CoffeePirates

Flat whites and long tables in Vienna

The flat white is the house order at CoffeePirates and espresso is the other one, both made with coffee roasted in house. That roasting is the reason to choose this counter over the many others in the city: the cafe answers for its own beans rather than reselling somebody else's, and the difference shows in how confidently the drinks are made.

Roasting on the premises also changes what a cafe can tell you. When the person making the drink knows how the beans were treated, the answer to a question about them is a real one rather than a guess relayed from a supplier.

Bags of filter beans are sold at the counter, so the same coffee can follow you home.

A room that fills with people working

Big tables shape the space, and they draw a crowd that settles in for a long stretch rather than a few minutes. It is modern and unfussy, run on counter service, and nobody is turning the table, which makes it one of the more workable rooms in Vienna for anyone with something to finish.

The trade is that the room can be full in the middle of the day, when the tables are at their busiest. Arriving at either edge of the day is the way around it, and a seat at a shared table is easier to find than a table of your own.

Order the flat white, then take beans home

Start with a flat white if you want milk and an espresso if you want the roast unmasked. Either is the house style expressed directly, and both are better tests of a roastery than a flavoured drink would be.

Before leaving, look at the retail shelf. Filter beans roasted here are the practical souvenir, and brewing them later is the second half of the visit. It is also the simplest way to keep a Vienna coffee habit going once you are somewhere else.