Tag: Jonas Reindl Coffee Roasters

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Drinking Coffee in Vienna 2024

Cappuccino at Josef Brot, Vienna

In mid-July I visited Vienna again with my family and decided to mix my go to places with a few never before ventured together with some classics – after all Vienna or Wien (the German word for Vienna) is home to some classics, so here goes.

Balthasar, Prater Strasse

Cortado at Balthasar

one and I was craving specialty coffee and I thought I’m not going to risk it and so being literally about 5 mines away, I stopped over with my daughter to grab a cortado and was delighted to meet with Owen after a few years. I think he was really happy to see me because the cortado I had was really memorable.

Zoku (café at the top of the hotel), Perspectivstrasse

For my father’s day gift, my kids took to this fancy ultra-modern hotel, Zoku, next to the Prater and of course no good breakfast can earn its place, without a good cup of coffee.

Breakfast at Zoku Vienna

I must confess I was excited when I saw the La Marzocco two group linea, BUT my cappuccino was average. Our friend’s daughter who had been warned politely be her mum not to make me coffee because of my, should I say, fussiness, decided to take up the challenges and I was happy she did, because after seeing e trying to sip my coffee, she was lie “can I make you one? I said yes and I said that she should have more “coffee” confidence, because her version was much better than the first attempt by her colleague, phew. So, here we are.

Cafe Friedlich (near Kunsthaus), Untere Weissgerstrasse 13

This time our trip to Vienna was a bigger family affair than usual and so one Saturday we decided to discover another part of Vienna – the Hundertwasserhaus, with my daughter ensuring that decent food was not too far away. The menu was so unusual for Vienna with things like avocado toast, blueberry pancakes, etc.

Yum

I decided to try their coffee after studying the barista for a while and dived into order a cortado.

Not bad and pleasant surprise indeed. I recommend checking them out for your not typical Viennese café.

Coffee Pirates, spitalgasse 17

Coffee and cake at coffee pirates

Okay, this is one of the modern classics, as they are one of the forerunners of the newish specialty scene back around 2012 when I moved back after my cafe adventures in Cape Town. I had earlier met a colleague for lunch and Coffee Pirates was literally a 10-minute walk away even though it was another sweltering hot day in the mid-30Cs, but being so close to specialty coffee was too tempting to miss out on. So, I ordered another cortado with a lime cake – again Coffee Pirates is not a typical Viennese coffee spot with stuff on the menu that should be relatable to London or NYC coffee shops. I way too tempted not buy coffee and took one of their unusual espressos blends away too.

Kaffemik, Zollergasse

Located just off the busy shopping street of Mariahilfer Strasse, I knew where to go to get my coffee fix before meeting my wife and daughter. They are still the same as they have always been but with a keen eye for detail in coffee preparation, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were offering Tim Wendelboe espresso, so of course I ordered it and bought a bag of Kenyan coffee for my friend in Dubai too. 

Josef Brot, Landstrasse haupstrasse

Famous for their sourdough breads and clean Nordic interior, I was carving my specialty coffee fix on the penultimate day of our departure and just caught them before they closed on Saturday afternoon. BUT, I was surprised to learn that they now serve coffee from one of my fave roasters, Coffee Collective from Denmark, with their own blend specially roasted for them too. After convincing the staff that we just wanted coffee, so that I didn’t get a paper cup, my wife and I sat down and she sipped my coffee before I even tasted it (the pic at the top of the post is at Josef Brot).

I guess she was intrigued by the look, which the taste matched too.

Jonas Reindl, Wahringerstrasse 2

One of my faves coffee roasters and shops and so, I couldn’t even imagine leaving Vienna without visiting them. So when an ex colleague reached out and said he wanted to meet before I left, I knew the location had to be here. We ordered two flat whites using their house blend and it was lovely indeed.

Two delicious flat whites at Jonas Reindl

After promising myself not to buy anymore coffee bags, I noticed on my way out, a Mexican espresso blend with hints of dried strawberries – so I grabbed it.

