Coffee carts in Israel are not a trend. They are an institution.
What began as improvised roadside setups has become a defining feature of Israeli public life: espresso machines on wheels at the edge of highways, outside moshavim, near bases, in industrial zones, and at the margins of cities. They serve soldiers, commuters, farmers, freelancers, families, and early-morning regulars who plan their routes around a specific cart.
In this episode, I’m joined by Michal Sapir, founder of Coffee Trail, to trace how coffee carts moved from informal side projects to everyday institutions. We talk about what makes the cart format work in Israel: speed over ceremony, consistency over branding, and community without commitment. We examine why carts thrive where cafés often struggle, how regulation follows culture rather than leads it, and what these spaces reveal about Israeli social habits after years of disruption and change.
This conversation uses coffee as a lens to understand something larger: how Israelis gather, pause, and connect in public without pretense. The cart is not about artisanal beans or aesthetics. It is about movement, access, and trust.
An episode about coffee, yes, but more accurately, about how a society builds shared space on the fly.
Check out the Coffee Trail website here.
