Coffee House Culture — Vienna's Living Room

The Viennese coffee house has been a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2011 — and rightly so. It is far more than a place to drink coffee. It is a public living room, a social space, a workplace, a refuge. The tradition dates back to the 17th century: After the Second Turkish Siege in 1683, a certain Georg Franz Kolschitzky is said to have brewed the first captured coffee sacks.

The most important coffee specialties — never just order "a coffee", that marks you immediately as a beginner:

• Melange — the Viennese standard: espresso with frothed milk, similar to a cappuccino, but milder
• Small/Large Brown — espresso/extended with a dash of milk or cream
• Small/Large Black — espresso/extended without milk, pure
• Einspänner — double mocha in a glass with a generous dollop of whipped cream. The name comes from the one-horse carriage drivers who had to drink the coffee one-handed
• Fiaker — large mocha with a shot of rum or cherry brandy and whipped cream
• Maria Theresia — mocha with orange liqueur and whipped cream
• Capuchin — small mocha with a little milk and whipped cream (not to be confused with cappuccino!)
• Extended — an espresso extended with hot water, the Austrian equivalent of an Americano

A glass of water belongs with the coffee — it is served unprompted and always refilled. If the water is missing, something is wrong.

The most famous coffee houses in Vienna: Café Central (where Trotsky played chess), Café Hawelka (artist hangout, the Buchteln are legendary), Café Sperl (unchanged since 1880, billiard tables), Café Landtmann (next to the Burgtheater, political establishment) and Café Prückel (50s charm, window seats on the Ring).