Viennese coffee: the recipe

Coffee, cream, cocoa powder and a butter biscuit as decoration. The  recipe for Viennese coffee is certainly not difficult to prepare but, besides its ingredients, it is important to clarify many aspects that we will tell you about in this article. 

You may not know, for example, that the Viennese coffee has a historical value, which is recognized even by UNESCO.

The history of Viennese coffee

Vienna is a city rich in history, including that linked to coffee and its coffee shops: in fact, since 2011,  the Café Culture of Vienna has been recognized as  intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Justifying this acknowledgement  we find the phrase which indicates the Viennese café as the place “where both time and space are consumed, but only the coffee appears on the bill “.

How did coffee come to Vienna?

The legends recount that the soldiers of the Hapsburg army while they were stationed in  Vienna freed from the second Turkish siege (1683), found some sacks with something that looked like large beans inside; thinking that they were worth very little, king Giovanni III of Poland gave the sacks to Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki who, on the contrary knew very well that these were precious coffee beans and, thanks to this unexpected contribution, opened the first coffee shop in Vienna.

This historic character is also credited with inventing the Viennese coffee: in fact, to make the coffee less bitter, he decided to add sugar and milk, thus creating the recipe that to this day carries the name of this city. 

The recipe for Viennese coffee

You don’t need many ingredients to prepare Viennese coffee, but each one must be prepared perfectly.

One false myth we should dispel immediately regards the coffee: many people believe that you need only one espresso for this drink, but actually the original recipe requires two! 

Ingredients

• 0.49 oz of ground coffee 
• 1.06 oz  of fresh liquid cream 
• Low fat cocoa powder  
• 1 butter biscuit 

Method 

Here we will show you the three simple, but fundamental steps for preparing a Viennese coffee:

1. Prepare two cups of espresso in the traditional way directly in the serving cup (a cappuccino cup).
2. Foam the milk using the siphon and ease it delicately onto the surface of the double espresso.
3. Finish off your beautiful “composition” with a light dusting of low-fat cocoa powder  and a butter biscuit before serving.