Aroma Espresso Bar on Emek Refa'im Street: A German Colony Favorite in Jerusalem, Israel
- Mark Vogel
- Mar 18
- 5 min read
Kosher Café Jerusalem, Israel ✈
I woke up early on a mild mid-week morning in Jerusalem, Israel with one goal: to spend an unhurried stretch at the Aroma Espresso Bar at 43 Emek Refa'im Street and see how it stacks up against other cafés in the chain. Even before I reached Aroma, I could already hear the clink of cutlery and the steady chatter drifting across the sidewalk, a clear sign that the café fills quickly even on an ordinary weekday.
Emek Refa'im itself deserves a moment. The roadway follows the floor of a narrow valley and cuts straight through the German Colony, a district first laid out by German Templers in the late nineteenth century. Their basalt and limestone houses give the street a low-rise, almost European profile that feels removed from the high-rises of downtown Jerusalem. Over the past two decades the neighborhood has attracted young families, diplomats, gap-year students, and retirees who appreciate its shade trees, broad sidewalks, and easy access to city buses and bike lanes. On any given morning you see locals picking up groceries, dog-walkers pausing for coffee, and tour groups photographing the distinctive gabled roofs.
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“Along the far wall, burlap coffee sacks are stretched and mounted in a grid. Stamps from Rwanda, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, and Guatemala form a collage of origins, a constant reminder that the beans travel far before they hit the grinder.”
The branch announces itself long before you cross the threshold. The outside wall is painted with a full-height portrait of a woman whose hair morphs into roasted coffee beans. Above her, the words “Coffee Time” curve across a sky-blue background, while to the right a hand with long crimson nails lifts a takeaway cup marked with the Aroma logo. The mural does more than advertise caffeine; it signals that the street-art culture of the German Colony is welcome here. When morning deliveries arrive, kitchen staff stack plastic produce crates along the wall, and their alternating green-and-black columns frame the artwork with a brief splash of utilitarian color that disappears once the crates move inside.
Crossing the doorway, the design language shifts to tile, brick, and light. Plate-glass windows wrap two sides of the room, and green-framed doors pivot wide enough to blur the line between patio and indoor seating on mild days. High ceilings pull daylight all the way to the back wall. Wood paneling, padded bench seating, and oak-topped communal tables give the space a feel closer to a casual restaurant than a grab-and-go counter. A brick feature wall runs beside the order line and carries a mural of a woman in a green blazer and yellow blouse, her gaze angled toward the bar as if she is keeping tabs on espresso shots. The letters A-R-O-M-A march downward in burnt-orange block capitals, each punctuated by a coffee bean.
Lighting comes from several sources at once. Ribbed-glass pendants in amber and clear glass hang at staggered heights, and a wrought-iron chandelier anchors the corner nearest the windows. Recessed spots pick out glossy blue ceramic tiles behind the bar, while sound-absorbing ceiling panels keep conversation from echoing. Underfoot, marble-patterned tiles are cut into irregular polygons and laid almost like a jigsaw, giving the floor movement without making it busy.
Along the far wall, burlap coffee sacks are stretched and mounted in a grid. Stamps from Rwanda, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, and Guatemala form a collage of origins, a constant reminder that the beans travel far before they hit the grinder. A tufted leather bench runs the full length of that installation, turning what could have been an unused strip of floor into a waiting nook for parents with strollers and laptop users hunting a quiet spot near a power outlet. Outside, a wraparound patio continues the look with pale wicker chairs, small round tables, and bright red geraniums set against the limestone façade, all shaded by mature ash trees that line Emek Refa’im.
Aroma as a company dates to 1994, when brothers Yariv and Sahar Shefa opened a single espresso bar on Hillel Street. Serving espresso drinks alongside fresh salads and sandwiches was new to Israel at the time, but the formula caught on quickly and spread nationwide before expanding overseas. The Emek Refa’im store joined the chain in the early 2000s and has evolved with its surroundings. A floor-to-ceiling renovation in 2023 reconfigured the kitchen, installed a second espresso bar, and doubled seating capacity. The reopening ceremony even drew the mayor to affix a mezuzah on the doorpost.
I began with breakfast. The Israeli breakfast plate is still the most complete option: two eggs cooked to order, a personal salad of chopped cucumber and tomato dressed in lemon and olive oil, tuna, labaneh, cream cheese, avocado spread, and a basket of rolls still warm from the oven. Olive oil and za’atar sit on the counter if you want to season the vegetables yourself. The kitchen also turns out shakshuka served bubbling in a cast-iron pan, muesli layered with granola and fruit, and a vegan tofu scramble whose bright yellow color comes from turmeric rather than eggs.
Coffee is the anchor around which everything else turns. Every espresso drink starts with a medium roast produced at Aroma’s facility outside Lod. Since the renovation, a dedicated tap now dispenses cold brew steeped for twelve hours, and baristas rotate single-origin beans through a separate grinder every two months. During my visit they were running a Guatemalan lot that added cocoa accents even in milk drinks.
By late morning the place had slipped into its lunch rhythm. The cold case displayed only prepped vegetables; every salad and sandwich is assembled after the order is placed. Bread for sandwiches is baked on site several times a day, and I watched staff pull trays from the convection oven behind the espresso machine.
Afternoons are for snacks. The pastry counter pulls plenty of foot traffic, and the signature chocolate cube that comes free with every hot drink remains a quick sugar hit. Larger pieces are worth exploring: an almond croissant laminated in-house and filled with frangipane, cinnamon rolls glossed with syrup, chocolate rugelach, and a yeast-based babka that often sells out before mid-afternoon.
Service follows the pattern I have come to expect from Aroma. Orders are placed at the kiosk or register, and within minutes staff call names from the pick-up counter. The larger kitchen means the wait here is shorter than at other locations even at peak lunch time. I watched a floor manager circle the room with a towel and spray bottle, clearing plates and wiping tables before anyone had to ask.
Looking back at my notes from my visit to the Jaffa Street branch, the main themes repeat: reliable coffee, fresh food, and prices lower than many independent cafés. What sets Emek Refa’im apart is scale and comfort. With roughly twice the seating, a broader patio, and a kitchen built to handle dine-in and take-away at the same time, the café absorbs the neighborhood’s constant flow without sacrificing speed. The recent renovation preserved the chain’s modern branding yet introduced warmer materials, softer lighting, and artwork that ties the interior to the street outside. That combination makes this branch the one I’ll return to most often when I need a quiet corner in the German Colony and a dependable caffeine fix.
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