Winter 2020
Culture
The Kaffeemuseum – a Time Capsule of Vienna’s Coffeehouse Culture
The Kaffeemuseum presents the city’s long-standing love affair with caffeine through tours, courses and countless artifacts from yesteryear.
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Print Editions
How Wienwein Is Revitalizing Vienna’s Wine Scene
Rising costs and real estate speculators have been a real threat to Viennese wine, but a gang of six have been pushing back.
Print Editions
Your Rights as a Guest
“Keine Haftung für Garderobe” – “No liability for wardrobe.” This sentence is everywhere if you are out on the town. But is it actually possible to evade liability for lost or damaged items belonging to a guest?
People
Meet Photographer Sepp Dreissinger – the Coffeehouse Is His Studio
"When I don't feel at home, I go to the coffeehouse"
Food & Drink
Wilde Ehe Offers an Eclectic Dining Experience in Vienna’s 18th District
Wilde Ehe marries chill savoir-faire with thoughtful quality – just don’t ask about the name.
How To
How to Find Your ‘Stammcafé’ in Vienna
In Vienna, you need to prove yourself worthy of your café of choice in what can be a lengthy application process.
Explore Vienna
Franziskanerviertel | Historic Downtown Treasures
The streets have stayed essentially untouched since the Middle Ages – narrow and winding with many a hidden courtyard branching off in unexpected places.
Food & Drink
Mochi Ramen Bar Serves to Vienna’s Foodies
Hip and relaxed, the Mochi Ramen Bar is a great hangout – but the secret’s in the soup
Melange
Grande Dame Susanne Widl Explains Coffeehouse Culture and the View of Vienna through Café Korb
Viennese legend Susanne Widl discusses her Café Korb upbringing, her illustrious past and the future of how we spend time together – inside the 'Kaffeehaus' and out.
City Life
How Vienna’s Secessionists Left Their Mark on the Coffeehouse
Between 1890 and 1920, Vienna was a world leader in design. An unlikely mix of imperial decree and cultural revolution drove the Wiener Ästhetik and left its mark on the city even today.
Print Editions
Margaret Childs Reflects on the Viennese Coffeehouse Culture
Metropole’s publisher introduces the winter issue, which is all about the “Kaffeehaus.”
Books
Katja Perat’s ‘The Masochist’ Depicts Life in Fin de Siècle Vienna
Set in the gloaming of the Habsburg Empire, Katja Perat’s ardent debut novel is a fictional coming-of-age memoir from the daughter of the world’s first “masochist."
Fall 2020
The Newest Food and Drink Spots in Vienna This Spring
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on Vienna’s eateries, but there are still lots of ways to indulge yourself: Some restau- rants have managed to adapt to the age of corona, offering groceries, wine and other delicacies to go, as food mar- kets and delicatessens are exempt from lockdown. Here are some of our favorites!
People
Meet Michael Parzefall, Roasting Enthusiast and Owner of Rauwolf Coffee
“Vienna has a great coffeehouse culture, but sadly – or in my case, fortunately – a bad coffee culture when it comes to quality.”
Books
Sylvia Petter’s All the Beautiful Liars Details the Hunt for Answers in Postwar Vienna
In Sylvia Petter’s debut novel All the Beautiful Liars, Katrina Klain arrives in Vienna in search of the lost pieces of her life.
City Life
The Ongoing Battle to Uphold Coffeehouse Cultural Heritage in Vienna
Vienna’s coffeehouses are a cherished pillar of the city’s cultural life – but that may not be enough to keep them alive.
People
Meet Johanna Weichselberger, Founder of the Vienna School of Coffee
“I’m not sure I know what fourth wave coffee culture is – but I know I’m the tsunami!”
Film
5 Movies and Series to Stream in Austria This Spring
Thanks to successive lockdowns and closed cinemas, streaming has become an even bigger part of our pandemic lives, and while many productions grinded to a halt last year, this spring’s lineup features an iconic superhero indulging in ’80s nostalgia, a Victorian sci-fi extravaganza, a comedy icon revisiting one of his most beloved characters, an animated Bollywood melodrama and a madcap Spanish road saga.
International
CEE – The Coronavirus Has Revealed Central Europe’s Chaotic Governance
What remains of public trust in the state is vanishing rapidly as the coronavirus roars back into the region.
Print Editions
Facing Instability and Populist Agendas at Home, Southeastern Europeans Move West
Southeastern Europe is one of the world's fastest shrinking regions. What drives so many young and well-educated abroad?
Print Editions
The Science of Coffee Roasting
The world is waking up and (really) smelling the coffee – in all its glory, scope and complexity.
Food & Drink
Alma Gastrothèque Serves to Vienna’s Vegetarian Gourmets
Alma Gastrothèque serves soulful vegetables and natural wines with esprit.
Business & Career
Meet Lisa Biasillo, the New Director of the Vienna International School
How the new director of the Vienna International School left her small town for distant places and turned her passion for learning into a mission to educate for change.
Cover Stories
The Lore and Legend Behind the Viennese Kaffeehaus
A myth, a tradition, but most of all a very real place that many in the Austrian capital cannot imagine life without.
Business & Career
How Viennese Hotels Hold On During the Pandemic
After years of seemingly endless growth, the pandemic plunged the tourism sector into deep crisis. Vacillating between hope and despair, Vienna’s hoteliers summon resilience and creativity
People
Meet Christina Meinl, the Great-Granddaughter of Austria’s Coffee Roasting Pioneer
“I wish global politics were more like the global coffee community: We have no borders and
we work together to make coffee better.”
Op-Ed
What Europe Can Learn From Joe Biden’s Victory
There are lessons we can draw from Biden's election that can help the European Union better deal with far-right populism.
Print Editions
Behind the COVID Vaccine – The Austrian Key to the BioNTech Breakthrough
As the world awaits a vaccine, Polymun, a small high-tech company provides essential ingredients for the first candidate to reach the EU Market.
Health
Axon Neuroscience to Launch the First Independent COVID-19 Vaccine
Independent biotech firm Axon Neuroscience – in neighboring Slovakia – is developing a vaccine for COVID-19 with a uniquely targeted approach.
Gemischter Satz
Renowned Journalist Slavenka Drakulić Revisits Café Europa and Post-Communist Central Europe
A new collection of essays by the renowned journalist retakes the pulse of Central Europe 30 years after communism, and finds the optimism faded into disappointment, fueling an exodus.
Print Editions
Smile and Stay Safe With the Zero Face Mask, Made in Vienna
Designed in Austria and produced in Germany, this ingenious face mask brings back non-verbal communication in times of corona.
Winter 2020
Winter 2020 | Coffeehouse Culture
In our 41st issue we explore Vienna's coffeehouse culture, depict the true Kaffeehaus (coffeehouse) experience and all the mix of people and topics t...