In mid-July I visited Vienna again with my family and decided to mix my go to places with a few never before ventured together with some classics – after all Vienna or Wien (the German word for Vienna) is home to some classics, so here goes.
Balthasar, Prater Strasse
one and I was craving specialty coffee and I thought I’m not going to risk it and so being literally about 5 mines away, I stopped over with my daughter to grab a cortado and was delighted to meet with Owen after a few years. I think he was really happy to see me because the cortado I had was really memorable.
Zoku (café at the top of the hotel), Perspectivstrasse
For my father’s day gift, my kids took to this fancy ultra-modern hotel, Zoku, next to the Prater and of course no good breakfast can earn its place, without a good cup of coffee.
I must confess I was excited when I saw the La Marzocco two group linea, BUT my cappuccino was average. Our friend’s daughter who had been warned politely be her mum not to make me coffee because of my, should I say, fussiness, decided to take up the challenges and I was happy she did, because after seeing e trying to sip my coffee, she was lie “can I make you one? I said yes and I said that she should have more “coffee” confidence, because her version was much better than the first attempt by her colleague, phew. So, here we are.
Cafe Friedlich (near Kunsthaus), Untere Weissgerstrasse 13
This time our trip to Vienna was a bigger family affair than usual and so one Saturday we decided to discover another part of Vienna – the Hundertwasserhaus, with my daughter ensuring that decent food was not too far away. The menu was so unusual for Vienna with things like avocado toast, blueberry pancakes, etc.
I decided to try their coffee after studying the barista for a while and dived into order a cortado.
Not bad and pleasant surprise indeed. I recommend checking them out for your not typical Viennese café.
Coffee Pirates, spitalgasse 17
Okay, this is one of the modern classics, as they are one of the forerunners of the newish specialty scene back around 2012 when I moved back after my cafe adventures in Cape Town. I had earlier met a colleague for lunch and Coffee Pirates was literally a 10-minute walk away even though it was another sweltering hot day in the mid-30Cs, but being so close to specialty coffee was too tempting to miss out on. So, I ordered another cortado with a lime cake – again Coffee Pirates is not a typical Viennese coffee spot with stuff on the menu that should be relatable to London or NYC coffee shops. I way too tempted not buy coffee and took one of their unusual espressos blends away too.
Kaffemik, Zollergasse
Located just off the busy shopping street of Mariahilfer Strasse, I knew where to go to get my coffee fix before meeting my wife and daughter. They are still the same as they have always been but with a keen eye for detail in coffee preparation, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were offering Tim Wendelboe espresso, so of course I ordered it and bought a bag of Kenyan coffee for my friend in Dubai too.
Josef Brot, Landstrasse haupstrasse
Famous for their sourdough breads and clean Nordic interior, I was carving my specialty coffee fix on the penultimate day of our departure and just caught them before they closed on Saturday afternoon. BUT, I was surprised to learn that they now serve coffee from one of my fave roasters, Coffee Collective from Denmark, with their own blend specially roasted for them too. After convincing the staff that we just wanted coffee, so that I didn’t get a paper cup, my wife and I sat down and she sipped my coffee before I even tasted it (the pic at the top of the post is at Josef Brot).
I guess she was intrigued by the look, which the taste matched too.
Jonas Reindl, Wahringerstrasse 2
One of my faves coffee roasters and shops and so, I couldn’t even imagine leaving Vienna without visiting them. So when an ex colleague reached out and said he wanted to meet before I left, I knew the location had to be here. We ordered two flat whites using their house blend and it was lovely indeed.
After promising myself not to buy anymore coffee bags, I noticed on my way out, a Mexican espresso blend with hints of dried strawberries – so I grabbed it.
Before I go… here’s a slice of Carrot Cake from Cafe Freidlich
