Season opened

Coffee is Austria’s ice cream flavor of the year

(Bild: Dušan Zidar - stock.adobe.com)

Despite pouring rain, the ice cream season officially opened on Tuesday. In view of the mild weather, some stores had already opened their doors, and now the Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) has officially announced the start of the season. The festive ceremony took place at the Bortolotti ice cream parlor in Vienna's Mariahilfer Straße.

"Normally, we have always opened around the beginning of spring, around March 21," said Andrew Nussbaumer, spokesman for the ice cream parlor operators at the Chamber of Commerce. There is a trend for ice cream parlors to open earlier and earlier, provided the weather is good. Customers now want the ice cream season to start earlier. And the operators of the ice cream parlors are happy about this, because opening earlier also increases their annual turnover.

Andrew Nussbaumer (left) at the opening of the 2019 ice cream season(Bild: APA/HERBERT PFARRHOFER)

2024 under the sign of coffee and "Liège waffles"
The Austrian and European ice cream of the year 2024 were also presented at the official opening on Tuesday in Mariahilf. The Austrian salons had chosen coffee ice cream as the ice cream of the year. Coffee "is one of the drinks most frequently ordered in ice cream parlors", reported Nussbaumer.

The European ice cream of the year is "Liège waffles". These were chosen by Belgium. This is vanilla-cinnamon ice cream with (salted) butter, garnished with waffles. How the flavor is implemented is up to the ice cream makers.

Ice cream maker from Upper Austria wins Grand Prix Gelato
"Domestic ice cream parlors produce a wide range of high-quality ice cream varieties. This is reflected, among other things, in the fact that our businesses regularly achieve top placings in ice cream competitions," said a delighted Nussbaumer. For example, the Grand Prix Gelato Austria 2024 took place last weekend. The winner was Stefan Mühlbacher from Upper Austria. He beat off competition from around 80 gelato makers to take first place for Austria with his hazelnut ice cream.