COMPARONE BAR CAFFÈ, PIAZZA IN PISCINULA 42, 00153 ROMA

Rating: Standard, low to mid level Roman coffee

The Comparone Bar Caffè, or Il Comparone as the receipt gives, is identifiable only by the big “Snack Bar Gelateria” beaming outside (but hell... their website says it's a darned restaurant!). Almost as if folks encountering it won’t realize that the tables and such outside mean ‘food’. But that’s another story, and part of the business ‘prowess’ of Rome, no? But when I walked in I was greeted by a very courteous and professional barista. When I left to pay, the cashier, an older lady, was very nice and also, courteous and actually boisterous. I had inadvertently cut off her conversation by wanting to pay before I left… so she excused herself profusely and started to joke around. Quite endearing! The place is the typical ‘brick and gesso’ style of ‘traditional roman’ osteria, and in fact it seems that the place doubles as a restaurant or something. But the bar area was nice and what you encounter as you walk in. I must say, that this is the ‘nicest’ cup I’ve been handed on the counter so far. Take a look.

This is what I got:

Presentation: Yup, very baroque, and I’d guess northern Italian traditional ‘hand painting’ (although this was not ‘hand painted’). But boy, fancy! I’m not a fan of traditional heavy-set junk, but this was simply endearing, like the cashier… No water was offered, but I felt I could have gotten a cup had I asked. The spoon was to size, and again, this café takes the prize for innovated cups, or ‘fancy’ cup award, if there’s ever such a thing!

Temperature of Cup: The cup was not extremely hot, it was tepid and I thought it was odd.

Quantity: Yup, long espresso, almost a cup of tea I felt. But fitting in such a fancy old-fashioned cup!

Temperature: Darn… I burnt not only my lips, but the inside of the upper pallet of my mouth (if you’re curious…). Yup, I somehow got caught up in the fact that the cup was nice, and that it was tepid. I didn’t sense the heat rising from the espresso, and there it was, another ‘job hazard’… Either way, I let it sit there for two minutes before I continued.

Volume/Consistency: After getting over being somewhat ticked off at burning my tongue, I tasted the coffee again. It was thin, runny, not oily, and simply wispy.

Crema: It was on the darker end, it was grainy, and let me know, through it’s lighter center, that it was obviously over-extracted. It wasn’t very persistent, and dissipated while I waited for the drink to cool down.

Odor: Nope, maybe that’s why I took the plunge so soon and burnt my mouth. Nothin’ was comin’ out o’ that cup!

Taste: It was bitter up front, and then simply flat in taste. It never got close to rancid, which was welcomed!

Overall: Besides the cup, it wasn’t remarkable in any particular way. The flat, stale-ish aspect of it didn’t push it into a solid mid-level Roman espresso, and it tended to be more towards the bottom of the barrel for me. The temperature, damned hot, makes me think I don’t want to repeat this place…

The setup: It was nice. They had a cool Vibiemme (VBM) espresso machine, with an Astoria Grinder. Then the coffee was Haiti Caffè Roma. This is a local roaster that does quite strong coffee. But also, some of the best espressi I’ve had have been by them… so definitely not the ‘best’ representation of their stuff!