Coffee shops are a big thing here in Israel, you could say they are experts at it, seeing as Starbucks briefly tried to open chains here and they bombed as the native Israeli chains like Aroma were already firmly rooted here.

I am sitting here in a branch of Aroma in the Shuk (open air market in Jerusalem), it seems like the perfect antidote to manic fast paced chaotic style of crowds of people getting of mostly fruit, vegetables, meat and fish here.   This particular branch is more of a handful of chairs and tables out in the street and a few indoors too.   I am on my own, as I finished work and it takes me ages to get home as I live 6kms away and I wanted to go to a bible study group at 7.30 so thought it would be better to hang around town till then.

The way you get a coffee here in Israel is amusingly different from everywhere else.   You go up to the till and place you order, you have to give the steward at the counter your name, you sit down with cake, pastry or sandwich you take there and then, and then wait.   You name gets spoken over the microphone and you go and collect your beverage, from the other counter.

This makes me think, as they only ask you your first name, if you have a popular Hebrew name like Moshe, Isaac, Avram or Jonathan, it could get a bit comical as many people could stand up!