Just spent a week in Vienna Austria. Things are starting to change. There are four shops now that have very very good espresso.

1. Caffe Couture with champion barista Georg. Just a few blocks NW of the ring.
2. Caffe Couture has a second shop just inside the ring on Freyung 2 inside a kind of mall.
3. POC (People on Caffene) Kind of hard to find. Tiny little door at Schlösselgasse 21. Walked by it several times before I noticed some activity in a little window. It's just a bit south of Caffee Couture.
4. Kaffeemodul at Josefstädter Straße 35. 4 or 5 blocks due west of the ring. (downtown)

None of these places had decaf. I usually do a shot, then a decaf to see how they do milk drinks. They use lactose free whole milk instead of soy usually. They also have a lighter roast for straight shot drinkers, then a noticbly darker roast for milk drinks which worked out very well. They say that often they get old school patrons that like the dark roasts. I do too, but not that dark. Oils appearing on the beans.

The shots I got at these places were on par with top US coffee shops. Caffe Couture roasts in their shop, the others get roasted beans from various locations.

Decaf is close to unknown in Vienna. Few coffee bars have it and not many outlets even sell decaf in beans. The Viennese are the most highly caffeinated people I have ever lived among. People here commonly drink several cups of coffee per day and chase them with a few cans of Red Bull. Austria is the home of Red Bull (literally).

Anyone who is coming to Vienna might want to take the opportunity to have a cup from the only Gaggia Classica I have ever seen in commercial service. There are a few in museum collections and Enrico Maltoni has one, but a cafe here called Tredici Gradi (on Kaiserstrasse) has a two group Classica in daily use. The coffee is not exceptional, but it probably is the only opportunity to have coffee from the earliest model of commercial hydrocompressor.

Thanks Aaron, Jim.
As someone who is going to spend an early March week in Wein, your observations are of interest.
Since the Viennese Kaffeehaus is a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, does this mean that the classic Wienerkaffee is old-school, out dated and on par with 1950s coffee, worldwide? Or is there some artistry or charm that can be appreciated in certain non-third-wave establishments?
What about places to get a good shot of Italian espresso in Vienna, preferably crafted by Italian-trained baristas?
Anyone bring back trophy roasts?
B

Many old coffeehouses still exist in Vienna, but they seem to fall into two broad categories: renovated, upmarket rooms with good architecture and pastry, and old smoke-saturated rooms with formerly-elegant but now very tired interiors and food to match. In the last few years, a number of cafes in the former category have been acquired by the organization behind Landtmann. The rooms are quite different from each other, but the pastry and coffee are essentially the same. The pastry in the Landtmann operations is pretty good, btw.

It is true that there are few places to get a good espresso in Vienna. The favored Viennese drink is the melange - a very long shot with steamed milk that resembles a cappuccino. My personal take is that the Viennese coffeehouse today offers great opportunities for ambience and pastry, but the coffee rarely is noteworthy.

Jim

I suspected as much. We'll go for the pastry. Thank you.
B

Just got back from a 2 week visit to Vienna. Please see the thread "Independent Coffee Vienna" for great information that I would like to add to. (that thread is closed) Good shops seem to be popping up that are not on the map but worthy. For one, EL.AN inside the ring. The name is the initials of the two woman that own it. They pull shots roasted by Caffee Couture and were highly recommended by them. Anna, one of the owners was very knowledgable and a super nice person.

SUMMARY OF VIENNA SHOPS (equipment and routine)
-VST20 common basket, 20 in, 35-50 out typical using dual or single spout PF
-dual spout PF, pulled into two cups if they need a single shot, no single baskets
-not many bottomless PF, one said the spouts actually taste different !#^?. and less splatter. They say they can tell if the extraction is off if the espresso looks different out of adjacent spouts.
-absolutely no decaf anywhere!
-soy now becoming more common, but lactose free milk always an option, no skim 3% common
-minimum of two roasts, one darker for milk (or some want Italian taste), one lighter for shots.
-LaMazocco machines most common with the Strada GS3 style groupheads, or Linea style.
-grinders: several had the Mahlkonig EK43, others had Mazzer, Mythos.
-most double shots served in bigger cups for aroma and cooling espresso more quickly
-one shop rests their roasts a full 7 days, claiming it's still great at 14 days depending.
-every shop has pastries. (Vienna is pasty crazy, the pastry shops are called Konditorei)

-Apparently "Italian style" espresso is still a big thing in Vienna. (inertia?) There is a huge espresso machine showroom/store in town that I've visited a few times. Many bags of roasted coffee all over the shelves in 2 rooms. They were very proud that they only carried Italian roasted coffee. The machines were all running. They pulled me a shot of the lightest roast which was too dark for me, plus the taste was something I'm no so interested in these days. But each to their own!

I couldn't believe how nice and knowledgable every barista was that I talked to in Vienna. (using English) I often find this in the USA as well. I usually start by saying I'm a home roaster. One barista was distraught that she didn't have time to talk to me. (Coffee Pirates) She remembered me when I visited a week later and apologized. Another shop remembered what SO I had 6 days previous and said I hadn't tried the Guatemalan yet! (Caffe Couture's 2nd shop) Anna of EL.AN talked to all three of us for an hour. (not very busy) She was full of energy, humor, and excitement about everything coffee. Georg Branny was outside his shop Caffee Couture and we talked and laughed a long time looking through the window of his shop like it belonged to someone else. Talked to Sascha, owner of Kaffee von Sascha, he does a good blog that includes the espresso map as pins in google maps. Also suggested I try Brass Monkey not on the list.

In general, I was very impressed with the taste of the espresso I had in Vienna. (I only evaluated straight shots in the shops listed on the "map", only had 3 latte) None seemed to go over the line with super bright roasts I've experienced occasionally in the USA. One was a little close, but it was a very sweet shot and they had 4 different roasts available which is great if you are a repeat customer. One barista said Vienna was trending slightly darker.

To add to everything above, Vienna is a beautiful city with amazing parks, restaurants, museums, and a great public transportation system with beautiful old trolly cars. I probably walked at least 5 miles a day.

akiley wrote:Just spent a week in Vienna Austria. Things are starting to change. There are four shops now that have very very good espresso.

I'm from Berlin but I'm often in Vienna (Wien),
here one more:

The Supersense Praterstraße 70
1020 Wien
Telefon: 01/969 08 32
E-Mail: office@supersense.com
Homepage: http://www.supersense.com
http://www.facebook.com/supersensevienna

or look here:
https://www.falter.at/web/wwei/detail/6751/supersense

http://goodnight.at/magazin/design/313- ... se-in-wien

http://derstandard.at/2000004023220/Sie ... terstrasse

http://www.kekinwien.at/kunst/06/2014/n ... trasse-70/

http://www.a-list.at/wien/essen-trinken ... -kaps.html