The Austrian capital Vienna is famous not only for its music, but also for its coffee. But that way of life may be under threat as Imogen Foulkes has been finding out.

Going into Vienna's cafe Sperl is like stepping into the Vienna of 100 years ago.

Majestic: A city built on coffee and cake

The cafe looks exactly as it did when it first opened in 1880.

Its proprietor, Mannfred Staub, lives up to his surroundings - full of old world charm, he kisses my hand when I arrive.

Mannfred is justifiably proud of his cafe. He brings me coffee on a silver tray, and shows me what makes the Sperl so special.

"It is built in traditional Vienna coffee house style," he says, "but it was designed by two famous architects of the time, Gross and Jelinek and they added their own touches."

Above our heads a marble frieze runs along the top of the walls.

"These are coffee house cherubs," says Mannfred, "and they are doing everything you can do in a coffee house, reading newspapers, chatting, playing chess, some are even fighting - that's the one thing I haven't experienced in my café."

Turkish delight

The story goes that coffee was first brought to Vienna by the invading Turkish army in the late 17th century.

Coffee and Vienna: 200-year love affair

When they withdrew from the city, they left behind several sacks of coffee beans.

The Viennese found they liked the drink, and they built around it a whole way of life.

By the beginning of this century there were an estimated 500 coffee houses in Vienna places to sit and read, play chess, meet friends, or simply watch the world go by.

The Sperl is such a place to go and escape the stress of 20th century life. You can spend an entire afternoon over one coffee, and no one will disturb you.

Today, there are around 200 such cafes in Vienna, from the elegant cafe Landtmann where Viennese ladies in fur coats have cake every afternoon, to the imposing cafe Central, with its arched ceilings and marble columns, where Trotsky is said to have planned the Russian revolution.

But, although these famous establishments remain popular, times are changing.

Lure of McDonalds'

Not far from Mannfred Staub's cafe Sperl is the McCafe, McDonalds' answer to Vienna's need for coffee and cake every afternoon.

Shock of the new: McDonalds challenges status quo

Here you can read the newspapers too, and you can have any number of coffees: a cappuccino, or a Vienna melange with whipped cream, or an espresso.

The coffee is good, and it costs about half what it does in one of the famous coffee houses - but the atmosphere is not the same.

While sipping your coffee you stare out at McDonalds fast food counter, and the globally familiar smell of the Big Mac lingers everywhere.

"I suppose that sort of thing has its market," sighs Mannfred Staub, "but the customers will come back to us in the end."

They may not be coming back fast enough though.

In the last 20 years dozens of Vienna coffee houses have closed their doors and their prime corner sites make them attractive to businesses like the fast food outlets who have plenty of ready cash.

"When a traditional coffee house closes," says Hans Diglas, chairman of the Vienna coffee house union, "you can never bring it back.

"We have got to look after them, there is no other institution in the western world like them.

"The coffee houses are the soul of Vienna - an expression of our way of life."

Hans Diglas himself is a symbol of coffee house tradition.

His grandfather Hans opened the cafe Diglas in 1923, then his father - also Hans - took over. And today Hans expects that his own son, also called Hans, will take over from him.

Mannfred Staub, who is getting on in years, is not sure who will take over the cafe Sperl.

"My own son has not discovered the love of coffee houses yet," he says with a wry smile, "perhaps I educated him too well."

It would be a tragedy if somewhere with as much history as the cafe Sperl were to close, but losing any of the traditional coffee houses would be a great pity.

Their appeal nowadays was made clear to me on my first evening in Vienna.

Warm welcome

Tired and hungry, I asked my hotel manager where I could get a meal nearby.

There was a new fish restaurant or a simple coffee house a little further away.

I went to the coffee house, which was almost full. There I was greeted by a plump and smiling waiter, who found me a table, brought me something to eat and the newspapers to read, and then left me in peace.