coffee Archives

CAFFE SANT’EUSTACHIO-A VERY SPECIAL COFFEE

In the heart of Rome between the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon sits a small caffé, Sant’Eustachio Il Caffé, named after the piazza in which it proudly sits. Founded in 1938 the small caffé boasts the fact that the mosaic paving and the furnishings are still the original ones. But the real star attraction is the coffee which attracts visitors from all over the world. In fact the New York Times’ William Grimes wrote that if you want a perfect espresso, there is only one place to go and that is the Sant’Eustachio Il Caffé. Why is the coffee so special? Well, for starts nowadays buying a high quality coffee is not enough: when you buy raw coffee beans you must also pay attention to the way it is produced, trying to clearly identify and trace its productive and commercial sources. These are the factors that drive the owners of the caffé to consistently turn out the finest coffee for its customers. Up till recently all raw coffee used in the caffé’s famous espresso was roasted on the premises in small wood-burning roasters in the rear of the caffé. Due to overwhelming demand for their coffee beans by visitors and connoisseurs world-wide, roasting and packaging has been moved to Trieste unofficially known as Italy’s coffee capital. The same attention to quality including the roasting of the beans in wood burning roasters remains. So now you don’t have to travel to Italy to the caffé itself. You can enjoy Sant’Eustachio coffee at home. Check it out.

ITALIAN COFFEE

While it may be true that coffee does not grow in Italy, still when one thinks of Italy and Italian cuisine, coffee is one of the first things that come to mind. Practically anywhere you go in Italy from the finest restaurants to the corner Tabacchi store or even the airport, one thing you can be sure of is that you will get a good espresso or cappuccino. Italy is a country of coffee aficionados who would never visit any establishment serving bad coffee. Great coffee of course, starts with the best beans. The best beans make great coffee, it is that simple. But before we get to the coffee the beans have to be chosen carefully, blended and then roast the beans properly. Blending is very important. The blends preferred in the south of Italy, for example, tend to produce stronger espresso. Since 1999 the Italian Espresso Institute (I.N.E.I.) has defined and certified the qualitative standards to be met by Italian espresso. This is your assurance you are drinking authentic and highest quality Italian coffee. So when you want the best, buy the best!