Before I go… here’s a slice of Carrot Cake from Cafe Freidlich

Carrot cake at cafe freidlich
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I was at Jonas Reindl Cafe & Roastery, Vienna

So, this is part two to my earlier post, where I wanted to expand more on Vienna’s latest in city coffee roaster, Jonas Reindl Cafe and Roastery, recently opened on Westbahnstrasse 13, in the 7th district. As I mentioned this is an unusual feat as the City of Vienna have very strict rules about roasting coffee in the city, especially near residences. In any case, as they say “never say impossible, but rather say, I’m possible”.

A bit about the roaster himself – Philip – who I had known for a while on the many occasions that I had visited their first shop, Jonas Reindl Cafe, located at Wahringerstrasse 2-4, opposite the Votivkirche. I asked him about their journey towards becoming a roastery, something they had hinted at for about a year on their instagram feed. I have been saying for a while, based on my experience of my one and only cafe that the real winners in the coffee supply chain are the coffee roasters – why? because if you have ambitions to open more than 2 cafes, then the coffee roaster is very happy – sorry, this isn’t a dig at coffee roasters, who I really appreciate and respect a lot in the coffee game (they are the ones that make the cherry taste great if brewed properly) but when you look at the figures, then if you can and want to really extend your survival then you have to enter the supply chain earlier. If you can guess, my next coffee dream is to get into he coffee supply chain and roast one of these days God willing. I just need to invest in my dream, so anyone reading that has any ideas we can work on together, contact me please.

In any case, Philip mentioned that he has attended some coffee roasting classes but the crux for me, was that he also spent time with the guys at Prufrock Coffee (read about them here) still for me one of the best cafes in the World. Ironically, Prufrock are not coffee roasters (they get their coffee from one of my fave roasters, Square Mile Coffee) but they defiantly know what to look for in coffee. In short, I was impressed with Philip’s attention to detail.

On equipment, as you can see, they have the classic 12kg Probat Coffee Roaster, with all the digital gadgets and you can even witness them roasting on site if you are lucky too.

Now, the coffees. I really loved the packaging, which has the new age coffee bag housed in this lovely box, explaining on the side the origin of the coffee, etc – see below.

 

I already mentioned about my cafe experience in my previous post but what did it taste like at home… good.

However, the one thing that was really distinctive was the SMELL. When I opened the bags of their coffee, I was hot with this sumptuous aroma – it instantly took me back to the late noughties (2000-2009), when I started falling in love with coffee. So, that was the first tick for me.

On the taste I wasn’t let down as it lived up to my expectations – good coffee roasted well with attention should taste well if brewed properly. I bought espresso and filter coffees, which I enjoyed very much.

On the espresso, they were full bodied from Central America, and tasted milk chocolate with underlying notes of dark dried fruits.

The filters, from Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia) were very fruity with a good mouth feel with medium and not over powering acidity. I always like Kenyan coffees in the filter but must confess when I get a natural Ethiopian it is exciting because different cups and different brewing styles (Hario V60 or aeropress) can give different taste profiles.

I also started experimenting with different grinding styles – moving slight more coarser for the V60, which gave a much more fruity feel.

The good thing about their coffees is that you don’t have to live in Vienna to sample them, as they now have an online shop and offer wholesale, so check them out here http://www.jonasreindl.at

 

 

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Drinking Coffee in Vienna: An Update

 

I’m glad to report that the specialty coffee scene is improving in Vienna, which is based on two key factors; an increase in people’s appreciation of good coffee and more coffee shops to meet that demand – the demand and supply of specialty coffee – I know it sounds very economist like, for which I confess my guilt of being trained as an economist.

so, let’s move on.

Café EL.AN, Werdertorgasse 4   •   1010 Wien

I start with a confession – this is actually not a new coffee shop, but one that’s been around for about 3-4 years but for which I never had the pleasure of trying out, as they only open from Monday to Fridays, which I find difficulty in visiting. In any any case as soon as the opportunity presented itself when I finally had a day off to wander around Vienna in late Autumn last year, I headed here. Cafe EL.AN is made up of a combination of the owners’ name; Elke and Anna. Coffee is sourced from Austria’s most famous barista and CafféCouture owner, Georg Branny.

