Fine Austrian chocolates. Photo by ekai

Unfortunately for long-distance travelers, many of the delectable, tasty treats you’ll find in a Viennese coffee house don’t travel well. However there are some sweet exceptions: chocolates and candies. Not only do charming shops in Vienna sell a variety of bite-sized treats, but their affordable prices will hit the spot, too!

Home sweeeeeet home

Vienna’s confectioners have been pouring, filling, and forming small candies for hundreds of years. Empress Sissi, for example, was a fan of candied violets. Feline aficionados have their own “cat tongue” chocolates, while dog owners can find canine-shaped gummy candies. We won’t even mention what you can find made of marzipan!

Demel has been in the candy business for over 200 years. Located at Kohlmarkt 14, customers can watch craftsman create as they peruse delicately decorated boxes of sweet treats. Altmann and Kuhne, at Graben 30, is famous for selling tiny, hand-made chocolate horses and angels sold in beautifully designed boxes shaped like miniature chests of drawers.

Prices vary depending on chocolate type, quality, and size. Some pieces are sold 10 for €1.50, others 10 for €4. Marzipan is available for 10 pieces for €2.50. Some cookies and cake slices sell for €4 (but you’ll probably have to eat these before you get home!).

While you’re at it…

Why not commemorate Vienna’s Kaffeehaus kultur with a napkin or two? In between savoring slices of apfelstrudel, guglhupf, or sachertorte, keep your eyes peeled for napkins illustrating the names and exteriors of the cafe. Guten Appetite!

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photograph courtesy of elfis_culture

First-time visitors come to Vienna thinking that they have prepared adequately for local coffeehouse culture. They’ve read about all the famous coffeehouses in their trusty travel guides. They’ve even memorized all the local types of coffee.

Thinking that they’ve self-educated adequately, they enter a Kaffeehaus somewhere in the First District, ready to be swept away to a vanquished era of Habsburg grandeur. As soon as the door shuts behind them—cigarette smoke penetrating their nostrils—they choose a spot to lounge and try to grab the waiter’s attention, either by waving or whistling.

Nothing happens. They wait. Still, nothing happens.

There’s no need to be annoyed. Herr Ober—the preferred local term for “waiter”—will come, just not instantaneously.

According to Andreas Augustin, author of “Das Cafe Central Treasury: The Secret of a Famous Coffee House,” your waiter “…noticed you three streets away, at the precise moment you decided to come to the Kaffeehaus.”

He continues: “Be considerate if Herr Ober does not recognize you on your first visit. The aloofness stems from the days when there was an average of one point nine Nobel Prize Winners seated at every table in a Viennese Kaffeehaus.”

You can find Augustin’s fabulous book online.

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