Capoccia Lucilla (Rome) - ♕♕♕

 Capoccia Lucilla is classified as a Bar Tabacchi, found in a slightly far away metro station Ponte Mammolo of Rome, Italy.  A typical Italian Caffetteria/Caffé Bar otherwise known as a Café in the rest of the world but which also sells tobacco, this type of shop can be found in almost every corner on the streets and there are always a few of these tabacchi to be found at most train stations.  There are no seatings as you're here to refuel yourself with a shot of espresso or a cappuccino, and when needed, customers may also buy a piece of sweet or savory pastry and candies to keep your day going. Customers don't linger around to surf the net on their iPads either, as that's not the point of visiting places like here..

Typically,

customers stand around a counter while downing their quick fix of coffee..

Typical Caffe Menu,
with a few drinks options including hot chocolate and coffees

To the Keener Eye -

You'll notice the doser is already filled with pre-grinded coffee.  This is considered a taboo in most modernised cafes internationally, but since the turn-around in Italian Caffetterie is much faster to ensure grind freshness, the grinder is 99% of the time sitting on the Auto refill switch setting!  The grinder's attached 'built-in plastic tamper' is seen to have been used here, but so is the 'external metal tamper'.  That's because both can equally perform their task of tamping purposes, especially when there are typically more than 2 baristi working on the same machine.  So if you don't see a tamper at all, look out for the built in one on the grinder, as that's how a traditional barista in Europe lazily tamped their coffee grind without worrying about levelling!

Espresso€ 0.90 -

Made using a commercial coffee brand by Caffe Tomeucci, this was made from a single basket by the young barista.  Unfortunately this was over-extracted (in terms of timing not volume), and the crema is quite bubbly from the blending preference and beans age -  it therefore carries a dark crema ring and quite a over-heated bitter note, although still quite fragrant.  But was this very bad?  From memory this was the 2nd worst coffee I've drank in Italy recently.  Standards are fortunately pretty consistent across the board anywhere you go around Italian cities, and I'd say this was just ok, but dripped just a bit too slowly to extract to its full potential!  ~   5.5/10   

Price:  Euro € 0.90 
Score:  ★★★☆☆☆

Address: G/F Stazione Metro Ponte Mammolo, Rome, Italy.
Ph: 06.41.73.01.28