Apart from the many established cafes, Vienna’s coffee aficionados have new options at their disposal - one of them is Coffee Day, an Indian cafe chain that last year opened its first European outlet in Vienna.

The Austrian capital is known for its museums, waltz music - and its innumerable cafes. Spacious traditional cafes, Italian-style espresso bars, modern cafe-bars, little bakeries with a few coffee tables and even the occasional Starbucks.

To really understand the Viennese mind, one needs to meet the Viennese in their natural habitat - the coffee house. The traditional coffee house, still found mainly in the city centre, draws the visitor in with its unique atmosphere of faded plush seats, smoke- stained ceilings, hundreds of newspapers and grumpy waiters.

According to Vienna’s trade chamber, more than 2,800 cafes, espresso bars, coffee/cake shops and other coffee-related businesses operate in the city. Recent years had seen some decline in the numbers, but several newcomers have dared to venture onto Vienna’s hard cafe turf.

It can be safely said that Coffee Day is the most exotic newcomer by far. It is owned by the Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Limited(ABC), one of India’s largest coffee producers, which also runs more than 250 cafes in 60 Indian cities.

In November 2005, Coffee Day decided to venture out of India and opened an outlet in Vienna. Why choose Vienna, a city which jealously guards its traditions and has always been wary of newcomers?

Sudipta Sen Gupta, spokesperson of ABC said Coffee Day had decided to pit itself against European cafes instead of choosing a “safe” market, as this challenge was the only way to do business.

The Indian coffee maker adapted its offers to cater for local taste: next to chai and curries, local specialities like sacher cake, apple strudel or “melange”, a strong coffee with hot milk and milk foam, are served.

One year on, with a second outlet opened in September, Coffee Day officials said they were encouraged by their first year in Vienna and optimistic that the Viennese would accept the cafe with the Indian twist.

“Vienna being the capital of the coffee world was the obvious choice. We are delighted with our decision to come to Vienna,” Naresh Malhotra, Director of ABC told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

“Being our first cafe in Europe there was a lot of learning. We are glad to have assimilated in a short span of time, making us very confident of doing well.”

Assimilation is essential in order to succeed in Vienna, as another global player, US coffee giant Starbucks, had to find out.

Vienna’s first Starbucks opened in 2001 amid fears that the caramel macchiato in the paper cup would soon replace Vienna’s much- loved melange.

Starbuck’s original plan to open 60 outlets in five years soon ran into difficulties. Five years on, Starbucks has nine cafes in and around Vienna.

Maximillian Platzer, head of Vienna’s cafe owners association said cafe chains suffer from a lack of individuality when compared to a traditional cafe, and would also cater to different customers.

Platzer, who runs an old-established cafe near one of Vienna’s opera houses, said he was not afraid of Starbuck’s competition, vanilla-flavoured coffee would also find its niche in Vienna.

“Everybody asked me if I was afraid, when Starbucks came, but why? If I were afraid of competition, I should not open my cafe in the morning,” he said.

There may always be room for more cafes in Vienna, and the Viennese will gladly discuss the pros and cons of Coffee Day, Starbucks and the old-established cafe - over a cup of melange, of course.