Coffee Brewing Methods: How to Make Viennese Coffee

Cream, a food with rich texture, offers both silky smoothness and thick consistency. When consumed alone, it may seem overly sweet and rich, making it ideal for pairing with other foods to balance the palate, such as coffee.

In the world of coffee, the term "cream" indeed appears frequently. In coffee tasting, it refers to a texture as smooth as cream, or the sweet fragrance experienced after consuming cream; in prepared beverages, cream sometimes serves as a companion to enhance the drink's flavor, and other times as decoration and garnish to improve visual appeal, serving as inspiration for many creative specialty drinks on the market.

If we want to trace the earliest history of cream appearing in coffee, our focus cannot remain solely on these modern fancy beverages, but rather we must seek out stories that have been passed down for hundreds of years.

Ancient "Cream Coffee"

FrontStreet Coffee learned through research that the earliest record of adding cream to coffee was in Austria. In 1684, a Pole named Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki was rewarded with a generous bounty and a large quantity of coffee beans left behind by defeated Turks for rescuing the besieged city of Vienna during the war. After the war ended, he opened a Blue Bottle Coffee House locally in Vienna.

Kulczycki's Blue Bottle Coffee House

Initially, he provided drinks in his shop following the Turkish method of making coffee—beans were ground into powder, boiled with water twice, and then poured directly into cups along with the coffee grounds for drinking. However, Austrians found this method completely unacceptable. Therefore, to cater to local residents' tastes, he changed to using a cloth bag to filter out the coffee grounds, then added cream, honey, spices, and other seasonings. Soon, this "first-generation cream coffee" became a favorite among Austrians.

At that time, such cream coffee was typically served in a small glass cup. Because cream and coffee would present a beautiful reddish-brown color when mixed, very similar to the color of the robes worn by Capuchin Friars Minor, Viennese people called it "Kapuziner," phonetically translated as "Capuchin."

As it was introduced to Italy and accompanied by the birth of espresso machines, Italians switched to espresso with golden crema, while the original cream was replaced by steamed frothed milk, and it received its Italian name: Cappuccino. In other words, the cappuccino we are familiar with today has its origins in cream coffee.

Although "Kapuziner" later gave rise to many versions of fancy coffee, the original "cream coffee" did not disappear but continues to be active in major coffee houses under the names of Viennese Coffee or Espresso Con Panna.

How to Make Traditional "Cream Coffee"

If we directly translate Espresso Con Panna into Chinese, it means "espresso with cream." From this, we can see its structure is extremely simple—just add two to three swirls of whipped fresh cream on top of a freshly extracted espresso.

Unlike other fancy coffees, when tasting Espresso Con Panna, no stirring is needed—drink it directly. The cold cream will add a cotton candy-like texture to the bitter and rich coffee, creating a more dense and rich mouthfeel layering. However, in most people's eyes, it remains an extremely heavy-tasting coffee, so its audience is not large.

In addition to Espresso Con Panna, the widely popular Viennese Coffee also uses strong coffee liquid and cream as main raw materials. However, unlike the original purpose of the previous fancy coffee, the Austrian version of cream coffee was intended to provide energy for coachmen traveling on cold nights, so they would add more high-calorie foods to the coffee—it's a beverage that is both refreshing, delicious, warming, and filling.

FrontStreet Coffee learned that making traditional Viennese coffee is not complicated. It's generally served in a tall handled glass, with a teaspoon of white sugar placed at the bottom first, then about 1/2 of strong coffee liquid poured in, followed by topping with fluffy whipped cream, and sprinkling foods like cinnamon powder, chocolate crumbs, and biscuit crumbs on top.

Modern "Cream Coffee"

Compared to the era of material shortages, today's cream coffee can be said to have diverse varieties and different forms, and they have been given more special names that catch people's attention.

For example, Starbucks has a secret menu item "All-ice Americano + light cream" that is derived from the ancient Viennese coffee. The entire drink consists only of three components: ice, coffee, and light cream, making the preparation steps as simple as putting an elephant in a refrigerator.

Cream coffee made this way, with the ice as a backdrop, the unwhipped viscous cream first floats on the surface, then slowly sinks to blend with the espresso, creating both beautiful layering effects and allowing one to feel the sweet and rich interweaving sensation of cream coffee on the taste buds when drinking in large gulps.

In addition, cream has been played with in many interesting forms by the skillful hands of various baristas. For example, there's an improved version of "Viennese Coffee" in Korean cafes that continues to be active on social media platforms like Instagram due to its unique cream presentation method and super photogenic appearance.

The cream here needs to be pre-treated, whipped into a thick yogurt-like consistency, then layered into the coffee. As long as you have all the raw materials ready, the preparation method is not complicated, and FrontStreet Coffee will now recreate a cup.

Ingredients: Light cream, vanilla syrup, espresso, milk, ice cubes

First, find a convenient container for whipping, pour 80 grams of light cream into it, then add 15 grams of vanilla-flavored syrup.

Then use a mixer to whip the cream evenly until it presents a semi-solid yogurt-like consistency. Like FrontStreet Coffee does, it's ready when it forms peaks that don't collapse quickly.

Prepare a desired small cup, add 50 grams of ice cubes, pour milk to about six-tenths full, layer with the just-whipped vanilla cream, then extract a double espresso and pour it over the top.

Finally, use a spoon to scoop 1-3 dollops of vanilla cream onto the coffee, and sprinkle cocoa powder according to preference—the internet-famous "Viennese Coffee" is complete.

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