Open since 1847 and run by the Traxlmayr family since 1872, this is Linz's last surviving traditional Viennese-style coffeehouse. Coffee is still served on a silver tray with a glass of water, in a hall redesigned in 1905.
Best for Vienna-style coffee served on silver trays
Café Traxlmayr has been open since 1847, its origins tracing back to the rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1800 that devastated Linz's old town. The Traxlmayr family has run the house since 1872, and it now stands as the last surviving traditional Viennese-style coffeehouse in the city — a distinction that matters given how many of that era's coffeehouses closed or modernized past recognition. The current interior dates to 1905, redesigned by architect Mauriz Balzarek, and the service still follows the old convention: coffee arrives on a silver tray with a glass of water alongside it, rather than the espresso-bar handoff most modern cafés default to.
The house counted real literary regulars — writers Adalbert Stifter and Franz Stelzhamer both sat here — a detail that places Traxlmayr inside the era's coffeehouse-as-literary-salon tradition rather than treating it as marketing color. That role continues in a different key today: the café runs a "Jazz im Traxlmayr" concert series alongside art exhibitions, keeping the space active as a cultural venue rather than a preserved-in-amber historical stop.
Between the 1847 founding, an unbroken family run since 1872, and a Balzarek-designed 1905 interior, this is one of the more thoroughly documented coffeehouse histories in the region.
Kurt Traxl, a certified Master Roaster and author of an eight-edition barista manual, roasts organic coffee and cocoa using the slow, additive-free Vienna Roast method. He sources direct-trade micro lots from Peru, India, Brazil and Africa.
Best for Organic, additive-free Vienna Roast coffee from direct-trade micro lots
Kurt Traxl roasts under his own name in the Mühlviertel, carrying credentials that go beyond a typical small roastery: he's a certified Chief Diploma Coffee Sommelier and Master Roaster, took third place in the SCA Coffee in Good Spirits Championships in Vienna, placed in the top ten of the SCA Master Roaster Competition in Grafenegg, and wrote "Barista Know-How," a manual now in its eighth edition from publisher RIVA. The roasting itself follows what the company calls the Vienna Roast — a slow, gradual process that keeps beans lighter and skips preservatives, cooling sprays and flavor enhancers altogether.
Sourcing runs direct: green coffee comes in from Peru, India, Brazil and Africa, and cocoa from farmers in the Dominican Republic the company describes as longstanding partners, all bought as limited micro lots rather than bulk stock. The operation carries organic (AT-BIO-402) and Fair Trade certification, and membership in both SCAE Austria and the Specialty Coffee Association, and reports that more than 90 percent of orders ship in reusable containers rather than disposable packaging.
Traxl also runs "Kaffee für die Seele" — Coffee for the Soul — directing part of the roastery's proceeds toward supporting homeless people in Austria, a stated social program rather than an incidental donation line.
Balthasar operates as a coffee lab and bar on Praterstraße in Vienna, and its beans come from a specific outside roastery rather than an in-house roasting operation: Leonhard Wild's Wildkaffee, working under direct-trade terms.
Best for Direct-trade Wildkaffee beans and small-group barista training through the Balthasar Lab workshops
Balthasar operates as a coffee lab and bar on Praterstraße in Vienna, and its beans come from a specific outside roastery rather than an in-house roasting operation: Leonhard Wild's Wildkaffee, working under direct-trade terms. That arrangement separates roasting and retail into two specialized operations working in partnership rather than one company trying to do both at a high level.
Balthasar's own contribution is on the service and education side, run under the name 'Balthasar Lab' — small-group barista workshops that treat brewing skill as something to be taught directly rather than left to on-the-job absorption. The 'lab' framing carries through both the coffee bar's identity and its teaching program, positioning Balthasar as a place for testing and refining technique as much as a retail counter.
For Vienna's coffee scene, the pairing of a named direct-trade roasting partner in Wildkaffee with a dedicated small-group workshop program gives Balthasar a specific, traceable supply chain and a specific, hands-on education offering, rather than either being left vague.
A vintage clothing shop curating second-hand pieces from multiple eras, with a separately operated coffee house on site. The Vienna store opened in 2013.
Best for Curated second-hand clothing and an on-site coffee house
Phil has run as a cafe, bookshop, and bar at Gumpendorfer Strasse 10-12 since 2004, stocking more than 4,000 books. After dark it becomes a bar serving longdrinks and espresso martinis under disco-ball light.
Best for More than 4,000 books lining a Vienna cafe-bar open since 2004
Phil has operated as a cafe, bookshop, and bar at Gumpendorfer Strasse 10-12 in Vienna's 6th district since 2004. The shop describes its own shelves as holding 'more than 4,000 books,' a collection it calls sometimes a little unusual and quirky rather than a curated bestseller list, spread through what the cafe calls a cozy Vienna living room. Breakfast is sourced from regional suppliers with an emphasis on organic quality, and a weekday laptop table accommodates working customers, though the cafe asks that laptops stay closed on weekends to preserve the room's atmosphere for everyone else. Past nightfall, the cafe-bookshop turns into a bar, serving longdrinks and espresso martinis under, as the venue puts it, disco-ball light and soft beats -- a genuine format shift rather than just a later closing time. A garden (Schanigarten) opens seasonally from April through October for outdoor coffee, breakfast, and reading. The venue has picked up repeat local press coverage, appearing in Falter's local guide, Falstaff's cafe guide, and Vienna's own tourism site. Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard is quoted on the site describing a lifelong habit of retreating to coffeehouses the way others retreat to a park or forest -- a line the cafe uses to frame its own role as a refuge, in the words of a canonical Viennese literary voice rather than its own marketing copy.
Retail chocolate stand at Vienna's Naschmarkt (No. 326-331) carrying what it describes as the city's largest selection of Zotter chocolate - the Styria-based bean-to-bar maker founded by Josef Zotter - alongside Eis-Greissler ice cream, vegan fruit ice and fair-trade coffee.
Best for Single-origin bean-to-bar chocolate, truffles, and chocolate-making workshops
Schoko Company operates a stand at Vienna's historic Naschmarkt, positioned as the city's largest retail outlet for Zotter chocolate - the organic, fair-trade bean-to-bar chocolate maker founded in 1999 by Josef Zotter and based in Riegersburg, Styria, roughly 200 km from Vienna. Rather than producing its own chocolate on site, Schoko Company functions as a specialty retailer and cafe: alongside Zotter bars, pralines and hand-scooped chocolate, the stand sells Eis-Greissler ice cream, vegan and lactose-free fruit-based ice, and organic fair-trade coffee.
A Bad Ischl shop and in-house coffee roaster turning out house-roasted fair-trade coffee. It pairs the coffee with a curated selection of gifts and homeware.
Best for House-roasted fair-trade coffee paired with curated gifts and homeware in Bad Ischl
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗
Visit official site ↗