Impressions and highlights
Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball
Year after year, Viennese Coffee Brewers transform the Hofburg Vienna into the “largest and most beautiful coffee house in the world” – it is one of the most magnificent balls of the Viennese ball season and truly a flagship of the intangible world cultural heritage of Viennese coffee house culture. The Kaffeesiederball has always been unique due to its high-quality artistic design and elaborate decorations, its brilliant programme and an enormous musical range with over 17 orchestras and bands in all halls of the Vienna Hofburg.
It is one of the most popular balls of the Viennese ball season and is regularly sold out. The guests at the Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball are very young or young at heart. Around 3,600 national and international guests enjoy this glittering ball night every year. The Club of Viennese Coffee Brewers is the organiser of the Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball and sees itself as a guarantor for the preservation and further development of Viennese coffee house culture.
The Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball in the media
National
The Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball in the media
International
See you at the next Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball
Reviews
Past balls
64th Viennese Coffee Ball – “Kaffee erlesen – Geschichten aus dem Kaffeehaus“
February 2, 2024
Viennese coffee house culture at its best
“Kaffee erlesen – Geschichten aus dem Kaffeehaus“ was the motto under which we celebrated Viennese coffee house culture. As the motto of the ball suggests, the 65th Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball was all about stories from the coffee house. It was about Viennese coffee house literature, but also about the stories and encounters that take place in Viennese coffee houses. The Viennese coffee house experienced its special function as a literary workshop during the Fin de Siècle. This old tradition is still alive and relevant today – works of art and stories are created here through observation in this unique atmosphere, in this special microcosm. Today, the coffee house is still an important place for social discourse, artistic activity and enjoyment. Whether it is the overall artistic concept of the ball, the programme – from the opening to the “Brüderlein fein…” – or the decorative design. At the Coffee Brewers Ball you will experience Viennese coffee house culture at its best. Here we reinvent our profession of hospitality again and again to prepare a feast for our guests with great passion. Let’s look forward to an unforgettable ball night together, in the largest coffee house in the world, under the sign of coffee! As a charity project, we are supporting an important Caritas Vienna service in 2024: the Canisibus. The soup bus has been on the road every day for more than 32 years to provide homeless people and people at risk of poverty with a warm meal, and we are deeply impressed by the incredible commitment of the volunteers. Please support this special cause! Thank you very much!
64th Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball – “Genusswelt der Sinne”
February 3, 2023
The bacchanalia were festivities that were often celebrated by the bacchantes with the wildest exuberance.
For 2023, it is the sensual pleasure that you, dear visitors, will find in the artistic programme, in the decorations and in the charity campaign. Charles Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Bacchanale” will be the highlight of the opening. The ballet music from the opera “Samson and Dalila”, whose title is already synonymous with pleasure, exudes an intense sensuality with its sounds. Choreographer Lukas Gaudernak, together with the ballet ensemble, uses this unique, haunting music for his lively choreography. It is inspired by the American dancer Loïe Fuller, who created a serpentine dance and was a pioneer of modern dance. Grete Wiesenthal, an important representative of early Austrian expressive dance, also inspired Gaudernak. Her dance style combined elements of classical ballet with those of modern dance.
Classical music is a real treat
Operas and operatic arias transport us to the most diverse moods and worlds. The midnight interlude in the Festsaal is dedicated to arias and duets from the classical opera and operetta repertoire. They will be presented by mezzo-soprano Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir and soprano Ilona Revolskaya. In the Ceremonial Hall, under the musical direction of Béla Fischer, the elegant and sophisticated songs of the famous musical composer Cole Porter will be presented to the audience at 01:00 by Rebecca Nelsen and Julia Koci. The late night concert at 02:00 in the Festsaal presents LEMO. An artist who has found his very own way of casting Austrian pop in a touching form. And all the halls of the world’s largest coffee house will be rocking and rolling. The “Pleasure World of the Senses” hovers over everything and fills the Hofburg – and hopefully you too, dear visitors
63rd Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball – “Symphonie der Liebe”
February 14, 2020
The love of the Viennese for their Viennese coffee houses
The 63rd Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball is all about Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday – and of course today’s Valentine’s Day. “Coffee must be hot as hell, black as the devil, pure as an angel and sweet as love,” Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand stated back in the 18th century. We coffee brewers do everything we can to ensure that not only coffee is as sweet as love, but that our guests can experience the sweetness, the specialness and the extraordinary nature of love in our coffee houses.
Love in a Viennese coffee house covers everything from the first date in a coffee house, to being in love in a coffee house, to the love of the coffee brewers for their coffee houses and, of course, for the coffee, which is prepared with love. All this, of course, summarized in the love of the Viennese for their Viennese coffee houses! The Coffee Brewers Ball is the pinnacle of Viennese coffee house culture, where we reinvent our profession of hospitality time and again in order to prepare a feast for our guests with great passion. These ideas and aspects are reflected in the overall artistic design of the ball.
Let’s look forward together to an unforgettable ball night in the largest coffee house in the world, in the name of coffee, music and love!
Ludwig van Beethoven – Joy
Ludwig van Beethoven is the most frequently performed classical composer, the master of Viennese Classicism, a pioneer of Romanticism and a radical artist. He expanded the boundaries of music and questioned society time and again. There are also parallels here with Viennese coffee house culture. It is still the place for social discourse and music today. As a person and in his works, Beethoven pursued humanistic and enlightened ideals. Perhaps the most important work in this context is the 9th Symphony with the “Ode to Joy” in the fourth movement. How Beethoven interpreted Friedrich Schiller’s text is an open question – it contains Christian and ancient allusions as well as allusions to a generally humanitarian nature. The understanding of the symphony as an expression of the highest humanity, which lends programmatic weight to the movement “All men become brothers”, has proven to be particularly powerful – such an interpretation has made it possible to use the ode as a European anthem.
The fact that Ludwig van Beethoven liked to spend time in inns and cafés is recorded in various memoirs by his friends and contemporaries. Johann Sporschil, for example, wrote in the “Stuttgarter Morgenblatt” in 1823: “When he lives in Vienna in winter, he loves to look through the newspapers in a coffee house over a bowl of coffee, smoke a pipe and probably also chat with friends before going for a walk.”
62nd Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball – “Kaffee im Spiel”
February 22, 2019
Homage to Fortuna, the goddess of luck!
Games – whether chess, bridge, backgammon or billiards – are an essential part of Viennese coffee house culture. Whether reading the newspaper, chatting over coffee or playing together, the Viennese coffee house is always a place of communication and interaction. So happiness is not just in the game or in winning the game – happiness is the time you spend in a Viennese coffee house!
Each ball focuses on a different aspect of Viennese coffee house culture, making it a tangible experience. Many forces are bundled and work together to shape this night of nights into a tangible total work of art under the sign of coffee. At the Viennese Coffee Brewers Ball, we Cafétiers live our passion – being hosts. This personal touch, which you can also experience in each of our coffee houses, makes the Coffee Brewers Ball a special ball among all traditional Viennese balls.
Let’s look forward together to an unforgettable ball experience in the name of coffee, the game and as a tribute to Fortuna, the goddess of luck! Our charity project is particularly important to us. This year, all donations will go to the Immanuel Mother and Child House in Vienna. Please support us as much as possible, thank you very much!
