BLACK COFFEE CAFFÈ, VIA GAETANO CASATI 21-23, 00154 ROMA

Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee

Right off the Circonvalazione Ostiense (the which leads to the Calatrava styled white bridge), you have the Black Coffee Roma Caffè. It’s got a black marble-like glitter with white/silver décor. Very simple, clean, and some nice black and white stylized posters of Rome’s urban landscape. They had pop music going on, and the two baristas were very nice and accommodating. They had something very cool, which I hadn’t tasted before on the counter: Crema di caffè all Sambuca. Sambuca is an anice based liquor. It’s like a ‘caffè corretto’ but even more sugar added… read on.

This is what I got served:

Presentation: Ok, I like it. I can’t complain. I don’t particularly love this Roman roaster, but I’m always going into cafes with an open mind. No use in judging it before I try it. Water was served very kindly after I asked. The cup was rather large for an espresso, but it was thin, and I like that.

Temperature of Cup: It was hot, quite hot.

Quantity: It was a rather long espresso, simply because the cup was big. It was just a tad too long.

Temperature: It was good by the time I waited a few minutes. So it wasn’t extra hot when I brewed.

Volume/Consistency: Hmm.. very thin, very light, not runny, but just quite thin.

Crema: It was half-dead already when I had it. It completely died out while I waited, and didn’t seem convincing. The coffee was simply dead from the get go …

Odor: Dark roasted coffee, but only so faintly.

Taste: It was bitter, not rancid, lightly sharp, nothing over the top, quite manageable, and indistinct. Nothing really stood out about it. However, since I wasn’t about to finish it, I decided to try just a tad of the Crema di Caffè on it. And wow. It poped out and really became a good full bodied and rounded espresso. Really changed it completely.

Overall: Had I not added the crema de caffè on it, it would have remained a mid to low end roman coffee. But this really changed it all, and made it a mid to upper range coffee. But this is cheating of course…

The setup: The had a Vibiemme (VBM) espresso machine, were serving Braccio Caffè, a local Roman-based roaster that does ultra deeply charred coffee, and the grinder seemed some version of BNG grinder. The only place I’ve had excellent Braccio caffè was at Sciapò Caffè in Trastevere. There it was excellent.