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Rating: Standard, low-end Roman coffee
After I had the excellent coffee at Officine San Giovanni, I walked down the stree to see what else I could taste. I walked by the Neri Bar Caffè, which is more a café and pastry shop than anything. It reeked of 1960s. I walk in and there were just a few pastries that were prepared in house. This is good, as they seem to make just enough for the day’s production, and don’t recycle junk as most larger places do. Here you’re getting what came out of the oven, period. Inside there were two guys chatting with the barista, and then as I waited for my cup, a group of middle-aged ladies walked in, they asked if the coffee was any good in this locale….and the barista broke out in happy jeer as it seems they were locals that hadn’t been in the place for years. They were visiting Rome and well… he offered his best pastries and coffee. It was nice. But he didn’t answer if the darn coffee was any good or not! As I left, the small darkish place got filled with other folk that walked in. It was small cozy, and no chairs to sit on, so very Roman.
This is what I got served:
Presentation: Nice clean cup, I liked it. It’s a bit large for my tastes, but beautiful none the less. Fun logo. The spoon was a bit large for it, and quite beat up, but gets the job done.
Temperature of Cup: Iesus Cristus All mighty! It was dammed hot!
Quantity: Solid espresso size. Not short at all, good.
Temperature: Boy even after waiting for the blindingly hot cup to cool down, the espresso was still sizzling… had to pass a good 4-5 minutes to wait for it to cool.
Volume/Consistency: It was thin as is usual when coffee is boiled moka style. It was a bit powdery and not really oily.
Crema: The crema was from dark brown to light brown, over extracted, so too little coffee grounds in the porta filter. It had nice form though, and very fine texture.
Odor: Dark roasted coffee, again, not third-wave, but I’ll take it!
Taste: It was flat, bitter, and hit a plateau immediately after the first sip. The crema gave it a bit thickness but it was essentially watery, and bitter.
Overall: This is a low- to at best mid-range Roman coffee. It’s bitterness and flatness is so typical of pastry places. I can almost guarantee that the coffee at a pastry-coffee shop will be extra bitter and flat tasted. This is what Romans prefer I guess, and well, if you’re into pastry binging, you’ll actually like the fact that coffee can cut through the fat.
The setup: They had a nice older Faema. I couldn’t take a photo of it as I was too packed in there, and then the guys standing in front of it wouldn’t like some damned American photographing them. The grinder I couldn’t see. The coffee was Bondolfi Caffè, a south roman roaster that cooks up quite sharp beans. They’ve been around since 1855 so hopefully they’ll evolve to keep up with the evolving tastes of coffee. This place was also were serving Caffè Libero, which is a new Roman coffee brand that offers reduced caffeine coffee. I’ve tasted their stuff before and its quite good!
Neri Bar Caffè Pasticceria
Neri Domenica
Via Taranto 20
00182 Roma
Tel. 06 7049 6471