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Rating: Standard, very good Torino coffee
So the Il Caffè, Il Gelato, Il Ristoro dei Fratelli Rossi is a place that like most cafes here, has a gargantuan selection of food to try to draw your bucks through its doors. I normally don’t do these ‘restaurant/cafes’, but this one seemed different. Why? Because it had a large Caffè Vergnano 1882 sign on its façade. Hell, it had been a while since I’ve had this coffee, which I generally like so I walked in. What a great decision. Coming into the place you’re greeted with the standard wood paneling and mirrors, marble floor décor or the like and simply a normal ‘Roman’ dime a dozen trattoria feeling. I was the only person inside, there were some folk outside. And it was in the late afternoon. I asked for my coffee and a young woman in her early 20s made the coffee for me.
This is what I got:
Presentation: Yup, a small drip! Almost perfect, but you’ll see it was a good dribble on the mouth of this cup. The barista first flushed the espresso machine, cleaned the porta filter, and ground up fresh coffee for me. And get this, instead of pushing out the coffee through a two-cup porta filter, she used a single cup spout porta filter. Made a real difference. So different than 99% of cafes here. The cup was white a small barrel shape that I like, and all was in order.
Temperature of Cup: Very good, warm, not cold and good to the touch.
Quantity: It was a short shot. I was double happy.
Temperature: It was perfect. Warm, brewed on the lower end of the temperature spectrum, and it allowed me to really appreciate all the facets of this espresso.
Volume/Consistency: Creamy, very rich, full-bodied, almost powdery at some points of my drinking it, but generally thick-ish, with a good oil content to it. When I gave the first taste a swirl through my mouth, mamma, really nice body and it covered the whole of my palate with a smooth silky film. Really nice.
Crema: Dark, but not too dark. Very well uniform, only a slight blonding. Very good persistence, and thick and very finely grained. I was very happy to be looking at it and tasting it in my mouth.
Odor: It was a slight, dark roasted scent that came out of it.
Taste: It was a very smooth, gradual release of the characteristic bitter taste. This was combined with peppery notes on a very calm and smooth taste. The finish was full of the nutty warm buttery flavor. Really a rich espresso, very well done.
Overall: Simple a real pleasure to drink. I was tempted to take another, but didn’t want to tempt fate. I doubt it would have been as good. This was a really good espresso that had tons of body, tons of oil richness, and flavor above the bitter coffee base that is always present in a Roman coffee. Really a coffee that stands way above the mainstream of Rome’s regular cafes.
The setup: They had a nice large Faema, not very pretty in its futuristic look, but did the job well. The grindres, a San Marco grinder and a nice Mazzer on demand. The coffee was the North Italian Caffè Vergnano 1882. It’s a flashy coffee brand strutting its ‘good taste’. I’ve had it here in Rome maybe a dozen times before and it’s usually a hit or miss, but when you have a good shot, it’s like this, very good.
Il Caffè, Il Gelato, Il Ristoro
dei Fratelli Rossi
Bosco Rita
Viale Eritrea 5-7
00199 Roma
Tel. 06 8620 3971