Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Rating: Poor, undrinkable Roman coffee
Oh boy, this week promises some craziness- only because I had some quite terrible coffee, and well… this is one of them. I was out in the Tuscolano area, by the Porta Furba-Quadrato metro A stop, when I saw this totally dilapidated café. It didn’t have a name, and only found out after I paid what it was, it’s the legendary Xing Feng Caffè. Legendary because it well, it just seemed dumpy from the outside, real dumpy. No logo, no sign anywhere, it was only open because well the damned door was open! But in the inside it wasn’t that bad, I’ve been to worse locales here in Rome. But I was curious to see what they served… and it was unfortunately not a good thing.
This is what I got:
Presentation: Well nice clean cup. I like the shape, I like the logo. I thought I had a winner here… no water was offered, and I do feel it would have been handed out without a problem.
Temperature of Cup: Crazy blazing hot. Crap-o.
Quantity: Short shot, great-o.
Temperature: It was very very hot. Cuttingly hot, even after a while.
Volume/Consistency: Well, by the time I could drink it, it was thin, sharp, cutting.
Crema: Thick, cakey, crunchy and bunchy. It looked like somebody’s make caked on too thickly on a hot Roman day. But had the coffee been better, it would have been OK.
Odor: Ouch, charred dark coffee… but at least it was something!
Taste: Well, here’s the worst part- super rancid and bitter. It simply was offensive and not good. It tasted like rusted metal… I tried but couldn't finish it.
Overall: Just a poor undrinkable coffee. Just a pity, because a dumpy place can sometimes have good coffee, or can it?
The setup: They had a winning combo, an Astoria Espresso machine and a Mazzer grinder, but look at the poor grinder… No comment! Coffee was Gima Caffè, a local roman-based roaster that tends to roast dark, but usually very oily and rich espresso. Not here, not today.
Xing Feng Caffè
di Zhou Guoying
Via dei Fulvi 39-41
00174 Roma
Tel. 0678337