The Central Cafe in Vienna and the Coffee Culture in Vienna

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(new three talents start) Picture and text: Li Shanshan

When you think of Austria, you will think of Vienna, the music capital, and the beautiful scenery of the Alps ski town. Then there is the hometown of Mozart, the location of the film the Sound of Music-Salzburg.

However, another culture of Austria, which is also loved by the local people, is the coffee culture.

The most famous is Viennese coffee culture, also known as Viennese cafe culture. Viennese cafes are everywhere in the old city center. In the past 20 years, it is not only a patent for local Viennese, but also one of the tourist purposes for tourists from all over the world.

Photo: tourists and people waiting for seats outside the Central Cafe in Vienna

The Vienna Cafe can be traced back to more than 300 years ago. The Viennese say they seized coffee beans when they left after a failed Turkish siege in 1683. But in fact, a secret agent working in the imperial palace opened the first Viennese coffee shop in 1685.

In 1683, Turkey attacked Vienna for the second time, when the Austrian Emperor Augustus II signed a military alliance with King Augustus II of Poland. The fleeing Turkish army discarded large quantities of weapons, ammunition and hundreds of large pockets of mysterious brown beans on the battlefield around the walls of Vienna, and the victorious Viennese did not know what to do with them. As it happens, a Polish spy lurking in the Turkish army, Kohzki, once tasted a thick black drink made from this roasted bean in Constantinople. The Turks called it "Kahve", which is now coffee. As a reward, the Polish received all the coffee seized on the battlefield and opened the first coffee shop in the history of Vienna.

But in the beginning, coffee shop business is not good, Viennese still prefer to drink tea. Later, the businessman changed the recipe and added milk to his coffee, which worked surprisingly well and became popular in the 1780s. People call it "Melange". To this day, it is still one of the most popular varieties in Vienna, with an extra 50 cents and thick cream (Schlagobers).

Photo: Melange coffee and apple pie in Vienna's most famous Central Cafe, as well as Mother's Day cake specially prepared for Mother's Day

After more than 300 years, the Viennese Cafe, unlike any other country in the world, has become a culture, that is, the Viennese coffee culture. While people drink coffee, cafes let people into a warm atmosphere. Dark red plush benches are placed under marble or wooden tables, and mirrors reflect mild and soft lights. The decoration of some cafes is very luxurious and spectacular, frayed and darkened, providing the cafe with what it needs most: atmosphere.

Photo: Vienna Central Cafe is ranked among the top 10 in the world.

The cafe is also a place for tourists who travel far from home, locals who like to be alone occasionally, and a place to get together and talk with friends on weekends.

It has always been a meeting place for famous poets, playwrights, artists, musicians and diplomats. Some people say that this is the cradle of many Austrian poems, plays and novels, which may be an exaggeration, but the music masters Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, the Waltz Dynasty, Strauss and his son were all regulars here. Also wrote his own work in the cafe.

Some writers around 1900 were named cafe writers who entered history: they not only exchanged experiences in cafes, but also finished their work there. One of them, Peter Altenberg (Peter Altenberg), even wrote on his business card the cafe he frequented, as one of his address and postal address-Vienna's most famous Central Cafe (Cafe Central) still houses his memorial sculpture.

Photo: the sculpture of regular guest Peter Altenberg (Peter Altenberg) is at the front door of the Central Cafe.

Today's Vienna Cafe, many of them have retained their original character. The staff wore neat black suits and the cook wore white hats. The waitress carried the handmade cakes from the store to the tables for people to enjoy. The cakes are just baked by the cook and there are many kinds of cakes. The most famous are apple pie and Sach chocolate cake. And all kinds of cakes and desserts.

Photo: handmade cake at the Central Cafe

No matter what kind of coffee you want, you will get a cup of water at the same time. Probably to ease the concentration of coffee. Austrians always take a few sips of coffee and then a sip of water.

At that time, people who went in and out of the cafe had to be neatly dressed, a tradition that has been continued among the local people of Austria. Every big city has cafes for hundreds of years. The furniture of the cafe is also antique, with special color, special material and noble atmosphere. Some cafes also display oil paintings by the founders and local landscape paintings. Some cafes have pianos and invite artists to play.

The cafe's provision of newspapers, pictorials and magazines for readers is a major cultural feature of the Vienna Cafe, which has been around for nearly a century. Sitting in the old cafe, eating breakfast and reading the newspaper, the guests had a low-volume conversation and the collision of coffee cups and coffee trays has been repeated every day for hundreds of years.