You can have your favourite colour of coffee; or like Mozart did after lunch, play billiards; or play chess like the exiled Trotsky in the Café Central. I settle for people watching.

Home to the delectable Sachertorte, the 'coffeehouses' of Vienna - drenched in old-world charm and historical anecdotes - offer much more than the aromatic brew, exults Sumitra Senapaty.

A wild winter. But, the grey skies and the wind make the fires and lamp light glow all the brighter. I am in a state of exaltation. I can't quite believe I am here and, as though to put it beyond question, I often repeat 'I'm in Vienna' to myself when I wake up in the night or as I wander through the streets, when nothing flies through the air more solid than snowflakes.

Vienna is ethereal in winter and in this city of romance and culture, I thought it would be apt to sample a slice of vibrancy at some of the cream of coffeehouses. What visitors to Vienna rate as a tourist attraction, serves residents as an alternative living room and its artists and writers as a showcase institution: the Viennese coffeehouse. The city currently boasts the best part of 650 cafés, although only a hundred or so actually qualify as 'coffeehouses' in the time-honoured sense: wooden floors, velvet upholstery, marble-topped tables and black and white clad waiters whose occasional grumping is sanctioned by tradition.

The hum of the Viennese Kaffeehaus is now around me - voices talking, orders for torte and mélange, the clinking sound of spoons against the inside of cups, stirring coffee. The aroma of coffee and the fragrance of fresh pastries blend with a trace of cigarette smoke and another, mustier odour. An old definition calls a Viennese café a place 'where one goes to be alone in company'. The tradition dates back to the 17th century when, as the story goes, a Hungarian introduced a stock of coffee beans captured from the Turks. Soon, Vienna was full of coffeehouses - delectable and fashionable - where intellectuals and gentry mingled to pass the time of day. The spirit that is invoked in the Kaffeehaus is often characterised with just that simple equation: one cup of coffee equals a few hours of freedom. Here, there are a variety of possibilities to spend time. You can have your favourite colour of coffee; or like Mozart did after lunch, play billiards; or play chess like the exiled Trotsky in the Café Central.

Regular Verve contributor, Sumitra Senapaty is an intrepid food and travel writer. Formerly with the hospitality sector, she continues her romance with classy cuisine and different destinations.

For the rest of the article, pick up VERVE’s January-February, 2005 issue