Salzburg is a city in which you can get lots of cups of coffee. Though most of them will come with fat caps of cream, or stained by a slosh from a bracing spirit or two.
Those are the sorts of drinks which appear on menus with ornate names, best suited to themed parties. They’re the sort of beverage best sipped with a sense of humour and a fat slice of torte to your right in a slightly kitschy grand cafe, with a cd of Mozart’s greatest hits spinning in the background.
If after a few days travelling through Germany/Austria, like me, you’ve had too much cake, too many sausages, too much breaded veal and pork and what you really crave is a bowl of yoghurt, some grains, fruit and a decent espresso- I offer you a calm port in a storm.
It’s just a few streets back from the main squares of Salzburg’s old town- with their idling horse drawn carriages, amplified ‘magical violin players’, large Japanese tour groups and stalls selling chocolate covered pretzels the size of a fireman’s helmet. There you’ll find 220 Degrees.
It’s a small wooden balcony with modular Sunkist orange chairs and umbrellas.
Inside it’s cosy and warm- with a small bar and tables flanking the window. Mind- it’s popular. At 9 am on a Wednesday morning every table inside was booked for breakfast. Luckily, there’s room outside. There’s the gentle fug of freshly roasted coffee beans (they roast on site). The staff have excellent English and are cheeringly friendly for first thing in the morning. And the menu is filled with things you want to eat. It starts with the ‘healthy option’ of muesli with fruit (which arrives as a bircher construction in a glass mug, a joyful tumble of yoghurt, diced apple, nuts, seeds and rolled oats).
That’s also accompanied by two slices of the house made spelt bread- earnestly specked with pumpkin seeds and laced with grated carrot. It’s paired with cottage cheese, prettied up with sliced chives and some halved cherry tomatoes.
For those wanting more of a feast there are breakfast assortments; the Maxi is a DIY buffet; freshly squeezed orange juice, a boiled egg in what is possibly a contender for the cutest cosy in the western world, a platter of ham, three cheeses, basil, tomato and cucumber and an assortment of breads with butter and voluptuous pots of cherry and apricot jam.
Plus you get a coffee. The menu features a page devoted to the origins of their beans, with the house blend melding notes of caramel, cocoa and hazelnut. Milk is carefully steamed, latte art is varied.
This is an oasis of civility in a city that can feel sticky with marzipan and cream. I’m only sad it took us until our last day in Salzburg to stumble upon it. Don’t be us. Go early and go often.
220 Grad
Chiemseegasse 5, Salzburg, Austria
0043 662 827 220
(Nb, 22 Degrees is also open for lunch, but closed on Sundays and Mondays)
