GUAXÜPE CAFFÈ, VIA DEGLI SCIPIONI 197, 00192 ROMA

Rating: Standard, mid-range Neapolitan coffee

The Guaxüpe Caffè is in the Prati area, near the Lepanto metro exit. It’s on a corner, and there was a very unhappy looking beggar sitting near it’s entrance. The guy looked really sad, and simply made me feel bad for him. I walked in, and was confronted with a contrasting world of smiles, laughs and Italian men and women in their 50s all dressed up in suits having their break. Funny how wealth is... Either way, the place was long and narrow, and offered a very long bar along it’s left side. The baristas were very fun and in constant conversation with the clientele. Everybody was having a good time and I felt like I was in some 1980s tv sitcom surrounded by dudes and chicks with puffy hair, too much make up on, and to much plastic surgery. And of course, the tans, everybody was tanned. Summer hasn’t even started yet!

This is what the barista served me:

Presentation: The cup was clean, a fluted-round shape that I like, but a bit big in the hands. The spoon was small and could reach the bottom to stir any sugar you’d add. There was a nice drip on the right of it, like a tear running down its cheek. Nice. No water was given, but the barista was super nice. And seemed itching to have a laugh at anything anybody said. So I’m sure he would have obliged.

Temperature of Cup: Yup, we’re in Rome and it was booooiling hot! Nice for a change huh?

Quantity: The cup was rather big, so the shot was rather long. Not way over a single, but still just a bit over. That didn’t make me too happy.

Temperature: The drink was warm, not super hot, but this is probably because I waited so long to drink it.

Volume/Consistency: Powdery, but still balanced, and it was a rather thin coffee, as if the temperature made all the oil evaporate or something. But again, it wasn’t runny, it was balanced in its thinness. Nor was it silky. Simply thin and watery.

Crema: Went from a dark-dark to a very light brown color. It was over extracted, and he should have stopped the extraction at least 3 seconds before. It was persistent, not necessarily thin, but I didn’t feel it added to the espresso because it couldn’t really taste it as I drank. There weren’t any oils in it. It was mysterious…

Odor: Nope, didn’t feel any scents of anything arising from the cup.

Taste: It wasn’t up front bitter. It was muted, and light. No real punch to it, and its chalky-powdery texture made it interesting. There was a flat coffee taste to it and it didn’t leave a rancid taste in my mouth. I was surprised from the general lightness of the coffee as most locales that sell pastries tend to offer really punchy coffee. This wasn’t.

Overall: It was mid range coffee. Nothing to boast about. But thing to shy away from. It was decent.

The setup: They had a vintage Wega espresso machine that looked solid as a tank. The grinder looked like a vintage Eureka grinder, but it was obviously modern, and not really what a modern Eureka is, so I’m not sure. The coffee was Caffè Motta, this is a roaster near Salerno (south of Naples) so definitely a robust and strong coffee.