VIENNA, Austria – Why did Julius Meinl partecipate at the dance held in Hofburg? What is the connection with coffee? We asked Christina Meinl, among other things also guardian of the tradition of the Viennese brand which has turned 160, member of the fifth generation of the family at the head of the historic Viennese roastery Julius Meinl, of which she is Head of Innovation. Cristina Meinl was also the president of the Sca (Speciality coffee organization) in 2020.
The cultural heritage of Kaffeesiederball
By Christina Meinl
“We proposed a ball for coffee house owners: people will say that this is the
biggest coffee house of the world for one night. As in the coffee houses of the past, there will be many different people and everyone is welcome to attend the event. We’re honoring past traditions, but at the same time you’ll see many young people dancing and having fun. We live the tradition from the past, with the reality of today.
We in Vienna have a lot of balls which amuse young people, the Kaffeesiederball is one of the biggest and many young people go and just have a pleasant night in connecting, enjoying, talking. That’s why the night is so special: it is not a hall of a museum but, in fact, you are living a tradition.
We were already roasting coffee in the time when those balls existed. We founded the company in 1862, and when big balls began to be in vogue at the turn of the century, in the early 1900s, our coffee was already there.
Also italians attended the balls, and one of them that is a friend and a business partner of ours, three years ago when she came she wrote to me a letter as a thank you afterwards: “You made me feel like a princess for one night”.
That’s the feeling of this evening in a world of war and trouble. We are humans and we want to have a moment of peace, enjoinment and love. There will be young people, people elegantly dressed and others more casually dressed, it is like a melange of cultures of central Europe which represents the mix of beans in a cup of coffee.”
