I wonder if I'd be "hitting a wall" after my 6.47th straight bag of Black Cat...

Perhaps just for folks in NYC.

I was at Di Palo's on Grand Street and noticed they had some 8.8oz. cans of whole beans from Caffé del Faro:
http://www.caffedelfaro.com/index.php?l ... dma37vhep3
a cafe and roaster from the Marche region.

Some of the cans were a 100% Arabica blend, but I thought I'd try the Arabica/Robusta:


I didn't have a chance to speak to Mr. Di Palo about his inventory, but my guess is that he got them as part of a dog and pony for foods of the Marche last spring:
http://www.marcheisgood.com/ambassadors/caffe-del-faro
The can has a "best by" of March 2015, which would be 2 years from the date, more or less.

It does look like you can get the coffee mail order from Seattle, but the price seems pretty high at $19 for 8.8oz, even if it includes shipping. (I paid $8.99 plus tax at Di Palo's.)
http://www.marxfoods.com/Caffe-Del-Faro ... gory=85670

The beans are quite a bit lighter than the Kimbo and Passalaqua I've been consuming:


I had a chance to pull one espresso; I took my current setting on the Pharos, 16gm on a Europiccola gave me a 62% ristretto with ample persistente crema. I found the whisky/robusta taste to be subtle and balanced, much less in evidence than my recent pulls of Segafredo Massimo. The coffee is bolder and darker than the (Piedmontese) Vergnano I recently had at Eataly, and perhaps more so also than the (Roman) Danesi as well. But both of these were normali of 100% Arabica blends. According to the PDF I posted to the big Kimbo thread, espresso from the Marche tends toward the character of the Neapolitan styles to their south. But the Caffé del Faro isn't anywhere near as inky as Kimbo, or heaven forbid, the Passalaqua Moana.

Very enjoyable, and I look forward to drinking more in the coming week. I'll try to pull them as normali.

If you have a tip about interesting Italian blends, please consider posting something here.

Cheers!

Hello,
I want to suggest you some Coffee brands from my Region Marche in Central Italy.
www.ascaffe.com/
www.elitecaffe.it/
www.caffedelfaro.com/
www.maranellocafe.it
www.nerocaffe.eu
www.pascucci.it/
www.rioricacoffee.com
www.romcaffe.it/
www.saccaria.it/
www.surikafe.it/
www.tosteriavittori.it/
www.perferocaffe.com/
Some of them are very famous and even distributed in the U.S., others are small roasters, others are small awarded companies.

Thanks for the opportunity to promote my loved territory.

Regards

Mariano

Ciao Mariano-

Thanks so much for your list of roasters from the Marche. I'll try to get some of them to try here in the US.

Do you have any favorites among the ones you mentioned?

Is the style of coffee from the Marche indeed different from that of Rome and Tuscany?

Best wishes, Charles

My package of Caffe Del Faro arrived yesterday. I ordered the Italian Espresso and Gold Extra blends. Both contain some Robusta. I was able to get a great deal on a website snafu where they had the 8.8 oz cans marked as 2.2lbs. They honored the order and fixed the website rather quickly. The cans are marked with June 2015 expiration dates.

Hilarious.

I've just gotten back to the Caffe del Faro yesterday. I really like the balance of the Robusta, but I'll need a bit more time to form any conclusions.

I thought to get some Vergnano today to make a comparison, but got waylaid by a bag of Heartbreaker.

I hope you like the CdF.

Best, Charles

I finally got around to trying the Caffe del Faro. I tried the Extra Gold first and wasn't that pleased with the flavor. I next tried some of the Espresso Italiano and I liked it much better. The other thing I discovered by accident is that the Espresso Italiano blend tastes much better at higher temps. Not sure what I did in one of my flush routines but I think I got near a 203F shot temp. I was expecting off flavors but instead found it very good. All the flavors were in balance and it was quite smooth. I'll have to try the Extra Gold at higher temps too to see if it helps there too.

Hi Rich-

Interesting to hear about the temperature; sorry the Gold wasn't to your taste. I did a quick look at the CdF website, but couldn't determine whether the Gold has more or less Robusta than the Espresso Italiano. Obviously, the Gold isn't a 100% Arabica, which is another offering of theirs.

I pulled another jar of the CdF Espresso Italiano out of the freezer, and have been enjoying it a lot in rotation with Grumpy's Heartbreaker and Olympia's Big Truck. If it's ground too fine, you're rewarded with a chalky mouthfeel, but otherwise I think it holds it's own as a straight espresso. I've been pulling it with a 194F temp at my Pavoni grouphead to make a ~65% ristretto. My next jar, I'll see how it tastes as a normale. The chocolate of the (I assume) Arabica and the whisky of the Robusta maintain a separation, and their interplay over a fairly long finish keeps the taste quite interesting. Given the occasional interest in Robusta coffees on this site, I wonder if these Italian roasts aren't the perfect way to frame one's appreciation?

With the end of the del Faro jar, I thought I should get out the last of my Passalaqua Moana before the freezer demons penetrated the Ziploc bag I had naively put it into. The Moana is a really dark, oily 100% Arabica Neapolitan, and it hadn't suffered perceptibly. I've pulled a few 80% ristretti, and they've been agreeably chocolately, but it's a monotone--really just a single flavor--and the finish is quick. If I return to roasts this dark, I think the Passalaqua Mekico Plus (an 80A-20R mix) might be the one to try.

I also got waylaid at Di Palo's again this past Thursday. They have a bunch more coffee than usual, more CdF, but I bought a 1kg bag of the Roman roaster Danesi's "Classic" with a production date of November 2013.



It's another 80A-20R% blend like the CdF Espresso Italiano (although I don't know the exact percentage of the CdF: it can't be large). I thought it might make for an interesting comparison, given the proximity of Rome to the Marche and the Campania. Danesi is a much larger roaster than CdF; not as big as Lavazza or Segafredo, but big enough for offices in NYC. Ferraro used Danesi for a while; don't know why they switched to the (to me, uninteresting) Caffé Sacco. The Belgian restaurant chain here, Petite Abeille, has always served Danesi, but I haven't been by there for an espresso in what seems a lifetime. Their bar at 17th street is always crowded with folks waiting for a table.

Given I have such a big bag, I'm happy to trade coffee with anyone who'd like to PM me. I'd guess there are three 8oz. bags to share, or more if you'd want less. It'd be nice to get an Italian coffee in exchange, but not totally necessary. Also, if there are Canadian readers, I'd be happy to send some out with no coffee obligation if you'll write about your impressions of the Danesi on this thread.

Best, Charles

I lucked into some fresh imported Giovanni Erbisti 1947 espresso blend from an artisan roaster in Verona. The roaster is Laboratorio di Torrefazione Giamaica. My review of the coffee starts with discovering a Faema Ariete in Redwood City, CA.

Nice post Gary! If you have anything more to say about the Erbisti blend, please put it up somewhere.

Best, Charles

I don't want to double post, which is why I put up a link. I also enjoy coupling the coffee review to the fun circumstances in which I encountered it.