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Rating: Poor, low-end Coffee
It’s always a gamble at these so called ‘fusion bars’…. I guess it’s the same odds at any restaurant, but whatever. That’s what I thought when I walked in to the Fusion Café. The place is rather large, it’s got a whole corner. It’s right across the street from St John Lateran so lots of tourists. But that’s the question, are there locals that go to this place? There has to be. But most locals tend to go on the other side of St John Lateran, as there’s really no tourists there across the old city walls. Whatever, the barista was a very nice Italian guy, who seemed conscientious of what he was doing and of his customer’s experience. But he wasn’t the owner, nor anything of the sort. Unfortunate, as it might have resulted in a better coffee.
This is what he gave me:
Presentation: Yup, a small, bowl like cup of coffee. It was served in a colorful cup, quite outside the norm here in Rome. And a logo for Club Kavé Coffee, this is a Bolognese roaster. But read on…
Temperature of Cup: Lord all mighty! It was hot as hell! Boy, I have no idea how the barista put his hand on the cup to place it on the saucer! It was super hot. So while I waited for it to cool, I noted that the napkin dispensers on the bar countertop had the ‘Thomas Caffè’ logo. So I asked the barista what coffee was it, and he confirmed that it wasn’t what the cups said, but the Thomas Caffè. Good to know.
Quantity: It was a solid full shot, it could have gone south quite easily here with this large cup. But the barista kept it almost at a picture perfect definition of an espresso.
Temperature: By the time I had it, the coffee was still somewhat warm, and I could still see steam coming from it for quite some time (and I’m trying this now during summer!)
Volume/Consistency: Very thin, very watery, very over-extracted, cutting.
Crema: It was relatively nice looking but as I waited,
and as I took my first sip, look:
Yup, it died immediately and didn’t add anything to my experience.
Odor: None. No surprise.
Taste: I got a nice punch in the mouth of rancid bitter coffee. I thought it was the temperature, but nope, just bad rancid coffee. Maybe it was a dirty boiler, who knows, but it was really a sharp astringent deeply bitter rancid coffee. I tried my best, but then I thought, what’s the point?
Overall: A poor experience of what Roman coffee can be.
The setup: They had a nice Faema duo, an E92 semi electronic espresso machine and an ugly looking Faema grinder. There was also a nice Mazzer monodose for decaff… The coffee was Thomas Caffè. I can’t find any info online, but it appeas it’s a local Roman roaster. I remember tasting better coffee from them.
Fusion Café
Jiesen S.R.L.S.
Via Emanuele Filiberto 192-198
00185 Roma