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BEST (Finest, taste, flavor, etc) ESPRESSO you've ever experienced NOT at Home

Antique Hoosier

“Aircooled”
Where were you? What make it so fantastic? Can you still taste it when you think about it? Tell me... I am traveling the World seeking the very finest espresso!
 
The best cup of espresso I've ever experienced was with a lovely breakfast with my lovely wife at a lovely restaurant in Amsterdam. I don't recall the name of the restaurant, but no one at the restaurant spoke a lick of English. It felt very authentic. We did our best to order in Dutch and our order was mostly correct. The espresso was deliciously dark and creamy. Really it was the whole experience that made that cup of espresso.
 
Roma. Sant'Eustachio caffe close to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.
Baristas prepare the espresso with their back towards you and it comes "preparato" with sugar.

Second has has to be Castroni. Close to the Vatican. Kind of a bar/deli/candyshop. They sell items from all over the world.

The Autogrills throughout Italy make excellent espresso as well. It is always fresh because of the volume of customers.

I plan to go back for sure.
 
Rome as well, but actually I preferred the expresso at our hotel to the cafes and espresso bars we visited. Great crema from a medium roast with a perfect hint of sweetness.
 
I am not sure if you are asking an indirect question, like where is a good place to get a great espresso, or what to look for in regards to taste that makes a good espresso, or just asking fellow members to get nostalgic about some past experience...so that we can all try to relive it here.
 
Illy beans, in my experience, is probably the worst espresso I have had on my home machine. At a bar, it is quite good.
 
Best espresso I have ever had was one day when my wife and I were playing around with the new (vintage 1962) Faema E61 machine we got at work. We were experimenting with grind, temp, tamp, and then, suddenly, the god-shot happened like none other. Could be the 10-12 shots I'd sampled in the previous half-hour, but whatever the reason it was spectacular. Tasted like a chocolate-covered cherry dipped in sex. We used Oakland's Mr. Espresso Neapolitan espresso beans there, which is surprisingly good. Otherwise I'd say the best espresso I've had was from the single group, fully manual lever machine at the Mint Plaza Blue Bottle in SF. I don't even remember what it was, although I do have it written down somewhere. Lots of good espresso to be found here too. I do find that the blends are usually better, albeit less interesting, than the single origin espressos. But then again, my third favorite espresso was a single origin Ethiopian from Stumptown. Just my $.02.
 
There's a local Café in Annapolis called Café Pronto and it's the best I've had not at home.. I'm constantly buying their espresso blends (ceremony coffee)
 
Best espresso coffee ever, for me, was at a cafe here in Montreal called Cafe Consenza. They have closed since and no longer exist. Now that was one heck of a coffee. Nowadays, it's a little cafe in Little Italy called Caffe San Simeon....delicious! Home brew are beans I get from importer...Company name is Trombetta...and cheap at 12-13 bucks a kilo. Works great in my Saeco Synthia
 
The double espresso I had at Red's in Willis St, Wellington, about 1994 was so good I had to have another. That was on top of twolarge instants at home. When i wheeled out of Red's I couldn't focus right, so i swore off coffee, cold turkey. Two days later i still couldn't focus right so i had to go get a check from the opthalmologist at the hospital. Diagnosis: caffeine withdrawal. Cure: more coffee.
 
+1 on this. On the first day I was in Rome, on my honeymoon, our hotel was not ready when we arrived. It was early and we had flown all night, and it was my wife's first international flight. I really just wanted to sit in a room for an hour, wash my face and get my bearings. Since we couldn't do that, the guy at the front desk recommended getting coffee and a bite to eat. We walked across Piazza Barberini to a random espresso shop. I don't know if it was the best espresso I have ever had, but at that moment and during my first visit to Rome, it was exceptional.

any espresso i had in rome
 
In general, Illy is my favorite espresso coffee.

But if you want to have the best espresso in the world, you'll have to go to Italy. If you ever want to have the best espresso in Italy, you need to go to Napoli (Naples). If you want to have the best espresso in Naples, you need to go to Bar Mexico. Therefore, you will find the best espresso in the world at Bar Mexico. :thumbup:

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