Rome’s 2 BEST Cafes for Great Italian Specialty Coffee

[@123Ryanist]

My little sister use to live in Rome, the reason most Italian have Mokka pots is because Espressomachines are expensive and take up alot of kitchen space. In away I can understand it, my little sisters kitchen in her apartment in Rome was tiny compared with a small kitchen in the Nordic countries. But the reason also why the pots are always dirty (I'm not sure if I got this right) is because they see it as some sort of seasoning and not dirt.

[@Ridethecoffeebean]

Hehe yeah that is what they say. I just think it’s kind of strange. It’s like cooking a steak in the same skillet every day for a year without washing it in between. Sure it gets seasoned with grease and fat, but wha rid does to the product is just add burnt and stale flavors. One might prefer that, but it does take away a lot from what the coffee actually tastes.

[@123Ryanist]

@@Ridethecoffeebean I agree, so true.... but Italians are Italians 😂

[@TributesToRome.YouTube]

I am an Italian Australian and I get so annoyed when my mum confuses dirt as pepper or something else. When I complain about it, she tells me not to waste food and appreciate it.

[@teneretraveller8980]

Very interesting. And perhaps highlights the importance of consistent training in the industry, ( as in any other ). As a coffee novice, i frequently ask the barrista for advice when trying something new, and describe what my preferences are. If I was given the wrong coffee for my taste, it might put me off completely. And what if I was trying to introduce someone new to coffee? First contact is crucial. Machines just don't cut it in some areas. Good barristas and chefs, fir example, can never be replaced. Good one. Safe, happy travels 👍

[@lubenzz]

Robusta is less bitter?! Lemon is bitter?! Now I know how Neil deGrasse Tyson feels like when he talks to a flat earther. 😀

[@cdb7876]

Kenneth holding down the truth on coffee in Rome! Stay warm and safe 🎉

[@AskNExpert]

I don't think so.

[@TributesToRome.YouTube]

Italians didn't invent coffee. They mastered and improved it. Of course, coffee can be good in Rome. From my experience, most people consider bitter to be tingly, sour and like the taste of a lemon. Acidic is more of a burning taste and with a liquid texture. Acidic can be sweet, savoury or sour. Italians like straight straight coffee & usually drink a shot of it standing the bar-not in a large cup at a table. Cappuccino is only a breakfast thing in Italy as most Italians believe it's bad for your digestion after breakfast time. I understand that you were curious as to how Italians measure bitterness, but repeating the same questions could be misperceived as arguing. I understand that you may have been implying that the coffee isn't what you're used to. However, this is also comparing their coffee to other coffee shops in a unfavourable way, which could be perceived as condenscending. It's very offensive to complain in any way about a service at one, especially in Italy. You also acted as though you were right and the lady was wrong about which coffee is bitter, which wouldn't be very polite. You could have worded it in a more subjective manner like the lady did. I am not saying you're a bad person and trying to hurt your feelings. I mean that you made a mistake and I am trying to help you improve, so you don't get in trouble with more Italians. Any decent person would acknowledge their mistake, apologise and try to improve.

[@scottscottsdale7868]

Nice video. But mansplainingbthe shop woman is a very bad look for you. Just ask your wife.

[@Ridethecoffeebean]

Hehe thanks 😊 I don’t think I mansplained anything. I was just genuinely confused and tried to make things make sense to me. She was explaining things the opposite way of what they were so I was confused if she was mixing up the terms or if she just made things up. 😅

[@scottscottsdale7868]

@@Ridethecoffeebean okay. I really your videos. I am beginning my coffee journey as an exporter in an underdeveloped coffee country. Please wish me luck.

[@nadernuri6046]

I agree with the lady but let me add Its very stupid to go to the best place in the world for coffee and argue with more experienced consumer period... You think of yourself smart but she was polite while laughing its like pealing a banana in front a monkey the monkey will definitely laugh So Whatever you're used to its wrong update and relearn how to taste coffee

[@Ridethecoffeebean]

Hehe I wasn’t arguing with her, I was genuinely confused and was trying to understand what she actually meant. And I started thinking about how terminology is used. Because in Italy I have heard many people describe lemon as bitter, and the way she said that lighter coffees are more bitter and compared it to a lemon really confused me because I would say the opposite. So Was it a mixup on her part of what bitter and acidic means? Or was it a cultural way of describing it that so don’t understand. I absolutely do not think I am smart. Quite the opposite. But ai am curious and when I don’t understand something I keep asking questions to get a clarification. Why is what I am used to wrong?

