PAUSA CAFFÈ, LARGO DELL’AMBA ARADAM 8, 00184 ROMA

Rating: Good, excellent Lavazza coffee in Rome

The Pausa Caffè looks like any old semi run down coffee place here in Rome. The exterior is a bit down, the interior hasn’t been renovated I years and it looks like it’s from the early 90s or something. There wasn’t anything that told me that it’d be a very good coffee, but boy it turned out to be really great. It’s close by the church of Saint John Lateran, on a street that only gets car traffic and few if any pedestrians, and a heck of a lot less The barista, a petit dark and serious looking woman of 40 something, took my order and handed out the Java.

This is what I got served:

Presentation: I got the typical Lavazza cup, I was thinking to myself that it was going to be another boring coffee. But when the barista put the cup on the counter, she turned the little handle towards me, a small, but important touch that few if any baristas here do. She didn’t flush the group head or the like, but I got a nice cold cup of sparkling water without having asked, and it was also served in a Lavazza glass.

Temperature of Cup: It was warm, but not too hot, nor tepid, and the cup itself wasn’t wet.

Quantity: It was just right, not too short, but good.

Temperature: It was perfect, not scalding, not bland-cold, a good low 90s C brewed.

Volume/Consistency: Smooth, light, silky, rich but not heavy, nor powdery.

Crema: Thin, persistent, light brown and very nicely extracted. I don’t feel it added much to the drinking experience.

Odor: Dark roasted smell, not very complex, not very strong, but present. That’s already a positive.

Taste: It started in a very smooth, rich and not bitter, nor rancid way. Soon after I started to drink a bouncy, nutty round taste with hints of dark sugar started to come out. It coated my mouth, and there was a hint of a more complex, oil-rich flavor started appearing. The finish became more sweet and complex without any definite strong associated flavor making itself apparent.

Overall: I was simply surprised, very pleasantly, and it was an excellently extracted Lavazza. In fact, one of the best I’ve had in Rome. I don’t know if this was the barista’s yearly ‘golden shot’ not to be repeated again for a long while, but it was very good, definitely way above lots of other terrible coffee I’ve had here in Rome. And the best part? No fuss, no attitude, no hipster context.

The setup: The equipmet was a simple Faema E-91 Ambassador, and a Faema grinder. The coffee, well, yes, Lavazza Caffè, who would’ve guessed!