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Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee
Walking into the Oddi Bar Caffè was like walking into a closet of curiosities. It was super packed with stuff, stuff of all kinds, eatable stuff, drinkable stuff, you name it. It was especially stuffed with bottles, bottles of all sizes and kinds, and especially liquor bottles, like the little ones that the homeless of Los Angeles tend to prefer for a snack. I was also startled because camouflaged in amongst all these bottles and endless trinkets was the barista, who was super still until I got up to the bar and then moved, and well… it was as if he had come out of the wall or something. A very slow going, the guy had been there for at least 35 years he said, but he didn’t remember.
This is what I got:
Presentation: A cup I recognize, it’s a vintage 1980s looking cup. And it was clean, crisp, and bright. The spoon was a bit chopped up, but still clean. No water was given, as the guy knew I was a foreigner and started asking what I was doing photographing his coffee.
Temperature of Cup: The cup was quite cold, not very hot, nor warm at all. With Tazza d’Oro, this is positive!
Quantity: Solid single espresso, straight 1 ounce (30ml).
Temperature: Ouch, hot, a lot hotter than I had imagined just by touching the cup.
Volume/Consistency: It was thin, raspy, no oil life in there. Light.
Crema: It died out very quickly. Didn’t look exceedingly over-extracted.
Odor: Nope, I lie, yes, faint charred coffee beans. Not inviting. But this is the charm of this stuff.
Taste: It was actually very mild, very soft, not overly bitter, not astringent, nor rancid. This is very very good in comparison to other brewers of this brand of coffee.
Overall: So how was it? It was OK, mid to low level, simply because the beans felt dead as hell. But the old-timer barista, knew how to brew coffee, and he didn’t kill this cup. I think he was able to create a really mellow, even cup from a bag of means that was probably opened a week before. Take that 20 something wannabe cool barista kids. This dude has been squirting his juice for decades…
The setup: It was nice, a 1980s looking E-61 based machine, but I couldn’t make out the name of the builder- the grinder was a Mazzer. The coffee, Tazza d’Oro of course, a downtown Roman coffee roaster.
Oddi Bar Caffè
Oddi Sergio
Viale Adriatico 6A
00141 Roma