← Back to Articles | Original (German)
For those who did not know: since 2011, "Viennese coffeehouse culture" has been recognized as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. It is listed under "Social practices, rituals and festive events", which also includes "Viennese Heuriger culture" and "Viennese sausage stand culture". Excellent books exist on each of these subjects, most of them focusing on coffeehouses.
Gregor Auenhammer, a longtime journalist for DER STANDARD, an eager reviewer, and an active author, presents his fourth large-format work (30 × 24 cm), described as a "very lively monograph". It is an impressive coffee-table book that truly lives up to the term, especially since its subject is Viennese coffeehouses. The striking photographs were taken by the Graz-based photographer Robert W. Sackl-Kahr Sagostin. Christopher Wurmdobler, who "now does theater and books, mostly living and working in Vienna", in turn presents a completely revised new edition of the legendary Viennese coffeehouse guide from Falter Verlag, first published in 1990 (originally authored by Thomas Martinek).
Auenhammer guides readers through the large-format volume with ease, wit, charm, and Schmäh, constantly shifting between narrative prose, brief lyrical interludes, affectionate dialogues reflecting human encounters, interspersed dramatic miniatures, and much more. This wonderful blend—Melange would probably be a better word—is based on well-founded research and decades of intimate familiarity with the Viennese soul. All of it is delivered with a perspective that extends far beyond the local horizon, reaching back into the eras and crown lands of the monarchy.
Here is a passage from the "Prologue", subtitled "Café de Vienne or the Schnitzel with Constitutional Status, and a Melange on Prescription": "As mentioned, we attempt to preserve what has fallen into oblivion, to tear what was buried from the abyss of the forgotten, to exhume what was believed lost, to invite what was wrongfully disregarded before the curtain, without any claim to completeness, without even a hint of the anyway untenable claim of being encyclopedic. Associative, affirmative. Subjective, objective, serving as a prick against complacent saturation. Against the demonry of Gemütlichkeit." Opulent images bring before our eyes not only impressions of Viennese coffeehouses, but also scenes from Trieste, Venice, or Paris: "The spherically detached, timeless monochrome photographs by Robert Sackl-Kahr Sagostin, falling out of time and imagining another epoch of human existence, resurrect the golden era of Viennese café culture." (Page 9).
True to the nature of a coffee-table book that invites readers to browse at random, the large-format "Café de Vienne" does just that. No matter where you open it, your attention is caught either by the images—often full-page, sometimes arranged in groups of four on a single spread—or by Auenhammer's texts. Who could simply turn the page when faced with headings such as: "Alles Walzer!", "A Guglhupf, Served by Bronner/Wehle", "Gone to the Dogs", or the math problem "1 + 1 = 3 (or 3 or 5?)"? Often it takes just a few paragraphs to pull you right in, delighting the reader and prompting an occasional chuckle or grin.
Christopher Wurmdobler's "Kaffeehäuser in Wien", whose newly revised edition was published in 2025, takes an entirely different approach, conceived explicitly as a "guide through a Viennese institution, classics, modern cafés, pastry shops, coffee shops". The handy volume (21.5 × 14 cm) fits neatly into a pocket and sees itself—as Wurmdobler writes on page 10—as "[...] an homage. An invitation to embark on a journey of discovery oneself, to find one's own favorite coffeehouse in Vienna".
The well-structured book opens with the foreword "Going for a Coffee—and Staying", where Wurmdobler reveals his first coffeehouse experience, which dates back to the spring of 1990 at Café Jelinek (page 158ff). For him, born in Germany, it was "the best place to feel Vienna." (Page 9). A few pages follow addressing the question: "What must the Viennese coffeehouse be capable of in order to remain relevant in the future?" Here, Thomas Hahn, who has run the legendary Café Prückel (page 123ff) for several years, and architect Gregor Eichinger, who has designed several Viennese coffeehouses, have their say. Following an informative coffeehouse ABC (from page 33 onward)—ranging from study, to marble, head waiter, Thonet, all the way to time—comes the actual centerpiece, "Classic Viennese Coffeehouses: From A(Lt) Wien to Z(Artl)" on pages 76 to 209. Here, no fewer than 50 coffeehouses, arranged by district and each illustrated with a photograph by Christopher Mavrič, are profiled. Wurmdobler offers fitting advice on page 79: "Every single coffeehouse is a recommendation. And if you visit just one of these coffeehouses each week, you will have covered them all within a year." The two final chapters, "Pastry Shops", presenting classics like Aida, Gerstner, the Imperial and Royal Court Confectionery Demel, and others, as well as "Buying Coffee—Coffee Shops" with corresponding recommendations, round out the book, which requires a new edition every few years to stay up to date.
Conclusion: "Café de Vienne – Eine Wunderkammer des Geistes" impresses as an illustrated volume with a variety of texts that could hardly be more multifaceted. "Kaffeehäuser in Wien – Ein Führer durch eine Wiener Institution" is recommended as a compact, clearly structured, and authentic vademecum for coffee lovers and Vienna enthusiasts alike. (Thomas Hofmann, September 18, 2026).