Rest in the City - Lots of Good Coffee and Nice Cafes

Tel Aviv is 100 - so what is so good about being here? Some say it's the coffee. Actually cafes and the race to make the best cup of coffee in the world. Well, we have some competition from Paris and Rome, but when it comes to a good table to sit, a nice espresso or cappuccino and a friendly place to meet for a chat - Tel Aviv is ready for a coffee reality show contest any time.

It is not clear when Tel Aviv became a cafe city. This is a new trend which goes back no more than 20 years. Recently as the picture show, we have seen "the attack of the cafe chains": Aroma, Cafe-Cafe, Ilan's, Arcafe, Cafe Joe, Cafeneto... there are a few other ones, smaller or regional (Cafe Greg is mostly in Haifa with one branch in Dizengoff Center). International chain The Coffee Bean has a few cafe locations in Tel Aviv and surrounding towns. Still the local independent cafes of Tel Aviv are what makes the coffee here special. Independent cafes represent a tradition brought from Europe over the years. New French and British immigrants the last few years invigorated this trend. The Landware and Elite are coffee roasters with cafes bearing their names. In malls and public places you will also find kiosks bearing Elite and chain cafes names (branding is a big here now). If this was not enough, in most public buildings (government centers, hospitals, universities) and malls you can find coffee vending carts from all the large brewers and roasters. Cafe Elite is the oldest and most popular coffee brand. It's Turkish coffee, a dark roast ground to a fine powder is Israel's traditional coffee.

Cafes in Israel would be considered medium size by European standards. They seat 20 to 50 people with the low end of 20 to 30 for most of the locations (10 to 25 tables). You will be hard pressed to find a 5 seat counter only cafe in your neighborhood in the tradition of Paris, Madrid or Rome. These Europeans come for a drink, pay and move on with their daily routine. In Miami and New Jersey Cubans even have tiny windows in cafes facing the street where you can simply buy an espresso, drink it in one gulp and disappear. Tel Avivian's prefer a takeout paper cup if the 'daily dose' does not allow for time to sit and chat (American style). Also, coffee drinking does not take the style of a pub in London. You do not drink coffee with the barista you drink it with a friend or a newspaper. With the popularity of laptop computer use in public, we see how some cafes turned into virtual offices. The Gan Ha'yir (city hall complex on Iben Gvirol) Coffee Bean location seem to be half populated by students, digital entrepreneurs and salesmen of one type or another (from architects to insurance) with computers, notebooks full of notes and headphones to drown out noise. Some take a spot for hours for a 14 shekel cup of coffee. Not a bad deal for free wireless and electricity, a leather upholstered chair and decent temperature controlled room (in the summer air conditioning is nice to have). In most locations this new behavior is perfectly acceptable. The staff seems to be perfectly willing to be the "office away from the home office hosts". Not so in other locations where the cafe is dependent on customer flow they tend to push you out or ask for an order every hour or so. This is true for the none digitally equipped book and newspaper readers as well. So the digirati are not a prosecuted minority in any way just a part of everyday life here.

The coffees served in most cafes are dominated by the classic Italian espresso, capuchino and latte. Israeli old fashion Turkish coffee, essentially a dark brew ground to a fine powder mixed with steaming water than allowed to sit (the grounds settle to the bottom) - or the real classic finjan, a small copper pot used to brew strong coffee. Americano is a basic drip coffee but don't be alarmed if you actually get a french press coffee instead. French press coffee, the glass container with a plunger is also available but is less common in Tel Aviv. Most cafes also serve snacks, sandwiches and salads. This is a new trend specially in the smaller locations. The cafe chains offer uniform menu across locations, some are good enough to compete with fast food and restaurants. Independent cafes have snacks and light dishes and sometimes specialty baked goods, some are excellent specially croissants which are popular lately.

This story will not be complete without a few images. We will try to go out to a few cafes and photograph the places, people and coffee. If you have stories about Tel Aviv cafes and how they match up to their European cousins leave a comment. So come to Tel Aviv for the people and the fun and sit in a cafe - a local Tel Avivian way to relax -- From T"A //ami_v2//