Here in the United States, iced coffee and cold coffee are synonymous. You can order a cold brew or iced latte—with or without ice, maybe—but the idea is the same: cold coffee. It’s all about the caffeine and the flavor, really, not the format.
In Israel, iced coffee is something different altogether. Iced coffee in Israel is a frozen sweet coffee slushie that quite often hardly even tastes like coffee at all. It’s more like an ice-blended dessert—sweet, thick, and refreshing. And despite its distance from traditional coffee, it’s wildly popular and beyond dispute delicious.
To my Israel Studies class, this drink became a routine in no time. For nearly a month, every day during break, my friends and I would walk over to Eran’s snack shack and get a small iced coffee for ten shekel. It was our routine. Later on, the daily practice expired, but my preference for Israeli iced coffee did not.
They don’t have much of the espresso drinks I’ve learned to love in America, like cappuccinos, cortados, or flat whites. But when I was there, I did not miss them. When I didn’t want the slushie, iced coffee, I would get what is called a cold coffee—an iced coffee by American standards. It was a simple, unadorned drink served over ice and actually tasted like coffee.
Still, whenever I went to the beach, I would usually have to choose between the two. The cold coffee was more familiar in flavor, but the iced coffee was more suitable for the destination. The frozen texture was more comfortable under the hot sun, and it stayed cooler longer. It was a seasonal and practical choice, and one that somehow always seemed fitting.
Since returning to California, even on chilly days, I periodically miss that version of iced coffee. There’s something about the experience—simple, sweet, and refreshing—that has stuck with me. When I return to Israel, you best believe one of the first things I’ll do is get an iced coffee.
