Branching Out
Soleil fruit shake
Place: Shusha Coffee Cart, Moshav Tzofit
When: Tuesday, mid-afternoon
Environment: Another coffee cart! This one is set back from a decent-sized parking lot, and the dirt yard surrounding the coffee cart is sprinkled with tables and colorful Adirondack chairs, as well as picnic benches, with shade from trees and umbrellas. One particularly large Ficus tree even has a sign declaring that it was planted in 1952 by a pioneer who left his Jerusalem home and business and relocated to the moshav, bringing the tree with him from his Jerusalem nursery. Birds squawk incessantly in the trees – mainly green rose-ringed parakeets and mynas. There’s a quaint country vibe around the cart and its signage, from chalkboard menus to hanging plants to the “we don’t have wifi; talk to each other” sign. Backgammon boards are available to borrow. At this time of day, the place is pretty quiet, although a trickle of people come and go. From the size of things, it seems other times are much busier. The coffee cart is strategically planted right near the Tzofit bike park, so it offers a convenient option for bikers to grab a cold drink after their ride. There’s even a public bathroom adjacent, which is not often the case with coffee carts.
My Order: “Malt” toasted sandwich (NIS 29); “Soleil” fruit shake (NIS 29); small cappuccino (NIS 12).
The low-down: The sandwich was like a greasy grilled cheese, a bit toasty on the outside and cheesy inside. The difference is this was made on pain de mie beer bread, and was filled with salty Bulgarian cheese, gouda, beets (I know, I know), basil butter, and green onion. The surprising part was how much the green onion added – it basically made the sandwich. The basil butter added another fresh flavor layer without being overpowering like pesto. The fruit shake was a freshly blended mix of pineapple, mango, passionfruit, date, and coconut cream. It was a well balanced drink, such that no one fruit overpowered the others. That said, you do need to like, or at least not mind, coconut in order to enjoy the shake. On a hot day, it was the perfect refreshment. Once I cooled off with my shake, I was able to enjoy a hot coffee. The coffee flavor was properly strong, but the beans were not as robust as I would have liked. It almost seemed like the coffee was watered down, leaving the coffee flavor but not the texture (if that makes any sense). The upside to this is that I was left with a pleasant coffee taste in my mouth instead of that funky milky taste that sometimes happens with cappuccinos.
Who else was there: A man somewhere in his early 30s, wearing a black and gray baseball tee, blue shorts, flip flops and a baseball hat, arrived on his own. He walked past the coffee cart and went to urinate in the bushes. He then seated himself on a bench under a tree to carry on a phone conversation for work. Only after finishing his business did he approach the cart to order an afternoon espresso and cold soda water.
The man was a local, confident and smiling. He was pretty attached to his cell phone, constantly texting and talking. He was self-employed and taking advantage of the flexibility. On this afternoon, he was working on brokering a partnership between a pool supply business and a municipal swimming pool two towns over. If the deal were to go through, he would get his referral fee. He enjoys what he does, connecting people and finding them the services they need. He does it in a friendly way, not in the pushy way some people think works better. Although he’s doing ok for himself, this isn’t really his long-term plan. But while he figures it out, he’s happy to be a medium-sized fish in a close-to-home pond.
