Concluding our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series (finally! aren’t you glad?), we’ve saved the best for last. We last visited Torino’s Caffè Mulassano in May 2004. And while we sampled many more Piemonte area cafés in our October 2007 visit, both times Caffè Mulassano came out on top for our favorite espresso in Torino. Caffè Mulassano is also one of Torino’s four cafés rated among Gambero Rosso‘s top 18 in the country.

From the sidewalks around Piazza Castello, right across from Baratti & Milano, it appears a little less grand than some of its Torino peers. But by any American standard, it has curb appeal for miles: dark wood, antique lights, and classic Carpano branding.

Inside the baristi wear white jackets and black ties, serving customers in a tight space of mirrors and dark wood. There are a couple of sidewalk tables in front and not a lot more table seating inside. Even at having your espresso at the bar leaves little space, given how much of their limited counter tops are covered in things to drink or eat. Add the mirrored walls and the usual matron at the side register looking down on everything, and the place almost has a fun house feel.

They use a two-group Ariete machine. But when we asked about it, they dismissed the importance of the machine; they claim the quality here is all in the miscela (or coffee blend…if only that we’re true). Not surprisingly, they are quite proud of their own roasts.

Yet they do arguably pull the best espresso shot in town. It has a speckled, even, medium brown crema of decent thickness, a potent aroma, a medium body, and a flavor of pepper and spices. Served in Mulassano-logo ACF cup. Very reasonable at €1.

Despite the fact that the best espresso in Italy generally doesn’t exactly measure up to the best in North America (in Italy, it’s all about the power of averages), Caffè Mulassano’s espresso would tie for first among San Francisco’s other café ratings. Check out the updated summary of our espresso in Torino and Piemonte ratings.

And read the updated review of Caffè Mulassano.

The next-to-last café in our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series was chosen entirely at random. Torino’s Borgo Nuovo district keeps a lower profile than most, but it has quite a bit going on for the locals on almost every corner. Walking through this neighborhood on a Monday afternoon, when many of the storefronts are closed, we stumbled upon Torrefazione Contrada San Filippo and decided to try their espresso. The intent was a random sampling of what is typically offered in town — the neighborhood espresso that doesn’t make the ranks of the Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso.

Now when it comes to the locals, the Torinese have this habit of unintentionally playing tricks on anyone unfamiliar with the area. (Afterall, who visits this town besides out-of-town Italian businessmen?) Many streets and piazze go by multiple names: the official name, and the informal, historical name. Contrada San Filippo, for example, is nothing you’ll find on a modern map, but the Torinese know it as Via Maria Vittoria. If you’re lucky, a few might even call it Via Maria Vittoria.

You follow, right? The whole thing makes you half wonder if the locals did this intentionally to confuse any potential invaders.

The Torrefazione Contrada San Filippo (on “Contrada San Filippo,” of course) is a local bar in every sense of the word. It has the standard café setup, pasticceria, sweets, and alcohol varieties one would expect. When we were there, a regular customer ordered a caffè corretto (literally, “corrected coffee”) with sambucca — which proprietor jokingly called, “Aqua Velva.” Torino’s answer to a TV bar like “Cheers” would have to be something like this.

Using a three-group WEGA, they pull shots with a darker brown crema with some lighter texture in it. It has surprising potency and a robust flavor of cloves. When random espresso shots in town taste this good, you’re living among some of the highest standards in the world. And it’s still only €0.90.

Read the review of Torrefazione Contrada San Filippo.

As we wind up our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series (just three more to go!), we pay a visit to Caffè Vittorio Veneto. This café sits at the mouth of Torino’s grand Piazza Vittorio Veneto (known to the Torinese as simply “piazza Vittorio”) — designed in 1825 by architect Giuseppe Frizz, some 360 meters long and 111 meters wide, on the banks of the Po River, and with the Mole Antonelliana looming above.

Compared with the more glitzy center of town at Piazza Castello, just up Via Po, this neck of the woods bustles with foot traffic in decidedly more casual footwear. Part of that has to do with the nearby University of Torino, where cheap books, cheap T-shirts, and cheap eats are more prevalent among the local college students.

The café itself, founded in 1878, isn’t particularly noteworthy. In fact, it’s not even rated in the Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso. But it provides a reference point for the classic local café for enjoying an apertivo for “happy hour” (just don’t pronounce the ‘h’s…like a native New Yorker) or for one of your required daily espresso pit stops.

But, oh…the happy hour. As in other northern Italian cities such as Milan, they lay on the happy hour food spread heavy here. Ordering a couple of drinks, you can consume an entire dinner’s worth of accompanying snacks gratis.

Using a three-group Rancilio, they pull shots with a medium and dark brown speckled crema. It has a good degree of coagulation, though it’s not too thick. Flavorwise, it’s mellow — a light peppery flavor that’s a touch subdued for Torino.

