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Rating: Standard, mid to low end Roman coffee
The La Mela Bar Caffè is on a corner just a few steps away from the Tiburtina Train Station. It is very small inside, just standing room only, and a few tables outside that were occupied with very boisterous groups of folks in their late 50s and early 60s. After squeezing through them to get in, the barista, who was busy chatting with them came inside to serve me. The place was rather bare in comparison to other cafes (i.e., it didn’t look like a 7-11 convenience store), and I liked that.
This is what I got:
Presentation: Nice fluted outwards cup, which I tend to like. It was clean, dry, and the spoon’s head a bit too big for it. No water offered, but it looks like he would have obliged.
Temperature of Cup: The cup was cold, it was surprising. But it was definitely at room temperature.
Quantity: It was a short shot, good.
Temperature: The coffee instead was hot, almost boiling hot.
Volume/Consistency: It was thin, and very light, no significant thickness to it.
Crema: It was light in color, a bit over extracted, and started to dissipate quickly.
Odor: No real odor to this one, usually this brand of coffee has a woody roasted smell, didn’t see it here.
Taste: It was very acidic and bitter up front, almost rancid. I had to step back a second after the first taste to comprehend if it was rancid or simply just bitter.
Overall: The coffee was flat and not complex, and lacked the depth of oiliness for it to be a mid or upper range roman coffee. As such it wasn’t terrible, it was just mid to definitely low end Roman coffee.
The setup: I couldn’t shoot the machine as the barista had the machine towards the right hand corner of the café, and facing inside, then he stood at the machine. He was looking at me very uncomfortably at taking the photos of the café, and I felt I shouldn’t push it by photographing him and the machine. He had an older Faema E78 e group machine and an older Faema grinder. The coffee was Camerino Cafffè ‘Il cafffè con tre “effe”’ as the brand labels itself, this is a local Roman roaster that has it’s flagship store by the largo Argentina monument in down town.
La Mela Bar Caffè
di Fabrizi Sergio
Via Luigi Pulci 1
00162 Roma
Tel. 06 4424 3805