![]() Students do their studying, tutors their tutoring, writers their writing in coffeehouses. And, at many of the larger coffeehouses in the center of the city, you are provided with a selection of foreign-language newspapers as a matter of course. They are provided free of charge, of course, along with a vast collection of current periodicals. One can read all of the day’s newspapers. In effect, almost everything one might do as well or even better at home. ![]() What is it that one actually does in a coffeehouse? You sip your coffee, you nurse it along, you cherish it and even long after you have finished it, you may sit and do whatever you are doing for as long as you wish. The glass of water symbolizes the establishment’s desire to let you know that you are welcome to stay indefinitely. Your coffee will arrive on a small silver platter accompanied by a small glass of water with a spoon balanced precariously over it. If you simply say “a cup of coffee,” the “Ober” (or headwaiter, as every waiter is called in Austria), though he will not bat an eyelash, will know you for an outsider. So too, in Vienna, you would, according to your predilections, explicitly specify which of the twenty-odd different types of coffee you would like to be served (see glossary). You don’t merely order “a cup of coffee.” You wouldn’t expect to be taken seriously if you ordered “pasta” in Rome, “beer” in Munich or “wine” in Paris. ![]() And the coffeehouse you frequent usually says a lot about you. A coffeehouse should be an end in itself. You don’t pick up a cup of coffee on your way to other amusements. To the true coffeehouse connoisseur, this approach would demonstrate that he has no idea about the art of coffeehousing.įirst, one does not simply wander into just any coffeehouse. A way of life.Ī novice might wander into a coffeehouse and order “a cup of coffee,” gulp it down, pay and leave. Tangible though it may be, it is really closer to an abstract idea. In fact, a coffeehouse is far more than the sum of its parts. After all, it is easy to find small coffee bars (as in most of the world nowadays) where excellent coffee is served to a standing clientele as a quick pick-me-up. But even the coffee does not account for the popularity of coffeehouses in Vienna. So is it the coffee that draws people to coffeehouses? It is true that, for more than three hundred years, coffee has played a major role in the lives of the Viennese. As noted essayist and coffeehouse habitué Alfred Polgar said: “A coffeehouse is a place for people who want to be alone but need company to do it with.”ĭécor plays its role and other guests make a difference, but that is not all. Of course, unlike at home, the level of interaction with those around you remains at your discretion. Their hallmarks are large rooms, small tables, uncomfortable chairs, non-descript décor and creaky floors. But most of them are quite unprepossessing. Some of the very old Viennese coffeehouses are beautiful in and of themselves, with crystal chandeliers, plush sofas, and marble-topped tables. But in Vienna, the coffeehouse has been brought to a perfection never equaled elsewhere. In fact, the first coffeehouses were built in the harbor cities of Venice and London. Vienna was not the first city to boast a coffeehouse. Kolschitzky eventually opened one of the first coffeehouses in Vienna. However, when roasted and brewed with hot water, they produced a strong aroma and a delightful taste. In one version, these beans were at first taken to be camel-fodder by the Viennese. After the end of the siege, Kolschitzky supposedly asked for (and received) large bags of green beans as a reward for his services. It seems he was quite fluent in the Turkish language and familiar with Turkish customs. One version which seems the most plausible concerns Georg Franz Kolschitzky, who served as a scout between the two opposing camps during the unsuccessful Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. ![]() How did the exotic coffee-bean find its way into Vienna? Numerous legends abound. With limited success – coffeehouses have acquired a certain mythical quality in short, they are the stuff legends are made of. Many poets and writers rhapsodized about the Vienna coffeehouse, all searching for the essence of what has become the most Viennese of all Viennese institutions.
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