I also had plenty of time to visit a number of bars, try the coffee and visit with the baristas a bit. An occasional grappa added to the joy of the experience.
To generalise: With only one exception, every espresso I had was good. Some were exceptionally good, all were very palatable. None were as good as my best at home and none were as good as I have enjoyed at TMC meets, but that's not surprising. There is nowhere within a radius of 100km from my home that I can get as good a shot as the ones I had in the area around Ancona.
All of the baristas knew when the coffee they were serving had been roasted, or they could look on the packet and find out. The oldest was 6 days, the youngest was 3 days. None could tell the country of origin, saying that the roaster would not reveal his "secrets." The coffees tasted to me as if they were mostly Columbian or Brazilian. In one or two I thought I could taste a prominence of robusta, but I'm not sure about that. None of the coffee beans were roasted very darkly. All were roasted locally, either in Ancona, Pesaro or in Ascoli Piceno, all within a radius of 20-30km and were delivered twice weekly by the roaster.
All cafés had at least 2 grinders, one as a backup or for decaf. The grinders are serviced 2-3 times per year I was told.
Most of the machines were La Cimbali 2 or 3 group Dosatrons, although there was one Gaggia 4 group and a couple of La Spaziale 3 groups. All were meticulously clean, the baristas cleaned and dried the baskets after use (but not between individual shots) and all machines were backflushed at least once daily. Not one tamper was to be seen aside from the plastic things on the grinders and those were used by all to level the coffee. The shots all varied between 20 and 30 seconds and I saw the grinders being adjusted regularly. The cups were heated and the espresso just hot enough to be drinkable immediately. If it had been more than 10 minutes since the machine had been used the barista pulled a flushing shot before making the first espresso.
The concept of "microfroth" does not belong to the Italian coffee scene as far as I could tell. Milk is frothed with big, gloppy bubbles and the foam varies from dry to very wet. Latte art was limited to an "apple" that may have been intentional or an accident, I couldn't tell for certain. Most cafés used whole milk (3.5%) and milk was often refrothed, usually in very large (1L) jugs. Cappucinos and double espressi are always served in the smaller 3-oz. cappuccino cups, usually bearing the logo of the roaster. Espressi are usually, but not always, served with a small glass of tap water.
I often received a rather amused look when I drank an espresso without sugar.
Summarizing my experience, just as in Rome or Venice, I found the coffee very enjoyable. I could go almost anywhere and get a good espresso. I did notice that there are now bars with Schaerer or Cimbali superautos and I avoided those. I was told that some coffee companies are pushing pads, but so far they have not caught on. I guess some people are going from the traditional moka pot to pad machines in the home. I did have one espresso that was not very good, a bit watery with thin, cream-colored crema. The barista noticed that I didn't like it and offered to make me another, but I declined as I was already over-caffeinated anyway. The rest of the espressi were good, hot enough and with thick, dark crema. I think I could get used to living in a place like that.