[@nadernuri6046]

@@Ridethecoffeebean indeed lemon has a bitter taste this is common sense I don't know how this is confusing for you bitter not salty the definition of bitter is the taste sensation that is peculiarly acrid, astringent, and often disagreeable and is characteristic of citrus peels, unsweetened cocoa, black coffee And its true light coffee( low caffeine) like Toraldo Arancio for example is more bitter cause its 90% Arabica 10% Robusta which is more bitter than Toraldo Bluette "high caffeine" contains 60% Arabica 40% Robusta some of us enjoy this bitterness I'm sorry for the comment i don't know how you drink your coffee but most of the world drink coffee like its a juice or a shake The right way to drink coffee and enjoy for its caffeine to stimulate your mind and enhance alertness not to get sugar or chocolate and other stuff added to make a giant cup of shitty drink I don't blame you cause if someone is used to a burned espresso or lets say bad coffee taste and thinks its great he'll never know how a really great coffee taste like When it comes to the home of coffee its Italy you should learn not argue

[@AskNExpert]

Sorry dude. I've been to Rome 42x. You went to 2nd rate shops. You missed probably the 10 TOP coffee shops in Rome. I found the video annoying and your attitude toward the OBVIOUSLY MUCH MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE coffee drinker than you are. A waste of time. Romans know their coffee and have the best food in the world. People who know could teach you. You just need to be open to learning. Good luck.

[@Ridethecoffeebean]

😅 Well… there is a difference between preference and quality. One might prefer a coffee that is poor quality for a variety of reasons. Just as one might prefer a cheap clothing brand over a high end one. But quality can be measured more objectively. And just because there is a long history of something does not mean it is good quality. The shops I went to were the highest rated shops in the city. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to explore more. When we talk about quality we talk about the complexity and uniqueness of the coffee. How dynamic it is and how clean it tastes. Most coffee served in Italy is a majority robusta blend, with cheaper industrial coffee beans that does not contain much of what we look for when judging quality. The tradition is to roast very dark. Historically that was to even put the flavor of the coffee because the quality varies immensely when it was being shipped across the ocean for weeks and months. By roasting it dark you even put the bad flavors and caramelize the sugars so you get that bitter, roasted flavor. Since then we have learned a lot about what can enhance the flavor profiles of coffee, and today we judge it very differently than one would back in the day. Italy is known for coffee, for good reason. They invented the espresso, but it seems that the pride of the history is standing in the way of embracing what we now have learned. But the shops I went to are some of those trying to change that and teach Italians that coffee does not have to be bitter and burnt. I am very open and interested in learning. I have worked with coffee professionally for 15 years, and although I would never claim to be an expert in anything, I do think I know quite a bit about it. I’m sorry you found the video annoying. But I would love to share a cup of coffee with you and hear why you found it so provoking.

[@TributesToRome.YouTube]

The quality can't be measured objectively, in the context of cultural perspectives, because different cultures have different tastes. For example, an American might prefer creamy coffee & think bitter coffee is disgusting, while an Italian would think vice versa. You can't and shouldn't force an Italian to like creamy coffee if they like bitter coffee. People have the right to like whatever coffee they like. It's not just the expresso and history that makes Italian coffee so famous. It's the unique varieties, ingredients, mastery and flavour-also the way it's prepared. I live in the coffee and multicultural capital of Australia, Melbourne. I have tasted lots of coffee from Italian caffes and they are exceptional. Star bucks is personally no better and I am sure lots of coffee fans, especially Italians agree. Also, some advice for getting more followers: Don't make controversial comment on posts. This can make lots of people not want to subscribe or unsubscribe. Most KZbinrs don't comment on their posts for this reason. They only say, thank you for some nice comments and ask a question to start a discussion, but that's about it.

[@TributesToRome.YouTube]

I would like to say that Rome is the best at everything, including making coffee, but there are some things that other countries can do better. Sorry Italia, please don't kill me for betraying you in this manner.

[@jyc313]

@@Ridethecoffeebeanin Rome, robusta isn’t as ubiquitous as one may think. There are plenty of coffee bars that serve arabica, and it’s not hard to find them. Also, robusta alone doesn’t make a cup of coffee terrible. I’ve had plenty of shit coffee from “specialty” shops all over the world. Here in sf, there’s a ton of specialty shops that make terrible coffee. It comes down to training, and detail. There’s no point in using great beans if the baristas can’t harness the qualities. One other thing about coffee in Rome, or Italy. They certainly have a style. It’s more old school, to generalize. I’ve had better espresso from coffee bars in Rome that use arabica/robusta blends or 100% robusta or 100% arabica from beans that aren’t particularly special than from the “best” cafes in my town which is certainly known for coffee. Again, it’s less about coffee quality. It’s more about how to harness it.

