Featured in the Coffee East & West exhibition are rare pieces from private collections from around the world, dozens of tools for making coffee, professional coffee machines for cafes, grinders, roasters, and home coffee machines in a variety of preparation methods, from the 18th century to the present day. 

An examination of the popular drink is seen through the lens of design as a cultural, material, religious, and economic phenomenon, featuring designers from more than 25 countries. Among the items displayed is a model of the world’s first espresso machine from 1884. One of the ceramic cups has mustache protection built-in.

Curator Yahel Shefer has spent close to a decade bringing this exhibit together.  The Eretz Israel nostalgia Includes hundreds of vessels for serving coffee from the best ceramic factories that operated in Israel in the last century. Among the items, David Ben-Gurion's coffee cup, the "President" coffee set created for the President's House and Israeli embassies abroad during the term of office of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.  One coffee grinder of the 1930s from the Czech Republic has a Star of David in its design.

Coffee began with kernels gathered from evergreen bushes in the Ethiopian highlands and spread throughout the world over the centuries. Informative texts are next to the images, art, and objects with fascinating explanations. Included in the photo essay is an image explaining Ethiopian coffee, myths, and culture. 

We learn as the passion for coffee grew, the Rabbinical Court in Prague warned Jews not to enter the coffee houses. With the invention of machines, time spent making coffee was reduced, and not only homebrew but even an Israel camping coffee set is shown. There over 60 strains of coffee. The first attempts to grow coffee in Israel were in 1935 by Isaac Gindel. However, with the high cost of picking and processing, the Israeli projects over the years were abandoned. 

There is a short video on entering and exiting the main exhibition rooms. While adults, especially coffee lovers, will find the exhibit worthwhile, children used to the new fast-paced museum exhibits, many not have the patience to enjoy, and savor the many aspects of Coffee: East & West. BJL was fortunate to join the Jerusalem Press Club on a private press tour as museum staff prepared the hundreds of pieces prior to opening day. 

The Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem was founded by Vera Bryce Salomons who dedicated the museum to her friend and teacher, the late Prof. Leo Arie Mayer, a renowned scholar of the archaeology and art of the Middle East, and a former rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prof. Mayer’s personal collection of Islamic art and archaeology became the core around which the museum’s permanent exhibition was developed.  

Coffee East and West is the first temporary exhibit to open in the Museum of Islamic Art after corona restrictions forced Israeli museums to close, and is to run from July 16, 2021, until December 2021. As of now, masks are mandatory for inside locations, and no food or drinks are allowed in the exhibition rooms. Coffee will have to be consumed at another time and place.