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Rating: Standard, very good Roman coffee
Besides the handful of specialty coffee places I’ve had the chance to visit in these past weeks, the reviews here on this blog have been pretty monotone- bad coffee after bad coffee. Yeah, it’s pretty boring to hear the same broken record. A few people on Instagram tell me, ‘I can’t believe that there’s so much bad coffee in Rome, I thought standards were higher’. Well… standards are pretty damned low when it comes to coffee. Here, the more pungently bitter and burnt, the better. But there you have it, if you prefer something else than that, we’ll, I say you check the ‘best cafes in rome’ tab.. as that’s what I’ll write about here. I was in the North Ostiense area (a few blocks away from the Piramide), and it’s chalk full of crappy coffee joints. But then, I walked into this place. It’s called Dolce Notte Ostiense Caffè (FB page here). It’s a pastry, pizza and coffee place, offering a bit of everything. The staff are romans with a sense of 80s alternative Danzig like style, and they’re very nice and chill. You can sit at the tables without paying 6 euro for your coffee and simply a very nice place that stands out very nicely in the trashy-like Ostiense restaurant scene (sorry but here there’s a general apathy towards ‘service’ or simple ‘attention to details’ that is changing, and some of the places I visited show this). Whatever, but yeah, this place shows that the owners care about what they’re serving, a good thing for a change.
This is what I got on a sleepy, hot weekday afternoon:
Presentation: A standard rather large cup from this brand. It was a bit splattered by coffee, making me think that it might have already be over extracted. Water was served immediately after the barista asked me if I’d want some.
Temperature of Cup: Good warm cup temperature, blending with the coffee temperature. All started well.
Quantity: It was a short shot, in the first photo it looks rather long but it wasn’t all that. It wasn’t over extracted after all.
Temperature: Ahh.. great, warm, not boiling, and brewed in the low 90s Celcius.
Volume/Consistency: Smooth, oily, thick-ish, but not sludge, nor tar, nor powdery. A nice fusion of oils and fine coffee particles in this very nicely warm drink.
Crema: It was dark, elastic, persistent, and thin and oily. There was a small small probably 10mm pond of micro-bubbles that showed the finish of the shot right in the center.
Odor: Dark roasted coffee, very faint. I’ll take what I get, no third wave roasting here, just straight dark 2nd crack.
Taste: It was a bitter smooth start, tart, acidic, that opened to a nutty full taste that was very pleasant. The finish was silky and richly nutty and butter. I was very happy.
Overall: It was a very good traditional Roman coffee in great form. Definitely one of the better ones on this side of Ostiense.
The setup: They had a Fiorenzato espresso machine and grinder. The coffee was Gran Caffè Santos, a brand that delivers some of the best traditional-styled Roman coffee.
Dolce Notte Ostiense Caffè
Via dei Magazzini Generali 15
00154 Roma