Caffè Couture — Restaurant in Vienna

Both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by this place. Dropped by this place in the morning for a flat white, and was totally convinced this is a top-notch coffee place. It serves not the typical European coffee (which features only thick body and even bitterness with medium-dark or dark roast), but the championship kinda bean which has a very balanced profile in between bright acidity, sweetness and body. And the milk was frothed to perfection as well. It’s likely the best cup so far I’ve had from my 46-day trip in Europe in term of how delicate it is.

That said, I went back in the evening before leaving Vienna, and the cup prepared by the other barista (his wife) felt under-extracted. Thin body and a lot of fruity flavors didn’t come through.

P/S: I understood it’s from a different kinda bean, but the extraction could have been adjusted accordingly to highlight the flavor profile. It can’t have a thinner body and weaker acidity to be another style. And I did ask barista of the beans before ordering, but little information was shared.

No expert/winner barista should have been that arrogant to think they’d never make mistakes. For example, in calibration. It was a full rainy day, and we all know humidity plays a huge role in affecting extraction, especially light roast bean. Did the barista in charge retry their shots and...

I very much appreciate ceremony and perfectionism when it comes to coffee. However eye rolling over tight service is not quite my thing. For some unclear reason the barista refused to prepare an Iced Americano in a large cup, even though that size clearly existed. The coffee was good, but it was hard to enjoy under these service circumstances.

Update (after the owner replied): You definitely have a larger size cup - maybe not for Iced Americano, but that size exists. I assumed and hoped you were going to use it. You just said there is only one size but you never specified which size it was. My mistake was that I had not made sure it was that. Small size doesn't equal quality. There are a few things I can teach you about coffee. However I would like to tell you two things about business: If a customer leaves your business with a bitter taste - that is 99% your fault, simply because there is always a pleasant and service oriented way to convey any message - you just failed to use it. Snobbing off or trying to insult a customer is an immature and above all highly unprofessional way of dealing with critic, and it doesn't matter how fancy you believe you are, or what vision you...

EDIT: Reduced review to 1 star, as I am being accused by the owner of lying about my visit (what reason would I have to lie?). Rather than their made-up scenario, I was in fact standing directly in front of the till, the barista's friends were in fact round the side of the bar - there was no queue except for myself. You haven't done your business any favours with your unpleasant response, if you think how you've responded is more likely to make people visit your establishment then i believe you are mistaken. You only need to read several other reviews to see that others have had similar poor experiences with staff. I hope you learn from this experience and treat your customers with some respect in future.

2 stars because the drinks were nice, but the staff were dismissive and inattentive. The guy who took our drinks order was impatient and not very polite. Later i stood waiting to pay (right in front of a different server) and she ignored me, instead chatting to her friends who had come in to the cafe for several minutes. I had to eventually interrupt her so I could...