Coffee Beans ~ Italy

[Belligero]

Just imagining the smell of such a place makes me a bit giddy.

It sounds good in theory, but in practice, a room with 60-70 bins of (typically over-roasted and oily) beans going stale and rancid from months of air exposure doesn't tend to smell all that pleasant.

It's much nicer to give a bag of fresh, properly-sealed coffee beans a squeeze and have a hit straight off the one-way valve. :)

[Franco]

It sounds good in theory, but in practice, a room with 60-70 bins of (typically over-roasted and oily) beans going stale and rancid from months of air exposure doesn't tend to smell all that pleasant.

It's much nicer to give a bag of fresh, properly-sealed coffee beans a squeeze and have a hit straight off the one-way valve. :)

What a lot of bollocks. That place serves no less than 5000 coffees a day, plus hundreds of customers who go there just for the beans. Jars must be replenished probably more than once a day.

Sorry but coffee has been a national pleasure in Italy for some two hundred years or more, each town has two or three "torrefazioni" (small local coffee toasting places). Coffee quality is at least competitive with noveau-expert suppliers elsewhere, but it must be optimised for the ways of brewing coffee most used in Italy.

[Belligero]

^

The historic coffee culture in Italy is lovely and offers much to appreciate, but I don't find that the coffee itself — though it's typically quite decent — tends to be of exceptional quality.

Although I don't have any personal experience with Tazza D'Oro, I've yet to find a place with a comparable number of air-exposed bins that has truly excellent coffee. And even with a high sales volume, there are bound to be a few slower sellers among the several dozen that have gone a bit manky.

In any case, all I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't be too fussed about spending valuable holiday time in Italy on trying to hunt down high-grade beans for Aeropress use when they're so readily available at home. Just relax and enjoy the country and the café tradition. :)

[Franco]

Thanks, no need to relax. Just wanted to say that "months of exposure to air" is a concept wrong by a factor of many dozens of time.

And you are right, in Italy "aeroccino" and "cafetiere" as well as filter coffee are not much appreciated, hence no specific beans are stocked by coffee dealers and no specific toasting is provided

[burnside]

Many thanks for the opinions and suggestions.

Regrettably it is a friend going this time and not me but hopefully one day.

It was merely to get a rough idea of brands to keep an eye out for i was not suggesting for one minute that she should spend her holiday looking for coffee beans for me. One would hope there are far more interesting and exciting things to do than that. Especially there.

I hope you all have a good weekend.

Best regards to all.

Ben

[PickleB]

A few links:

• Rome La Casa del Caffè Tazza d' Oro Srl...they sell tea as well!
• Algerian Coffee Stores
• Monmouth Coffee
  and my own favourite
• Drury Tea & Coffee...see also about Drury

[burnside]

PickleB

Many thanks.

The Algerian Coffee Shop isn't too far away so i'll have a look there initially but will check out the others.

Regards,

Ben