of third-wave, but solid strong, sharp espresso so prevalent and sought after here in Rome. The perks of this place? The fact that you have a really great environment to chill, to meet folks and to enjoy sweets and coffee as you like. It felt like a piece of northern Italy here in the ‘south’. I’ll have to return to this place.
The setup: They had a brand new La Cimbali M22 espresso machine, a nice large Mazzer grinder, and they were serving a northern Italian roaster, MokaSirs Caffè. It’s a very dark-roasted coffee, one that I don’t particularly enjoy much, but here was a bit more restrained. It was good. The owners thought this coffee was excellent, and it was a deliberate choice, so this is indeed their expression of their coffee taste. Can't argue with this!
Ibiza Café
di Esposito Fiorella
Via Francesco Grimaldi 30
00146 Roma
Tel. 06 6935 1838