Served in Caffè Costadoro logo cups. (Costadoro is one of the most recognizable coffee brands among Torino’s cafés, and yet it is virtually unheard of outside of the area.) At €1, it’s a touch pricey for this part of town. Sometimes the tourists come from other parts of Italy, afterall, to lounge on the square over an espresso.

Read the review of Caffè Vittorio Veneto.

Just when you thought it was safe to keep reading this blog…

Our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series once again returns to Torino to start winding up the final cafés of the tour. And where better to visit next than Caffè Platti? While a little off the beaten path of downtown Torino, it is one of the city’s finest grand cafés — with all the old-fashioned elegance and charm you’d expect. They first opened their doors in 1875 and still feature their original furniture. And Gambero Rosso also named it one one of the top 18 cafés in Italy (rated 3 chicchi and 3 tazzine).

Caffè Platti is spacious and filled with confections, mirrors, multiple tables, and decorative artwork. (And bonus for me: just outside is the location of the famed park bench where the Italian soccer team Juventus was formed in 1897.)

Using their own Caffè Piatti beans and a four-group La Cimbali at the bar, they serve espresso shots with a modest layer of darker brown, uneven crema. It’s served a little warm, temperature-wise, and tastes of cedar and mild pepper. Served properly with a glass of water on the side. There are better espresso shots in town, but few are better at the location in which to drink it. And all that high falootin’ class for just €0.95.

Read the review of Caffè Platti.

Our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series continues with the last of our reviewed cafés in Alba: Vincafè. Owned and operated by Umberto Penna and Massimo Torchio, this modern, trendy spot in the middle of Alba’s shopping district has a decent amount of indoor seating for having a apertivo, dining on lunch, or having an espresso while watching Italian music videos on the flat screen TV.

However, it is better known for its copious outdoor seating space — which takes over much of the pedestrian-only, cobblestone streets of Via Vittorio Emanuele. It is a prime spot to catch the Alba “fashion show” as locals and Italian tourists alike walk by.

Rated 2 chicchi and 2 tazzine in the 2008 Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso, their espresso is rather workmanlike. The one exception is their loyal and proud use of Asti’s Ponchione coffee. Otherwise, they use a three-group La Cimbali M32 Dosatron to pull shots with a mottled medium brown crema. It has a pungent flavor of pepper and mild spice. A pretty standard, and decent, cup for Piemonte at €0.90.

Read the review of Vincafè.

Our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series continues with a return to Torino’s Piazza San Carlo. Caffè San Carlo may not be among Gambero Rosso‘s top 18 cafés in all of Italy, but they rated it with a very respectable 3 tazzine and 2 chicchi in its 2008 guide.

With so much competition on this piazza, it may be a little surprising that the Caffè San Carlo holds its own. Its espresso may be weaker than its neighbors’, but they offer the best pastries and best milk-frothing for cappuccini on the square. It has seating out front on the piazza and decorative touches inside, with a small mirrored bar with a monstrous glass chandelier. In the morning, they set out their great pastries in the middle of the place.

Using a four-group E92 Faema, they pull espresso shots with a thin layer of a lighter brown crema speckled with dark brown. The pour is relatively large for the region, and thus not very potent. Still, it’s pretty good and comes with more of an herbal flavor of cloves and spice. Served in delicate IPA cups with the Caffè San Carlo logo.

When it comes to cappuccini, there’s no real latte art beyond a basic swirl. But their milk frothing and consistency in their cappuccini is perhaps the best on the square — earning them something of a bonus score. Still a pretty good deal at €0.90.

Read the review of Caffè San Carlo.

Our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series continues with a visit to a Piemonte-based chain of roaster/cafés, called Casa del Caffè Vergnano. Caffè Vergnano has opened 16 roaster/cafés throughout Europe, located in cities as varied as Torino, Milan, Nice, Munich, Düsseldorf, London, one we stopped at in Asti (rated 2 chicchi and 2 tazzine in the 2008 Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso ), and one in Alba we’ll review here.

Past the bags of unroasted green beans in front with a large Petroncini roaster, you follow an unusual custom for this area but one that’s common for most of Italy: paying first at the separate register (la cassa). At the rear of the café they have extensive, rather upscale seating and food service. Just before it is an espresso bar with dueling two-group Elektra machines.

This place is particularly popular with Alba’s weekend tourists. They serve espresso with a decent, coagulated layer of medium brown crema — albeit somewhat thin in size. The thin body in the cup, however, doesn’t hold up as well. It also has a flavor of medium spices. It’s clearly a good cup — but this kind of local, on-site roasting raises your expectations for freshness, the fullness of the crema and flavor, etc. But instead, it serves as proof that local roasting isn’t apparently everything, and Italian consumers seem to believe that. Offered at a not unreasonable €0.90.

Read the review of Casa del Caffè Vergnano.

