MODERNA TERMINI CAFFÈ, VIA SANTA CROCE IN GERUSALEMME 91A, 00185 ROMA

Rating: Standard, very good Roman coffee

The Caffè Moderna – Pasticceria Termini café is a beauty to see. It’s got these 1960s post-war looking signs on the front, really cool, really lovely. Then the interior is equally a well kept museum. Even the lack of abundant sweets on it’s interior shelves speaks of sobriety, and a level head in face to mass consumerism. Or at least that’s how I interpreted it. It surely simply a lack of capital and a different business attitude that is more behind what I noticed. Either way, I walked in and was greeted by two very happy ladies in their early 60s, one manning the cashier and sweets counter, the other the barista. The place got filled with locals here, all talking to both the cashier and barista about stuff. These in turn would greet the regulars by their ‘official’ titles, “good morning doctor, good morning lawyer” and so on. It was fun, and there was a nice family feel to it, in spite of the formality of the labels.

Check this view of the shop sign:

How cool is it?

This is what I got served on the nice marble countertop:

Presentation: Large, clean, round cup of Java. Water was served without asking and immediately, this is class! The spoon, well… boy look at this spoon!

It was great, it was also a space age thing, really cool, the first time I felt like stealing spoon! Glad that I didn’t as I want to come back to this place…

Temperature of Cup: Cup was very warm, quite over what I find acceptable, but it wasn’t boiling.

Quantity: This was a solid one ounce (30ml) espresso and a bit more, looked like 45ml or something.

Temperature: After waiting about 2 minutes, the temperature of the cup was good and that of the coffee still good.

Volume/Consistency: It was a very smooth drink, very oily, syrupy, and yet not necessarily heavy. It wasn’t powdery nor sandy. It was very good.

Crema: It was thin, monochromatic light brown, and as you see above, it started to dissipate immediately after a first sip. (look at the picture above).

Odor: Dark-roasted coffee. Not floral as a 3rd wave coffee, hey, I’ll take what I can get!

Taste: It was nutty, acidic, and smooth. Very light, not bitter, nor anywhere rancid. It was silky and buttery.

Overall: A very good cup, not the best in Rome, but definitely above the 85 percentile in Rome. I was glad, and hell, the setting, staff and environment in there was very cool.

The setup: I couldn’t photograph the machine very well, but it was a Vibiemme (VBM) 3 group E61 based espresso machine, that had refrigerator magnets on it, which was very cute (hey first time I saw that!). They had an Astoria black grinder, and then the coffee was one I haven’t had very much of lately, it was Gran Caffè Santos, a roman roaster that is one of the best in my opinion. Very buttery, smooth drinks.