My Danesi Coffee Review Highlights The Best Coffee In Rome

Living in Rome allows me the opportunity to review the best espresso coffee in the world and the Danesi coffee roasters are among the best in Italy!

One of the joys of living in Rome is how easy it is to try new and different coffees from all around the city. There are many different roasters with distinctly different, but enjoyable flavors. Sometimes it is as easy as grabbing a different coffee at your local grocery store because you just felt like it. I chose to try Danesi because of a bad experience the first time I tried it.

As I have mentioned, a few years back we owned an ecommerce site that sold Italian coffee and among the coffees, we sold Danesi. When I first tried it, I didn’t like it because it was so far out of the norms of Italian coffee roasting I had been enjoying for a number of years. The flavor was sour and off putting, but I felt like the problem might have been ours. In the US, shipping coffee around the world, especially in vacuum sealed foil packs, can cause problems and it turned out that our Danesi had a broken seal and the coffee went bad. 

The intention of this review is to share my corrected opinion of an Italian coffee and clear my mind of the bad experience I previously had.

Which Danesi Coffee Did I Review?

The most common roast of Danesi that I have been able to find in Italy and in the US is their Primocaffè. It has a strong flavor with a lot of body, but isn’t acidic and has a medium roast. It is a balanced blend of natural Arabica beans from Brazil and East Africa, for a sweet and rounded coffee with a delicate aroma of tropical wood. My foil pouch was pre-ground for a moka, but you should also be able to find whole beans, if you prefer.

Where Is Danesi Coffee Roasted?

The founder, Alfredo Danesi, at 25, decided to open a coffee emporium in the center of Rome, on Via Tomacelli, together with his friend Nencini. If you aren’t that familiar with Rome, via Tomacelli is close to the Ara Pacis museum and the soon to open Augustus Mausoleum along the Tiber.

Thanks to the hard work of Alfredo’s son, Giovanni, Danesi opened the first real roasting plant in Circonvallazione Clodia. In the 1960s, the roasting plant was then transferred to its current location in the Magliana area, outside of the historical center of Rome.

Are There Other Danesi Coffee Roasts To Consider?

Danesi does have a wide variety of coffees that use beans from around the world. In general, their roasts are medium and they aren’t very acidic. If you are traveling around Italy or Europe, you might also consider one of their other varieties:

• DANESI ORO – This blend uses beans of the Arabica and Robusta varieties grown at altitude and carefully selected by their experts to obtain a coffee with an intense flavor and aroma, with a full body and a pleasant and clean aftertaste.
• SPECIAL – The Special roast comes in a can or foil that is performed to obtain a perfect balance between acid and bitterness. Its distinctive feature is its sweetness and the aftertaste is clean and persistent.
• PURO – This is a sweeter blend and roast of pure Arabica beans from Latin America and Africa. The flavor contains hints of citrus, chocolate and floral notes. The acidity is sweet and harmonious, the aftertaste is pleasant and fragrant.
• DECAFFEINATED – This popular decaffeinated coffee has a medium roast and maintains the same quality and taste characteristics of real Italian Espresso, but with a lower caffeine content. The rich flavor has a moderate acidity and a full and velvety body.
• DAN DECAFFEINATED – Having the same medium roast as the regular decaffeinated coffee, DAN is a blend of roasted ground decaffeinated coffee. It is preferred by those who like to consume several cups of coffee during the day without having to suffer from too much caffeine.
• BRASILEIRO CARNAVAL – This is a blend of coffees composed of African Robusta grown at high altitude and South American Arabica beans. This combination gives the espresso a typical pure, strong and intense flavor, a full body and a delicate tropical wood aroma.
• SINGLE ORIGIN – If single origin coffees are your passion, Danesi sells bags and tins of beans from: Ethiopia, Ruanda, Brazil and Guatemala. 

Why Is Danesi A Quality Coffee?

Danesi boasts: “A fine coffee, the fruit of a tradition of over 100 years. A coffee made of qualitative and sustainable choices. And of knowledge, love and passion for Italian Espresso Coffee, which we spread in Italy and around the world.”

• Tradition and Innovation – “The Harmony Between Past And Future.” Over 100 years of experience has given Danesi the opportunity to acquire unique knowledge and skills for the coffee production cycle. Today, green coffee processing plants are cutting-edge and allow Danesi to optimize the processing and production processes and guarantee the best quality coffee.
• Sustainability – “In Defense Of Coffee” We fight against the disappearance of coffee. For this reason Danesi prefers:
  • A short supply chain and sustainable agriculture of producer cooperatives.
  • Respecting growers.
  • Protecting the environment, adopting significant and sustainable behaviors.
• Quality – “Checking Is Never Enough” The secret to a quality coffee? Choose:
  • The raw materials.
  • The most suitable manufacturing process.
  • The best sensory characteristics to make you live a unique experience.
  • The best coffee by tasting it and evaluating its organoleptic characteristics through the delicate technique of “cupping”, a practice that, to be carried out, requires technical skills, sensitivity and experience.

How Did I Like The Danesi Primocaffè?

I would categorize this Danesi coffee as a good “everyday” coffee. It isn’t particularly bitter, which is consistent with northern Italian roasters, so more people should find this enjoyable. While I prefer a bitter roast, I don’t dislike the mellower varieties. Also, it isn’t expensive, making it an easy decision when you are in the grocery stores in Rome and beyond.

As I said, I prefer a stronger, more bitter roast that really wakes my mouth up in the morning, but as a compromise with others who don’t like it bitter, or if you are having guests, this would be a great coffee option. It is affordable and delicious, so I would recommend it if it is the style that you prefer. If you don’t know your style, give it a try and see how enjoyable it is.

More Italian Coffee Experiences