It’s very simple in design and as you enter you are confronted with steel bars (see picture at the top) that lines that front of the brew bar and on your right where the magazines and italian style espresso stand up bar is located. Equipped with a La Marzocco GB5 and Mazzer grinders for espresso drinks and an Uber boiler to facilitate filter brews on a range of options; Hariov60, chemex, Syphon and aeropress.

As it was late afternoon and I wasn’t in a rush, I thought why not and ordered an ethiopian coffee brewed on a Hario Syphon. Elke was very relaxed despite a few customers as she was the only one working there. In between pouring latte art and making espressos, she calmly began making my Syphon filter brew. It took about 5-7 minutes to brew but it was worth the wait – a fruity brew, with medium acidity, at the right temperature and easy to consume.

 

The good thing about coffee made on this type of apparatus is that you get quite a bit. As the shop is quite small, a lady with a toddler sat opposite me and as I had quite a bit of coffee, I offered her some so that she could appreciate coffee brewed differently. She was pleasantly surprised and I advised her to try ordering that next time.

 

Wolfgang Coffee .  Zieglergasse 38, 1070 Wien
Opened by a former Balthasar coffee barista, Wolfgang Coffee, is fairly new, located in Vienna’s hip district, populated by the up and coming youth of Vienna. Wolfgang is actually located in Qwstion store, a non-brand concept store, selling hip designs and of course bespoke style perfume for both men and women. In fact when I first visited them on a  very hot day in August – it was 34C – I almost missed the shop. As you enter there’s a  display of their coffees, roasted by Sussmund – one of Vienna’s premier coffee roasters. They pull their espresso on the classic Faema E71 espresso machine and sell some snacks too.
I ordered a cortado as it was hot outside but still wanted a bit of milk.
On another day when I walked past going to another spot, it was crammed on a Saturday afternoon. One additional pull they have is that you can always elapse into the concept store and read magazines will you sip a beautifully crafted cup ion coffee.
Jonas Reindl Coffee Roasters, Westbahnstrasse 13, 1070 Vienna 
Literally around the corner from Wolfgang Coffee is for me the most exciting coffee opening in Vienna. Why? It’s the first time that a coffee roastery has been “allowed” to open in the heart of Vienna. Apparently, the City of Vienna, likened for bringing coffee to Western Europe does not like people to roast coffee in the city where dwellers are because the smell might irritate them – perplexing, especially as coffee has been ranked top three smells that humans love, even though I know that the beginning of the roasting process, the burning smell can be a bot off putting. anyway, many have tried and failed, but now we have a winner – Jonas Reindl Coffee Roasters – the main reason, Philip, the roast master, told me was that the spot was previously owned by a pizzeria that had an oven, enabling them to obtain the very hard to obtain license to roast in the city.
As you enter the shop, cum roastery, the roaster is on the left, giving the impression, righty implied, that some serious coffee business goes one  in here. So, what do we have here? A 12kg Probat Roaster, hooked up to a iMac and other bits, surrounded by baskets to store coffee before they are packed.
In front of you, is the brew bar, with their freshly roasted coffee packed and ready to be bought as the backdrop. To the right of that spot is their new Synresso S200 espresso machine.
If you want to know about this machine, let me let synesso tell you,

The goal with the S200 and S300 was to make an approachable, volumetric machine with the quality we are known for. All internal components are Synesso standard as found in our MVP and MVP Hydra machines. This includes group heads with no wear parts, individual brew boilers, digital shot timers, programmable temperature per group head, and cool touch steam wands.

Extraction is controlled by volumetric programming, with two user-defined programs per group.  The wired hand held display allows control of total water count and optional preinfusion duration, which can be saved across both group heads.

Additional settings include the programmable hot water tap with mix valve, arcade-inspired group purge buttons, and an auto back flush program. (extracted fork Synesso website)

My daughter and I ordered espresso milked coffees the  first time
On my second visit, I went full filter of a guatemalan finca la bella coffee.
They have all the other perks, gadgets, filter brew options, etc, but the definite pull for me is the roastery and beautiful packaging.
Also on offer are artisan teas and cakes and pastries. The spot isn’t too big and you may have to stand during busy hours. They’ve only been opened since late 2018 and I’ve been there thrice already and I’ve picked up three bags of their delicious smelling coffee. More on this next time God willing.
Remember 2019 should be a year of drinking better coffee.