Another strange thing about a Viennese coffee house is that the coffee is almost irrelevant.

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In a Viennese coffee house, something strange happens to time.

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The typical Viennese coffee house -- an elegant institution with high ceilings, marble-top tables and a stack of newspapers to make one linger over an impeccable black brew with a customary glass of water -- may be more famously known than its Ukrainian cousin, but to trace back the origin of the communal coffee space, you have to go to Lviv, a Medieval city in western Ukraine.

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Viennese gentlemen sipped coffee outside Austrian bakeries so authentic that the neighborhood was called Little Vienna.

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Legend has it that, following the victory, the Viennese reportedly found sacks of coffee abandoned by the enemy and, finding it too strong for their taste, diluted it with cream and honey.

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