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Rating: Standard, solid-good Lavazza being brewed.
In the backstreets of San Giovanni, you find some hidden gems, and while I need to give this place another try, go see what it’s like at a different hour, it struck me as cool and OK. The Contesto Urbano Caffetteria Bistrot is well, that, a fusion of café and restaurant. How else will a place stay alive? It’s got a large front, half of it is dedicated to the kitchen and on the left side you walk into the locale. From the height of the ceiling, I get the feeling that it was an old mechanic shop, or something. It’s got a loft area with more tables that’s cool. Either way, it is very trendy, and hipster chic. Lots of odd bits and ends of décor that are a mix of Hamptons style, with urban chic, with hipster, and what not. Cool tile floors, greys, light greens, visible tubing, and odd ends again, like the stag busts on the wall… what’s the scoop? Sant’Eustachio reference? Maybe, but probably simply because they’re ‘hip’ now a days. Either way, when I walked into the place there the barista seemed to be new, as I asked if I could pay my espresso with a debit card, and he had to ask the waitress who was busy talking to a friend. It was pretty dead in the place, nobody except some Peruvian tourist and local having a late lunch in the back of the locale. And then as time moved forwards, I witnessed how one of the owners, totally chewed out the waitress, a scene that didn’t make me feel very keen about the owner, even though I know what it’s like to be under the pressure to ‘perform’ to ‘earn’. Whatever, none of my business, right? There's always two sides of every coin. Either way, there were no plugs to be hand for my computer, but there was free WiFi.
This is what the barista served me:
Presentation: Yes,… so much innovation and attention to details, and I get a Lavazza. Well, could be worse, but I didn’t want to write it off immediately. No water offered, and the cup was a standard fare cup.
Temperature of Cup: Good. Glad. Next.
Quantity: Short, normal for Rome, a gypped espresso in the US.
Temperature: Very good, I was glad and this was getting better!
Volume/Consistency: It was smooth, silky, creamy, and a good extraction took place. Good again. Glad again, next.
Crema: It was dark, almost uniform if not for the 1 -2 second over extraction you could read on it. And very finely grained crema. No stripping, no other characteristics of rich oils or the like.
Odor: Strong dark-roasted. I’ll take what I can get.
Taste: It was a very smooth start, opened to a bitter taste that was in control, balanced, and then when characteristically flat, and finished with a buttery-nutty taste that is evident from the smell and roast level. It was a satisfying, if not totally comprehensive experience.
Overall: It was a good Italian, strong, rather stereotypical espresso that wasn’t showing you the beauty of coffee flavors, but rather, the need to cut through whatever idea you have in your head, and get you reset to start again.
The setup: Well, with the La Cimbali they had, a beautiful machine, I wouldn’t expect any less. Look at it! Yes, and the grinder was a Mazzer. The coffee Lavazza Caffè. Wouldn’t have been cool to walk into this ‘cool’ caffetteria and have tasted a Tim Wendelboe or something else that was great?
Contesto Urbano Caffetteria Bistrot
Via Galia 51
00183 Roma
Tel. 06 77590787