Coffee Competition

Yesterday we had some free time so we decided it would be a good day to taste the famed coffee of Tazzo d'Oro so we could give you our verdict regarding the great rivalry as promised.

The weather was not so great yesterday, but during a break in the rain we hustled over to the Pantheon and into the open doors of this famous coffee bar. The smell of roasting coffee beans hits your nose before you can even see the bar, and once inside it's sensory overload. Not only are you overwhelmed with the smells of the place, but there is the chaos of steamers hissing, plates and clups clanging, and people chatting as they sip their brew.

This time we decided to evaluate the place on their most basic of coffees, so Charles got a plan shot of espresso, and I got a caffee macchiato (espresso with just a drop of milk). Charles prefers his coffee armaro (or without sugar), and he enjoyed the flavors of Tazzo d'Oro because of the bitter and rich coffee taste it had. I, on the other hand, was not so impressed. I needed quite a bit of sugar to be able to handle my drink, and the flavor lingered in my mouth for much longer than I deem appropriate.

So, what does this tell us about who serves Italy's best coffee? Well, it tells us one of two things:

1) If you like your coffee sweet, go to Sant'Eustacchio, and if you like your coffee bitter, go to Tazzo d'Oro.

2) If you like your coffee cheap go to Tazzo d'Oro (70 cents for an espresso), and if you like to pay a bit more for a slightly more elegant ambiance go to Sant'Eustacchio (1 euro for an espresso). Italians have said to us that Tazzo d'Oro is considered more of the working-class coffee bar, but Sant'Eustacchio is certainly not an exclusive place.

Basically, both places do coffee well, they just do it differently, which makes sense when you think about how two places so near each other can survive the competition of the other. I'm sure that each place has it's devoted customers, and unfortunately for Charles and I, we disagree in this matter, and we'll probably have to take our coffee seperately from now on! At least the places are close to each other and we can meet in the middle when we finish our drinks.

After our experiementation we headed to the same gelateria we went to the other week in order to get rid of the lingering coffee taste that was in our mouths. We ended up getting the same flavors as the last time as well, chocolate and cappriccio (I might be spelling it wrong). It was again delicious and satisfying.