The Viennese coffee house is a typical institution of Vienna that played an important part in shaping Viennese culture.
Since October 2011, the "Viennese Coffee House Culture" is listed as an "Intangible Cultural Heritage" in the Austrian inventory of the "National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage", a part of UNESCO. The Viennese coffee house is described in this inventory as a place, "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill."
Characteristics
The social practices, rituals, and elegance create the very specific atmosphere of the Viennese café. Coffee houses entice with a wide variety of coffee drinks, international newspapers, and pastry creations. Typical for Viennese coffee houses are marble tabletops, Thonet chairs, newspaper tables and interior design details in the style of historicism.
The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig described the Viennese coffee house as an institution of a special kind, "actually a sort of democratic club, open to everyone for the price of a cheap cup of coffee, where every guest can sit for hours with this little offering, to talk, write, play cards, receive post, and above all consume an unlimited number of newspapers and journals." Zweig in fact attributed a good measure of Vienna's cosmopolitan air to the rich daily diet of current and international information offered in the coffee houses.
In many classic cafés (for example Café Central and Café Prückel) piano music is played in the evening and social events like literary readings are held. In warmer months, customers can often sit outside in a Schanigarten. Almost all coffee houses provide small food dishes such as sausages, as well as desserts, cakes and tarts, like Apfelstrudel (apple strudel), Millirahmstrudel (milk-cream strudel), Punschkrapfen (punch cake), and Linzer torte.
Unlike some other café traditions around the world, it is normal for a customer to linger alone for hours and study the omnipresent newspaper. Along with coffee, the waiter will serve an obligatory glass of cold tap water and during a long stay will often bring additional water unrequested, with the idea to serve the guest with an exemplary sense of attention.
History
Early history
Legend has it that soldiers of the Polish-Habsburg army, while liberating Vienna from the second Turkish siege in 1683, found a number of sacks with strange beans that they initially thought were camel feed and wanted to burn. The Polish king Jan III Sobieski granted the sacks to one of his officers named Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, who, according to Catholic priest Gottfried Uhlich in 1783 in his History of the second Turkish Siege, was assumed to have started the first coffee house, the Hof zur Blauen Flasche.
According to the legend, after some experimentation, Kulczycki added some sugar and milk, and the Viennese coffee tradition was born. This achievement has been recognized in many modern Viennese coffeehouses by hanging a picture of Kulczycki in the window. Another account is that Kulczycki, having spent two years in Ottoman captivity, knew perfectly well what coffee really was and tricked his superiors into granting him the beans that were considered worthless.
However, according to recent research, Vienna's first coffee house was actually opened by an Armenian businessman named Johannes Theodat (aka Johannes Diodato or Deodat and Owanes Astouatzatur) in 1685. 15 years later, four Greek-owned coffeehouses had the privilege to serve coffee.
The new drink was well received, and coffee houses began to pop up rapidly. In the early period, the various drinks had no names, and customers would select the mixtures from a colour-shaded chart.
Golden Age
Notable coffee houses
- Aida, a chain of traditional Viennese coffee and pastry shops with locations all over the city; one popular location is right beside Stephansplatz.
- Café Bräunerhof, Stallburggasse 2
- Café Central, in Vienna, in the Palais Ferstel, Herrengasse 14 (corner of Strauchgasse) – Peter Altenberg's favorite café and at times his primary address
- Café Demel, Kohlmarkt 14 – the most famous sweet bakery, less of a typical café
- Café Griensteidl, Michaelerplatz 2 – the favourite café of Leon Trotsky and many writers of that era, closed June 2017
- Café Hawelka, Dorotheergasse 6
- Café Landtmann, Universitätsring 4 – Sigmund Freud's preferred café
- Café Museum, Operngasse 7
- Café Sacher, Philharmonikerstraße 4 (a café part of the Hotel Sacher)
See also
- Karlsbad coffee
- Young Vienna, literary movement that arose around Viennese coffee houses
- Parisian café
- Wiener coffee
Further reading
- (328 pages)
- (4+xii+205 pages)
External links
- Viennese Coffee House Culture – Julius Meinl
References
- Anya von Bremen. 7 Spots Shaking Up Vienna's Cafe Scene The New York Times, 2025-12-22, retrieved 2026-02-19^
- Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria: Viennese Coffee House Culture retrieved 2011-11-19^
- about.com Viennese Coffee House Culture