UPDATE: Dec. 28, 2007
A Milan-based location of Caffè Vergnano was also mentioned (and misspelled as “Caffe Vergnanao”) in the Dec ’07-Jan ’08 issue of Barista Magazine — in Anastasia Chovan’s (aka, “the Clover girl”) article on this year’s Host Milan show. The author also noted how the high-end stuff in the States often beats the best in Italy, but she doesn’t seem aware that Milan has some of the worst espresso in all Italy.

Our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series now heads for the remote Piemontese town of Sommariva del Bosco — a rural town of less than 6,000 residents, considered to be the gateway to the Roero region. But despite its remote location and small town stature, the gelateria/bar/confectioner Strumia has helped put this location on the Italian map.

OK, so maybe only the Italian maps of crackpot espresso hunters like myself. The 2008 Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso has honored it as one of the top 18 coffee bars in Italy (awarded both 3 tazzine and 3 chicchi), and it is the only coffee bar that has made that list for five years running.

Yet the café, and the town, are still very much local secrets. Unlike other towns we visited in Piemonte, virtually no one spoke English here. And our first meeting with the local color involved a disabled couple who literally stumbled into the street, and needed minor medical attention, over the excitement of seeing stranieri (foreigners) in the town centro. (They were going to be OK, fortunately.)

Strumia is an eponymous reference to its owner and proprietor, Tonino Strumia — himself quite a local character. As you might expect from a successful, small town proprietor who loves his trade and has been in business for 30 years, the man simply cannot stop talking. And he also cannot stop offering you samples — specialties of the Roero region as sold in the shop: sweets, gelato, candies, chocolate, pastries, etc. Nothing you can make a meal out of; that’s not the point here. But stay long enough, and Tonino will fill you up with an endless supply of his artisan samples.

And, of course, there’s the espresso. Inside, Strumia is decorated in dark brown wood with a couple of small tables. Using a two-group Faema, they serve espresso with a tiger striped/spotted crema of modest thickness. It has a bold, pungent (cloves, thyme), concentrated flavor. Served in Illy designer IPA cups. Table service and still just €0.90.

Read the review of Strumia.

Our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series returns to Asti, Italy for a café known more for its food than the espresso it serves per se. However, its espresso is good enough to have earned it a respectable 2 chicchi rating from Gambero Rosso (in addition to its 2 tazzine rating).

This is a popular lunch spot with the locals. The friendly owners serve espresso from their two-group Faema E61 Legend at the bar. It has a darker crema with a large white spot, indicating some heat control issues, and the body could be thicker. It’s still a good cup, and it has a solid flavor of medium spice and some pepper. They use, and strongly support, Caffè Aymorè beans from an obscure roaster in Alessandria. Priced for the locals at €0.80 a tazzina.

Read the review of Bar Lo Stregatto.

We again return to Torino, Italy for our Espresso in Torino and Piemonte series — this time for a review of Baratti & Milano, one of the top 18 cafés in all Italy as reviewed by the 2008 Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso (rated 3 tazzine and 3 chicchi).

Founded by Ferdinando Baratti and Edoardo Milano in 1858 as a cafeteria, it moved to its present café location in 1875 with the construction of the impressively classic Galleria Subalpina, which runs along its east side. To this day, while the café has windows facing the inside of the gallery, its entrance is exclusively from the arcades of Piazza Castello — a point known as Portici della Fiera.

After several expansions and world wars, it has survived as a classical Torinese grand café with an emphasis on its production of confections. Today it may be known more for its chocolate (particularly Gianduiotti and Cremini, today made near the town of Bra) and old-school opulence, but they also roast their own beans for their coffee. Local SF specialty Italian grocer, A.G. Ferrari, carries many of their confections.

Baratti & Milano is a classic grand café with plenty of space, chandeliers, mirrors, dark wood, and old elegance. And perhaps almost as classic, the Galleria Subalpina was used for part of an infamous Austin Mini (today: Mini Cooper) car chase scene in the original 1969 production of The Italian Job. (IMO, it ran laps around Hollywood’s 2003 remake.)

Here’s the movie trailer:

And here are some of Baratti & Milano’s cameo scenes from the movie:

Yes, Torino, the Mini, and — at least to me — Baratti & Milano were immortalized in a Michael Caine classic (though what movie hasn’t he been in?) with perhaps the greatest car chase scene in British cinema history and a hip/cheesy lounge cat Quincy Jones soundtrack. How can you go wrong? Put it on your Netflix list.

Upon entering inside, past the counter of sweets, they use a red, four-group La Cimbali to pull espresso shots with a thinner, even, medium-to-dark brown crema. The shot is pulled a touch short, giving it a darker pungent flavor with a woody edge. Served in Schönhuber Franchi Baratti & Milano logo cups. Yet only a mere €0.90.

Read the updated review of Baratti & Milano.