NUOVA ERA CAFFÈ, VIA CINA 56, 00144 ROMA

Rating: Standard, mid-range Roman coffee

The La Nuova Era Caffè is on the very car trafficked street that sees little foot traffic in the Torrino are of Rome. It has a Spartan type of front with not much elegance, reminding me of any normal place in the US that is built more for utilitarian purposes than any actual aesthetic ideal that an architect might have. But as any post 1950s Le Courbusier building, functionality also has its aesthetics. But here you be the judge. In my opinion it looked a bit inhospitable. There was a gazebo thing outside on the street that lets smokers do their thing and inside I found a bar that move progressively from the austere to the welcoming. Once I got to the bar itself, the baristas were all laughs and smiles. The place was bustling and the fact that I sat at the bar for more than 5 minutes seemed to slowly irritate the two baristas who were intent on getting people in and out in 2 minutes flat.

This is what I got served:

Presentation: Clean cup, a brand I already recognize, and the shape of a cup that I like. The cup was dry and in good shape. Spoon was non-descript and nothing extraordinary.

Temperature of Cup: Ahh… but should I have known? The cup was white because it was gleaming white from how hot it was! Man it was hot as heck! That’s why I waited… and waited… and waited to have my espresso.

Quantity: It was solid, to the point, no frills. A bit long for this cup which at exact half would have been just right.

Temperature: Well, after waiting a good five minutes it was at a normal temperature and I could taste the profile of the coffee quite well.

Volume/Consistency: It was silky, thin, light, and yet there was a heaviness to the cup that came from the powderyness of it. It’s the split in these two sensations, that’s between thin smoothness and the heavy powder-like texture that isn’t the top, and shows there’s a break in the composition of the coffee.

Crema: It was dark as night, with a glimpse at what would have been had the barista not cut off the espresso at just the right moment (see the light point), and it was permanent at the beginning not breaking, meaning we have some decent percentage of Robusta in this blend. However, when I started to drink it, somehow breaking the surface started an avalanche of decomposition and soon it disappeared in the first two sips I had. I think this is what made the split in the consistency of the coffee, the crema was giving it all the body and when it was gone, it just felt powdery without the smoothness.

Odor: Ufff.. dark dark roasted coffee smell, yup, strong, making shivers run down your spine. Not what I like in my coffee, but I’ll take it.

Taste: It was a strong bitter start that is typical of Marziali. It then opened up nicely to a chocolate-like taste, but then the finish was very bitter and starkly strong in comparison to the first two parts of drinking it. I was left with a deep pungent taste in my mouth. No rancidness here, nor metallic taste. This is very positive as this coffee is usually infected by these later tastes.

Overall: It was decent. The fact that the coffee went back to the usual taste profile of Roman coffee left me wanting for something different, but this is actually right in the middle of the main here in this town. Had I put sugar in it, then probably would have had that pleasant finish to it, but as it was, nothing special.

The setup: They had an indestructible Wega espresso machine that looked like it was trying to imitate the façade of the café. It was accompanied by a Mazzer grinder with a really cool square Macaf grinder. The coffee was Marziali Caffè, a Roman-based roaster. Do a search in this blog to see more about it, it is a very strong put-hair on your chest type of coffee. I’ve had better than this before however, so it’s got some potential.