When in Vienna, order coffee like the Viennese.

Yes. This is what the drink looked like before I took a single sip. I believe it is one little espresso shot being crushed under a mountain of whipped cream.

The Einspänner really is more cream with coffee than coffee with cream. The story goes that an Einspänner was the favorite drink of the Viennese one-horse-carriage drivers: hot espresso coffee warming one’s hands, staying warm by the insulation of the massive heap of cream on top. If one got a customer, one could simply filter the hot coffee through the cold cream and drink it up in a few seconds.

I can think of no other city where horse carriage drivers have such a sumptuous and functional signature drink. And I cannot help but wonder if the original Einspänner did not contain a wee dram of booze, at least from time to time?

(Vienna, Austria; February 2017)