[@jyc313]

This was super aggravating. The reason is, you pretend to be open minded, and open to learning but your conversations with people are geared towards trying to push your opinion onto them. You’re not trying to have a real conversation. That discussion with the woman was a very poor way of trying to have dialogue. You use words like “I’m curious”, “interesting” etc, which seem like good words to use but in fact, you’re using them to denigrate the other party’s knowledge. The direction of your convo is geared towards trying to find some sort of intellectual weakness in the other party. You, along with many in the specialty industry have very set opinions that are based on the new wave coffee culture, which have some level of truth - but not the absolute truth. For example, not all coffee from, moka pots is terrible. Depends on how it’s used, and the technique. Not all dark roast beans are bad. Not all high quality, single origin beans are good. Not all traditional, dark espresso is bad. And so on. There are no absolutes, yet you walk around acting like your experiences in the end, trump others’. I’ve seen a few videos from so-called coffee enthusiasts all the way to experts. Most, including you operate with a way more closed mind than you are aware of. It’s sad, really because I click on these videos to try and learn and in the end, the attitudes are distracting. I come from the wine industry - around 15 years experience at this point. In many ways, our industry is similar to the coffee industry. People with very set opinions, false open mindedness, and more eager to push their knowledge and agenda than actually seeing the bigger picture. What is considered “better” is not always better in every setting. A lot of people in my industry operate similarly - trying to push their knowledge and what they learned onto others, without realizing that sometimes someone that may not have had formal training could possess knowledge that is worth, at the very least researching further. And so on.

[@Ridethecoffeebean]

Thanks for that opinion. I can see what you are saying, but although you may feel that way, it is not how I feel. I am genuinely curious, so when I say I am I mean it. I may not be the most subtle in my reaction all the time, but I am genuine. In this case i was genuinely confused because what she was saying didn’t match up with what I know to be perceptions of bitter and acidic. She was explaining it the opposite way, and so my brain did a double take and I tried to understand if there was a miscommunication or if the way people describe flavors here were completely different than what the norm is. What is good or bad when it comes to coffee, and wine for that matter, can be more or less objective. What people like and prefer is different. There are objective markers that can be found in high quality coffee that are based on very specific things during each stage of the process. Same with wine. When one or more of these things fail in some way it results in less complexity, more unwanted flavors and markers that we want to avoid. For example to produce a coffee that has a complex and dynamic flavor profile every step from harvest to finished brew needs to be perfect. That is a way to judge quality. If the coffee is very one dimensional or has moldy flavors for example that would be a poor quality coffee. When roasting dark you remove a lot of the unique flavors the coffee has and you reduce the quality potential of the coffee. There are ways to roast dark and still get very pleasant flavors. But the complexity will be reduced. Lots of people prefer darker roasted coffee, mostly because that is what they are used to and have an emotional connection to. And it has been the norm for most of history for good reason. It was very hard to ship coffee back in the day, so to remove the moldy flavors the coffee was roasted very dark, and milk or sugar was added to counteract the bitterness. And Italy was the place that pioneered coffee back in the day. They have very rich history with coffee and are very proud of it. But the people who are open to new ways of tasting will almost always start preferring lighter roasts because it is a more exciting experience. Those who drink coffee for the caffeine and routine will likely stick to the traditional ways. I never said you couldn’t make good coffee with the mocha pot. You absolutely can. But it is kind of tricky. And for some reason Italian have this thing about never washing their coffee gear. Both espresso machines and their mocha pots. Which leaves oils from all the previous coffees in there creating stail and unpleasant flavors. Just like cooking a steak in the same skillet every day in the same skillet without washing it. I do try to see the bigger picture. And trading and learning about the coffee culture is my favorite thing to do. What is find most fascinating through is trying to understand how coffee is changing around the world. I have a decent understanding of the history of coffee in different places, but I want to see how specialty coffee is entering the markets. It is very exciting to see how even in Italy and turkey specialty coffee is rapidly becoming a pretty big part of the new coffee culture. And it comes with a much bigger focus on sustainability and awareness. The traditional coffee shops don’t care where their coffee is from. In Italy the price of a coffee is actually decided by law and people expect to have a coffee for less than 1.5€ without really thinking about what it takes to make that coffee and all the people that needs to get paid from that one cup. Traditional places buy coffee that follows the commodity market price, and very often charge more than what the coffee is worth, while specialty shops often undercharge the value, but know where all the money went. The market price fluctuates a lot but usually stays around 1.7$ per kg while the specialty industry often pays 5-6-8-10$ per kg for higher quality. This incentivizes people to produce higher quality and in return get a higher price that allows them to hire more of the local community. When you manage to produce such a high quality it would be strange to lower the value of it by roasting it too dark. That is why when specialty coffee people talk about quality it they are talking about that whole process and are aware of it. Most coffee consumers never gives a thought to where the coffee comes from or how it got there. I’m not saying that is bad. Everyone can’t care about everything. But when people get offended by things like my reaction in this video to these things they must not understand why I say what I say or react how I react. I don’t claim to know everything. Far from it. That is why I always keep asking questions. I am very open to learning new things and have new ideas. But I also have a relatively tuned bullshit meter, so when I hear something that don’t make sense I do a double take in my head and try to make sure what is heard is what is heard. Sorry for the long comment 😅 I like when people challenge me on my opinions. In this care I just don’t think you actually understand what I meant. I know I can be a bit sharp some times 😅