Alt Wien Kaffee

Alt Wien Kaffee works as a counter and a shop at the same time. Shelves run to the ceiling with bags of house blends, single origins, brewing gear and coffee ephemera, and the person pouring your oat latte will also tell you what to buy for the espresso machine at home.

A Viennese café-bar with a roaster's shelf

The room reads part coffeehouse, part bar, part specialty retail. That density changes what the counter is for: as many people come to ask about beans as to sit down with a cup, and the staff switch between the two without fuss, in German or English. The mood is old Vienna rather than minimal Scandinavian, a bohemian, lived-in room with a serious commercial edge in the coffee itself. The shop also puts its working knowledge on show, with pages of its own on roasting and on brewing method, so a question about grind or dose gets a real answer rather than a shrug.

Blends, certified lots and a traditional kitchen

The range is described by taste rather than by roast level, running from strong and dry through medium-bodied and chocolatey to mild and fruity. Named coffees include ALT WIENER GOLD, ÖFB TEAM BLEND and CARUSO BLEND, alongside ÄTHIOPIEN SIDAMO, BIO-MOKKA and BOLIVIEN CARANAVI, the last three organic and Fairtrade certified, plus ECUADOR FINCA HAKUNA MATATA on the specialty tier. Tasting notes across the list cover toffee, ginger biscuit, salted caramel, roasted almond, milk chocolate, cassis, speculoos, cocoa, orange, nut, dark chocolate, vanilla and bergamot. Espresso, classic filter and specialty coffee all have a place.

The food goes the other way, traditional and Viennese rather than pastry-led: organic goulash, organic schnitzel, a breakfast, a lunch menu and a frankfurter starter. Together the two halves explain the format: a coffeehouse that sells lunch, and a roaster that sells beans, working out of the same room.

How to order

Start with the house names. ALT WIENER GOLD and ÖFB TEAM BLEND are the obvious entry points, and the certified lots add specificity: Ethiopian Sidamo, Bio-Mokka and Bolivia Caranavi, all organic and Fairtrade. Ecuador Finca Hakuna Matata is the one labelled specialty.

Single origins get poured as drinks rather than only sold as beans, and a Cuban single origin makes a smooth latte with enough bitterness to hold its shape against oat milk. If lunch is the reason for the visit, the goulash or the schnitzel is the order, and the beans can go home in a bag afterwards.