corner view: coffee in israel

i'm a coffee girl. but not much of a feinsmecker, i have to admit. i do own a moka pot and a french coffee press, but my daily coffee(s) is not that advanced. i start the day with taster's choice. lots of coffee, lots of milk, and yes, lots of sugar. and then i add some cinnamon. i'll probably have two or three more cups of instant coffee during the day.

coffee to me is a break. a moment to sit down. and relax, breath. these days we have 35-38 degrees celcius in israel. it's hot and calls for ice coffee. preferably to be enjoyed under the shade from the palm tree leaves and accompanied by ice cold water with fresh nana (mint) from the garden. so that's what i do. while the kids cool down with their feet in the blow-up pool or eat the pancakes they convinced me to make them in this heat.

or little D will reach out for my coffee cup, which means we're on to this conversation (or a variation of it):

little D: cham? (meaning "warm" in hebrew)
me: yes, it's hot.
little D: cham!
me: yes, hot.
little D: cham!!
me: yes. i know.

pause....

little D: cham?
me: mmm...
little D: cham??
me: yes, hot!
little D: cham!!
me: yes, i know.

pause....

and unless something else calls for his immediate attention, like some water that must be moved from one bucket to another, we could probably continue this conversation until i would be able to make a grand finale with something like "no. actually it's cold".

jane... i know, you asked for a funny conversation, but what can i do... this is pretty much the type of conversation i'm having these days, living far away from cafes and working from home. if you'd asked for a deep, serious, eye-opening conversation, well, this would have had to do too.

traditional coffee in israel is called cafe turkie (yes, that would be turkish coffee). that's the strong, strong non-filtered kind of coffee. and if you want a latte in a cafe, which is what i usually want, you ask for "hafuch". meaning "the opposite" in hebrew. the reason? because there's more milk than coffee. if you want two of those, you'll say "paamaim hafuch". and if you want the waiter to know that you're not israeli, you'll follow that order with a "toda".

i'll just add a little disclaimer here to any israeli readers i might have: i'm not saying israelies are rude or anything. because you'll usually smile and chit chat with the waiter while ordering. and you can always find someone you both know, or an aunt that went to school with your best friend's mother-in-law's cousin. but saying thank you is just so formal. and formality is not really big around here. more like "we're all friends. or family". or maybe more like "we're all in this together". i mean, you do also attend weddings in jeans, flip-flops and tees. that's pretty in-formal.

check out cabrizette's coffee post for the serge gainsbourg theme song video. or listen while reading isabelle's on lou et tom. love it!

other coffee corner views from around the world. :

jane, ladybug-zen, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemian girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, virginia, april, rebecca, b