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Rating: Standard, solid mid range Roman coffee
The L’Angolo del Caffè is on the Circonvallazione Ostiense, an avenue packed with cafes and movement. It sits on a corner lot and is quite roomy. When I walked in there was a good eight to ten guys at the bar, all men, it was odd as usually there’s some mix of sexes in bars. The barista was a Roman guy talking to the customers about his vacation and how he’d been to the beach. He was tanned, tall, good looking and well, with lots of fun ahead of him. He was quite polite and attentive, and no ‘I’m cool or hip’ attitude which is a rarity. He wasn’t the owner, or anything, just a barista. The owners were a family that had their kid running around the bar. Pretty relaxed and chill attitude in this 1980s looking locale.
This is what I got:
Presentation: A solid Roman espresso. No water given, but he seemed that if asked, he’d apologize for not offering first. All in order and I like this shape of cup, it keeps things to a minimum and this is good.
Temperature of Cup: Super hot, we’re in a traditional Roman establishment here.
Quantity: Very short, double plus.
Temperature: Ahh… yes, boiling still even after I waited good amount of time and looked at the sports newspaper.
Volume/Consistency: It was light, thin, not very heavy, nor very oily. It was delicate, and yet, not wimpy (if we can still use this adjective without being considered some type of backward redneck…).
Crema: It was darker than the photo shows, even, ultra even, and fine-grained. It was good. It kept its life for the total of the drink, and added to the smoothness of the coffee. Of course, it depends how you drink the espresso, if you break the surface of the crema with your lip, or if you let it come into your mouth as well.
Odor: Dar dark roasted coffee smell. Typical, but I’ll take it, usually Roman coffee is dead flat in taste and odor!
Taste: Well, it wasn’t a fruit sensation. It wasn’t a punch in the mouth either. It was smooth, dark coffee taste that was mild and controlled. The tonality of flavors were reduced to a typical opaque coffee flavor. The interesting was that the finish left you with a nutty, walnut like taste in your mouth.
Overall: It was a decent drink. Its smoothness and the lack of a harsh bitter bite made it pleasant. It was a mid to upper end Roman coffee.
The setup: They had an old looking Rancilio ‘classe 7’ machine. The grinder was a Mazzer, and the coffee is the Roman based roaster Gima Caffè. Decent iteration of it, not the best, as I’ve had better, but quite good.
L'Angolo del Caffè
Di Li Xuyang
Circonvallazione Ostiense 279
00154 Roma