While coffee originated in the highlands of Ethiopia, the residents of the Middle East were early and enthusiastic adopters of the enervating bean juice, weaving their particularly strong and sludgy variant of it inextricably into the fabric of daily life.

 

As befits Jerusalem's status as a city straddling the line between the East and the West, half Vienna and half Damascus, its well-entrenched cafe culture spans traditional Arab coffee-and-nargilah holes-in-the-wall to Starbucks-inspired homegrown coffee mega-chains Aroma and Cafe Hillel and international heavies like Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Coffeeshops are the nexus of social life in the Holy City, where Jerusalemites of all stripes collide over espresso (or muddy Turkish coffee), baked goods and topographically significant salads.

 

So after a day of touring the Old City, stop for a traditional Arab coffee from one of the the mobile one-man coffee vendors (pictured below), and stop for a light breakfast or a late dinner at one of the host of coffeeshops downtown, or along the streets of Rehavia or the German Colony, and watch Jerusalem go by.