top of page
Roasters In Rome
Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Lastest Posts

LIN SNACK BAR CAFFÈ, VIA DEL PIÈ DI MARMO 5, 00186 ROMA

  • Writer: coffeeinrome
    coffeeinrome
  • Mar 31, 2016
  • 2 min read

Rating: Standard, mid to low level Roman coffee



The Lin Snack Bar Caffè, we’ll, hold on. It’s actually just called ‘Snack Bar’ and since there’s a gazillion of these in Rome (yes every other corner has a ‘snack bar’), we’ll call this the Lin Snack Bar, so that we know precisely where to find it! Either way, this place is in a cool sounding street – the “street of the marble foot” and its on a by-way of many sights in downtown Rome. It’s guaranteed to get clients…It’s a monolocale, narrow and long, and very calm. It’s got some inherited 1980s vinyl covered interior, with a dark end with slot machines. It’s run by a pop and son duo that take the coffee business very straight forward- methodical, I’d say. With the slew of tourists, there’s little opportunity for anything else. When I asked for a coffee, the guy took out his ear buds from his phone, as I interrupted his TV viewing, and went through the motions silently, without looking at me one second.​


This is what I got:​

Presentation: Nice cup. I like this brand usually (in comparison of other Roman roasters). Cup was clean, spoon was tiny, and a bit small for this cup. All was in order. No water given.


Temperature of Cup: It was good, not very hot, I was happy.


Quantity: Long shot, very big espresso, I’d say a bit over an ounce.


Temperature: Good, not very hot.


Volume/Consistency: It was silky, not oily, not heavy, it was light and repeatable. It didn’t have any thick coffee grinds inside and it was very smooth.


Crema: It was perfectly even, it was not over extracted. And yet light and uniform. It was persistent and not very oily. This is a mix that has little robusta in it, probably 30%.​

Odor: Very slight coffee roasted smell. I liked it.


Taste: It had a very acidic front taste, wasn’t rancid, and opened up to a flat, somewhat stale taste that is not characteristic of this coffee. But then, as I got through the end of the espresso, I started to find that after this flatness, when I lingered more on the espresso, that I found some notes of nuttiness… of some sort.​

​Overall: It was decent, flattish, not remarkable, and neither offensive. It lacked in volume, consistency, and character.


The setup: They had a spartan, and very nice Grimac E-61 based espresso machine. The grinder I couldn’t make out, and the coffee was Gran Caffè Santos. Again, this is a local Roman roaster that tends to have consistently good coffee. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything rancid from them. That speaks volumes!​

Snack Bar Caffè

Lin Tiangsheng

Via del Piè di Marmo 5

00186 Roma

 
 
 

1 Comment


Kathy Simmons
Kathy Simmons
May 03, 2024

So. how many cafes charge 4 euros for a cafe latte, at small, humble, hole in the wall cafe. At the Bar. not seated? if you sit, 4,50 euros


Can't tell you how their latte tasted. I said NO thanks and walked out, returning the following day with several receipts from popular (if not famous) java joints near the pantheon, showing Mrs Lin the price of a latte: 1.80 at the bar...seated 4.00 euros. I was shooed out, but not before speaking with Mrs Lin in Mandarin since it was the only language we both shared.


Decide for yourself if this is a cafe worth having a coffee? OR anyting else they might serve.



Like

© 2015 Coffee In Rome

bottom of page