If you have been to Vienna you may have spotted that there is a great quantity of cafes which offer the standard ‘Wiener Melange’ in addition to other coffee specialties. But what is so special about coffee in Vienna? Thereis a long history behind it.
We all know that the utilization of coffee came from Africa. From there it was brought to Arabia, where it was known at about five hundred AD. When the Turks conquered almost all of Eastern Europe under the Othman Empire, they made the employment of coffee known in those areas. Still, there had been a clear line of distinction between oriental and occidental cultures, and the use of coffee was one item. Till 1683.
At that time the Turks had come to the Austrian capital and trapped the city. They almost succeeded in their malign search, but finally an army came along from Poland and fought the attackers off.
Now, legend tells us that the Turks fled so hastily, that they didn’t remember to take their coffee with them. The people from Vienna didn’t realize it, thinking it was compost of the camels - animals equally strange to them. Only a certain Kolschitzky is claimed to have known, what coffee beans were used for, so he collected every one of them and founded the first cafe in Vienna.
The reality is subtly different. Where there had been a man called Kolschitzky, who was an Austrian scout of Polish origin, during the battle versus the Turks, and even if he also was allowed to open a coffee shop in’Domgasse’ in Vienna in 1686, he was not the first one. The first Viennese cafe was established a year before by an Armenian called Johannes Diodato ( Owanes Astouatzatur ). Being born in Constantinopel he supposedly knew coffee and how to use it. But Kolschitzky is alleged to have invented the filtering of the coffee and to combine it with milk.
However, thereis no skepticism that the Austrians came to know coffee through the Turks - and when the cultural border well was crossed, coffee made its victory procession through western Europe as well. In the following century the Dutch used their colonies to grow coffee there, so getting sufficient deliver to the Old World.
At present there are a massive quantity of coffee beans, all of them tasting subtley different. There are many paths to treat the beans, before you taste the final product. Roasting is just one procedure ( the lighter roasted, the’grainier’, more acid, the flavour of your coffee will be ), you can mince it roughly, and finally you can boil it, brew it or make an Espresso-type of coffee.
Here we want to give you an impression of what kind of coffee you can get in a Viennese’Kaffeehaus’.
Only one word about the description of making coffee :
‘Turkish coffee’ : employing a copper-pot, you decant the well ground coffee, sugar and water into it, stir it while boiling and give out the blend in a ( little ) mug. Youhave got to wait a minute, till the coffee powder has sunk, it’ll then remain at the base of the mug. This method is still used in south-eastern Europe.
Boiling coffee is also often used nowadays in northerly Sweden, not at least by the aboriginal people of the North, the Lapps. This is mainly as it is the easiest way to cook coffee over an open fire.
Boiling the coffee was the only alternative until the coffee filter was invented, by a German lady. Her first name was Melitta, and the Melitta-filter is still a classic brand. Since then we have got the possibility to brew coffee also. Ultimately Espresso-machines began to be used, and these days nearly all coffee you order in cafes is of Espresso-type.
At this point you possibly will wish to experience the coffee in a real Viennese Kaffeehaus. So do not hesitate and reserve your city tour to vienna. In the centre you ‘ll find many Ferienwohnungen Wien. When you select a Ferienwohnung Wien as accommodation youwill have the ideal place to begin to discover the town with all its cafes.