Rome drinks more espresso than almost anywhere, and most of it comes from the bar on the corner: a quick caffè at the counter, dark-roasted, a euro or so, gone in a minute. Specialty coffee in the capital is a small and determined counter-movement, a handful of cafés that roast light, name the farm, pull double shots only and make you sit down. This guide is about those, with the two historic roasters by the Pantheon for context. The list is not ranked.
Faro, near Porta Pia
Faro’s own blog puts it bluntly: we are not a bar, we don’t serve industrial coffee, we are a specialty caffetteria. The shop near Porta Pia has pursued that idea since 2017, and now roasts its own coffee as Aliena, a Rome roastery that roasts light. The menu lists single-origin espressos from Brazil, Peru, Ethiopia, Kenya and Colombia, double shots only, V60 pour-overs, two batch-brew filters a day and a Hard Tank cold brew, with about 90% of the pastry, bread and lunch made in-house, from kouign-amann to maritozzo.
Luna by Faro, Piazza Barberini
Luna is Faro’s second act, near Piazza Barberini: not a place but an invitation, the website says, to rediscover the agricultural essence of food. The coffee is Aliena, and the menu runs all day.
Sensorio Coffee Lab, near Piazza del Popolo
Brothers Matteo and Luca, raised in Rome, built Sensorio a few steps from Piazza del Popolo, as a place where gastronomic research meets specialty coffee. The single origins are roasted in-house, the menu offers a house espresso beside a barista’s choice, batch brew and a pour-over list organised by farm, including a Colombian geisha, and there are desserts and brunch.
Barnum, near Campo de’ Fiori
Barnum is a walk-in-only specialty café, bakery and brunch room near Campo de’ Fiori, with no reservations. Its website says little more than that, and the Instagram bio adds specialty coffee, bakery and brunch.
Tram Depot, Testaccio
Tram Depot is a kiosk in Testaccio that dates from the early 1900s and was redesigned to echo the shapes and colours of Rome’s old trams. It calls itself the right stop for coffee: premium and specialty only, with a weekly single-origin espresso served as a double, a house batch brew, a V60 of the week, cold brew and espresso tonic, and the day slides from coffee into aperitivo and cocktails late into the night. A second Tram Depot opened in the Talenti district.
Pergamino Caffè, Prati
Pergamino lists three Prati cafés on its Instagram profile and has no website. It is included because it has been part of Rome’s specialty scene for years.
The historic roasters by the Pantheon
Two roasters within a minute of the Pantheon show what Roman coffee was before specialty. La Casa del Caffè Tazza d’Oro was born as a roastery in 1944, and its bar opened in 1946 as the place to taste the blends before buying; four generations later it calls itself the only artisan coffee company of its era left in the historic centre, roasting at its plant in Formello. Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè has roasted and served on its own piazza since 1938, selecting arabica from South America. Neither is specialty in the modern sense.
What you need to know about Rome specialty coffee
What is the most popular coffee in Italy? Espresso. Ask for un caffè and that is what you get; a cappuccino is a morning drink.
How do you say café in Italian? A bar is where Romans drink coffee standing up. A caffè is the drink, and sometimes the historic house that serves it. The specialty cafés above use “caffetteria” or simply “coffee”.
Which coffee shops are near the Pantheon? Tazza d’Oro and Sant’Eustachio, both within a short walk. For specialty coffee, Barnum, near Campo de’ Fiori, is the closest on this list.
Where can you find good specialty coffee in Rome? Faro and Luna, Sensorio, Barnum and Tram Depot roast light or buy from roasters who do.
Photo credits
Photographs belong to the businesses and are reproduced from their official websites with attribution.
