As many of you know bars in Italy are quite different from bars in the US. Italians will come to a bar for a glass of wine, or a beer for lunch and of course for an aperitif later in the day before dinner, but the bar is the hub of morning activity in Italy and is where everyone (it seems) goes for coffee (“caffe”).
Of course every bar is quite different from every other bar in layout, space, design and so forth. And each bar carries one particular brand of coffee: Hausbrandt, Kimbo, Sandy, Jolly are just several of the brands widely seen throughout Italy. And many bars will even bear the name of the coffee it carries: Bar Sandy, Bar Jolly and so on. And virtually every bar still grinds their beans fresh every day.
Bars also use different machine systems, although nearly all of these machines are pretty much fully automatic today with microprocessors as the core of the unit. It is quite rare to see the large, heavy fully manual piston systems such as La Pavoni. They simply take too much time to produce too little coffee and in many bars, particularly during the morning rush also during much of the working day as well, time is money. Systems such as Faema can produce a half dozen different types of coffee drinks at a given time with just a twist of the wrist and push of a button.
Bars certainly vary widely in their overall design: some are quite frumpy dating back to the 1960s (the rustic side of the 60s in fact) while others are the epitome of chic design, stainless steel, art deco glass and the fanciest of cups. Most are simply nice places to spend a few moments of your morning getting yourself together before starting the day or a pleasant place to sit and sip a prosecco at the end of the day.
And yet no matter what their style or design philosophy most bars share a certain unique common layout, one that concerns something many of us often forget about: washing all those little cups and saucers, spoons and glasses. Through the typical cleaning system widely seen throughout Siena for example dozens and dozens of glasses and cups and various other used dishware can be easily washed and recycled by the barista alone if need be. And the system is really quite simple to use.
Built into the stainless steel counter which is located below and behind the actual bar counter (which is where everyone stands to drink their coffee and eat their morning “brioche”) are usually two circular receptacles into which fit rubber-coated baskets. The baskets are filled up with dirty dishes and glassware – there is a drain in the bottom of each receptacle – and as a basket is filled it is then lifted out of the receptacle and put into a specially designed dishwashing unit about half the size of a typical US automatic dishwasher where it undergoes a cleaning and sterilizing cycle. From what we can tell no soap is used. After a short cycle the basket is removed the dishes are clean and basically dry and then stacked near the coffee machine ready to be used. The basket is then placed back into the receptacle. The cycle begins and continues all day long.
Is there really a different from one bar to the next, you might ask? Well certainly to many Italians although for them the bar can also be a social gathering place. But is the coffee different? Are the pastries in one any better than another?
Glad you asked because we decided to run our own little “coffee tasting” to see if there are in fact significant differences in quality from one bar to another in a given area.
We decided to begin our tasting at one of our favorite bars, the Quattro Cantoni (“Four corners”) on Via di Citta and work our way down the street trying out several of the other places along the way. We stopped at Il Bargello, then Fiorella no. 3 and finally Il Bibo (on Via Banchi di Sotto).
Each used a different brand of coffee: Sandy at QC, Jolly at Il bargello, Cellini at Il Bibo and their own propertary coffee at Fiorella no. 3. Of the four we tended to prefer the Jolly Grancaffe at Il Bargello. It seemed richer and smoother than the others; our least favorite was the Cellini brand used at Il Bibo (it seemed the most bitter tasting).
Il Bibo and Fiorella no. 3 used “Faema” machines, QC used a “Vibiemma” and Il Bargello used the “Wega” brand; all microprocessor. QC’s was the largest with four portafilters able to produce a maximum of eight different cups at a time. (The portafilter is the handle and basket that holds the coffee while it’s in the machine.) Fiorella’s and Il Bargello’s were the smallest with only two portafilters each (for a total of four cups maximum).
Ambiences also differed widely: Fiorello was by far the smallest of places we tested today – and it could get crowded fast -- and had radio playing in the background. Il Bibo was probably the largest with even as large side room for overflow and also had either the radio or Italian muzak playing.
All places served pastries (“paste”) but Il Bibo and QC had the largest selections. (This is only a tentative observation since it was late morning by the time we finished our tasting and so many paste would be gone to be replaced by panini for the lunch crowd.)
The next challenge: the breads of Siena.
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