TORNATORA TUSCOLANA CAFFÈ, VIA TUSCOLANA 794, 00174 ROMA

Rating: Poor, undrinkable Roman coffee

The Tornatora Tuscolana Caffè is right next to the Porta Furba metro exit. I don’t know what relation it holds with the Mario Tornatora café in the Portuense area, or the other many A. Tornatora cafes. It appears the ‘Tornatora’ is a chain of cafes, but there are other cafes with a name, so maybe it’s a popular café name emulated by others in hope of getting more business. Don’t know. Either way, this place indeed belongs to a chain. It’s a pastry shop cum café. Usually that translates into ultra bitter coffee to offset the very good Roman pastries (which I am a sucker for). When I went in it was mid afternoon and the place was quite empty. The two baristas were both women and one was no older than 22 and the other the age of her mother. I got the espresso made by the younger barista and served by the older.

This is what I got:

Presentation: A non descript barrel like cup, with restricted lines that, I took a liking to after looking at it for a while. The spoon was the traditional one who’s slender neck was nice. I wasn’t offered water, but another lady that came up to the bar asked for it and the younger barista gave it very obligingly.

Temperature of Cup: Very hot as most Roman cafes have their cups. Too hot indeed.

Quantity: It was a good short shot, I was happy with it.

Temperature: Well, no surprise, it was still very hot after a while, the boiler was set to a very high temperature. The espresso group was not flushed, and thus, no matter what a hot boiling cup of java was going to get birthed here.

Volume/Consistency: It was very thin, watery, runny, powdery.

Crema: Very blond, very over extracted, and broke in to global-warming like glacier loss as I waited for it to cool down. It didn’t add to the drinking experience.

Odor: None except charred coffee smell.

Taste: Super astringent and metallic tasting on a first drink, then the coffee didn’t get better as I tried it again. It was very bitter, and simply dark lava like taste that surely would have gotten better with a cream filled pastry, but as it stood, it was too rancid.

Overall: I couldn’t finish this cup. I didn’t want to chance it, with my stomach. The coffee was literally like a wall, to surmount it I either had to do it all in one go and stomach the pain afterwards, and be a tough guy, or simply go on with life and be happy that I’m not forced to drink bad coffee. I chose the latter.

The setup: Yes, they had a Wega espresso machine that was very nice, and regularly makes great coffee at other locales. The main grinder I couldn’t see, but for the decaf they had an enviable Eureka grinder which I love. The coffee was the Roman based roaster Morganti Caffè. It’s a very dark roast and it’s almost always very bitter. However, I feel that I should try this place again as it’s probably a one off problem, or what not, no?