New in Rome, Fax Factory: specialty bar and cultural hub

New openings

Think specialty coffees, quality beans roasted by Italian and foreign quality roasters, filter and espresso extractions. Artisan desserts, and also a lot of art––paintings, photography, literature––in the new cultural center opened in Rome, in the Pigneto district, a space that aims to be a full-fledged coffee shop, with avant-garde and alternative extraction systems (for espresso there's a Marzocco gb5), fine mono-origin and, soon, also in-home roasted coffee. Moreover, also a point of aggregation, where exhibitions and cultural events are combined with the pleasure of a good cup.

Art and coffee

An experiment that was already put in place last spring by Ortica, Trastevere coffee shop and concept store designed by a group of artists within the Frutta Gallery, link between art and food, currently closed but due to return soon with new projects. Now, it's the turn of Gaia Aurora Olmedo and Luca Palazzi, young baristas who have trained and matured at Pergamino Caffè, coffee bar in Piazza Risorgimento run by Luigi Parise and his wife Laura, created together with the coffee roaster Massimo Bonini of Lady Café. "Beer, coffee and horses: these are my passions", says Gaia, the coffee lover who seems to have found in the black gold her life goal. She also worked in the field of craft beer, a sector in which she studied considerably especially thanks to the period spent at the historical pub Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa'.

The masterminds

"I am interested in the roasting aspect, which I intend to start early in my house in the countryside outside Rome. In charge of brewing - extraction with filter method - will be mainly Luca". Both were trained at the barista school of Davide Cobelli, owner of Coffee Training Academy in Verona. At the moment, self-roasting has not yet begun, but coffee lovers certainly will not be disappointed: for the espresso, the dark beans of Darko del Grappa, "with the owners we immediately created a beautiful harmonious working relationship", while for the filter coffees, foreign roasters, from Origin to Five Elephant will feature prominently, "and many others that will change in rotation". Do not miss the bakery department, with cakes by Paneria, native of Castelli Romani with a salespoint on Via Appia managed by Simone Moroni, craftsman who decided to focus attention on the flavours of the past, interpreted through the use of quality ingredients.

Goals

"Coffee remains the main protagonist, but we will also have a selection of craft beers and a small cocktail list". The beating heart of the restaurant is its dual soul: "We plan to host events and theme nights, with live music, book presentations, debates, forums, screenings and exhibitions". Doors open on December 20th, the day of the inauguration ("the coffee shop is already open"), with a photo exhibition designed for the occasion. A first step towards the realization of a wider project, a shared space in the heart of Pigneto, "a district able to accommodate every novelty and enjoys an excellent position: so, in Rome there will be Faro in Piazza Fiume, Pergamino in Prati and then us, here". A map of specialty coffee shops that continues to grow from year to year.

Fax Factory art&specialty coffee - via Antonio Raimondi, 87 – Rome www.facebook.com/FAXFactory/?ref=br_rs

by Michela Becchi
translated by Eleonora Baldwin