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If you ever have been to Vienna you may have noticed that there’s a great quantity of cafes which present the typical ‘Wiener Melange’ in addition to other coffee specialties. But what’s so interesting about coffee in Vienna? Thereis a long history behind it.

We all understand 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 most of Eastern Europe under the Othman Kingdom, they made the use of coffee known in those regions. Still, there was a clear line of difference between oriental and occidental cultures, and the utilization of coffee was one item. Until 1683.

At that time the Turks had come to Vienna and besieged the city. They almost succeeded in their malign search, but finally a host came along from Poland and fought the invaders off.
Now, legend tells us the Turks left so quickly, that they forgot to take their coffee with them. The citizens from Vienna did not know it, thinking it was compost of the camels - animals similarly unknown to them. Only a individual Kolschitzky is alleged to have known, what coffee beans were used for, so he collected every one of them and established the 1st coffee bar in Vienna.

The reality is subtly different. While there was a man called Kolschitzky, who was an Austrian scout of Polish origin, during the war versus the Turks, and even if he also was permitted to open a coffee shop in’Domgasse’ in Vienna in 1686, he wasn’t the 1st one. The first Viennese coffee bar was established a year before by an Armenian called Johannes Diodato ( Owanes Astouatzatur ). Being born in Constantinopel he allegedly knew coffee and the way to use it. But Kolschitzky is alleged to have invented the filtering of the coffee and to mix it with milk.

However, there is not any uncertainty the Austrians came to know coffee through the Turks - and when the cultural border well was crossed, coffee made its victory procession thru western Europe also. In the following century the Dutch used their colonies to produce coffee there, thus getting enough supply to the Old World.

Today there are a massive number of coffee beans, every one of them tasting subtley different. There are numerous methods to treat the beans, before you sip the final product. Roasting is only 1 process ( the lighter roasted, the’grainier’, more acid, the taste of your coffee will be ), you can pulverize it more or less, and finally you can boil it, brew it or make an Espresso-type of coffee.

Here we would like to give you an impression of what type of coffee you can get in a Viennese’Kaffeehaus’.

Only one word about the history of making coffee :
‘Turkish coffee’ : employing a copper-pot, you tip the well ground coffee, sugar and water into it, mix it while boiling and give out the blend in a ( small ) cup. Youhave got to wait a minute, till the coffee powder has sunk, it’ll then remain at the base of the cup. This method is still utilized in south-eastern Europe.

Boiling coffee is also frequently used these days in northerly Sweden, not at least by the aboriginal folks of the North, the Lapps. This is usuallybecause it’s the easiest way to cook coffee over an open flame.

Boiling the coffee was the sole alternative till the coffee filter was invented, by a German girl. Her name was Melitta, and the Melitta-filter is still a classic brand name. Since then we’ve got the likelihood to brew coffee as well. Eventually Espresso-machines began to be used, and these days almost all coffee you order in cafes is of Espresso-type.

At this point you might wish to taste the coffee in a real Viennese Kaffeehaus. So don’t hesitate and book your city tour to the austrian capital. In the centre you will find numerous Ferienwohnungen Wien. When you select a Ferienwohnung Wien as accommodation youwill have the perfect place to begin to discover the town with all its cafes.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 12:13 am and is filed under Cruise Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.