Brothers Gourmet Coffee

Wake up and smell the (Israeli) coffee

By Jeffrey Heyman

Regardless of political and ideological affiliation or social standing, there's one issue that seemingly unites all Israelis - a love of coffee.

Walk down a street at any time of the day in any of Israel's bustling cities, such as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, and you'll think you've stumbled out of a dream and landed in Paris or London when you see the sidewalk cafes jammed with tables topped with umbrellas and populated by legions of coffee-drinking patrons.

In the last 15 years, coffee chains like Aroma , Cup O' Joe, Arcaffe and Cafe Hillel have proliferated to the point that their logos are as ubiquitous as McDonald's golden arches.

A branch of Cup O'Joe in Or Yehuda

In a country bursting with specialty coffee chains offering everything from double espresso to mocha cappuccino, some of the successful Israeli coffee chains have started to expand their horizons, exporting their flavorful brands of coffee abroad. Goodbye Jaffa oranges, hello iced coffee milkshakes.

A strong coffee culture

Israel's coffee culture has been part of the country's fiber since before the state was declared in 1948. According to Michael Reiner, the CEO of Ava Coffee, one of the country's leading coffee suppliers and a student of all things java, the sit-down-and-relax approach to drinking coffee rubbed off on Israeli society from its Middle Eastern environs.

"Israel is known to have a strong coffee culture," says Reiner, who's been involved in the coffee business for more than 35 years. "And it's mainly because we're in an Oriental region of the world and have adopted the habits of the local Bedouin and Arab people, who charge great importance to the social act of preparing and drinking a cup of coffee."

In fact, coffee played a significant role in the creation of the country. Heads of the underground units formed to fight the British presence in pre-1948 Palestine used to meet at the famed Atara Café in Jerusalem to plan strategies, share information and drink the strong, thick blend of Turkish coffee known as botz (short for "Nescafé"), the instant coffee favored in the United States, and the European favorite cappuccino, prepared with espresso, hot milk and steamed-milk froth. Israelis coined the term café hafuch (upside-down coffee) for this sophisticated drink.