On Miami's Coffee Culture

+ the best things I’ve eaten lately in NYC

A little while ago, I was out somewhere in NYC when someone asked me where I was from. After replying, they immediately gave me a look of both surprise and distaste. “I just got back from a trip to Miami and all the coffee was shit. I missed New York so much.” This interaction revealed to me the ways many Miami outsiders view coffee: it's not real unless the customer experience is packaged in a particular and familiar way.

I know visiting Miami can be difficult if you don’t know anyone or have never been — but one thing Miami does do right is cafecito.

I can write endlessly about Miami’s Cuban coffee culture. Cuban coffee windows, known as ventanitas, populate most (if not all) street corners across the city, and serve Cuban cafecito. The preparation of Cuban coffee is what makes it special. A few drops from the first pull of dark roast espresso is combined with a generous amount of sugar and whipped into oblivion — cue the familiar taca-taca-taca of the metal spoon— until a thick cream is formed which is known as espuma. The coffee is mixed with espuma and served in a variety of ways.

A ventanita in Miami is a cultural experience as much as it is a culinary one. Sweaty and hot, there’s usually a thin crowd of old Hispanic people sipping coffee or chatting shit at a table or counter. There’s a water cooler with little cone-shaped cups and the musky, comforting aroma of cigarette smoke mingles with espresso in the air. You can buy pastelitos, cigars, cigarettes, and the occasional lotto ticket alongside fresh guarapo (sugarcane) or just-squeezed orange juice. There’s a hum from the sound of passing cars and music that underscores loud conversations shared over sips of coffee.

Each spot has its own thing. Mary’s Coin Laundry is open 24 hours (and it’s a laundromat). The one at the Walmart in Hialeah is, well, at a Walmart, and also churns out delicious guarapo (thats grown in a field nearby). You get the idea. This video from the Infatuation Miami team encapsulates a few notable ones. My recent video covers more modern iterations of the ventanita.

The long story short: in a car dependent city, ventanitas provide community. For a place that outsiders typically associate with plastic surgery and the Alix Earle’s of the world, there are pockets of community hidden in strip malls and cafeterias.

In Brooklyn, the closest I get to recreating this feeling is going to my favorite bodega— but they never serve espresso. Actually, bodegas were first established and brought over by Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican immigrants in the 1900s. I’m reminded of this hilariously out of touch video where a girl complains about the amount of men “lurking” around New York. Sitting on plastic chairs, chatting shit, and playing loud music might be in the blood of Cubans, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans everywhere.

I’m also reminded of Xochtil Gonzalez’s article about the connection between noise ‘pollution’ and gentrification. Ventanitas and bodegas alike are usually LOUD places, whether it’s music, passionate conversation, or the dramatic crack of a domino being placed. This noise, an unapologetic expression of culture, makes outsiders uncomfortable. Many visitors may miss out on the magical experience that is Cuban coffee and/or a bodega sandwich. Maybe that’s for the better. Like Fabio Parasecoli states in his book Gastronativism, “Political controversies about food are rarely about food.” In this case, culture, gentrification, and tradition, perhaps.

I will always have a lot to say about Miami’s coffee culture. This is without having gone into the differences between a cortadito and a cafe con leche, why evaporated milk and butter are so often put in coffee, and the art of dipping buttered bread into dark espresso. But that’s a story for another time.

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Here’s what I’ve been up to the last week or so in Brooklyn:

EATING:

I finally went to Cholita, an Ecuadorian coffee shop in Ridgewood Queens, and got their “Cocada” (a latte with coconut and condensed milk). Sweet, creamy, balanced. If there’s a drink with condensed milk in it, I’m an immediate fan.

I had a STELLAR morning at Dolly’s Coffee Shop in Bedstuy. Munched on a sandwich with scallion cream cheese, scrambled eggs, an ENTIRE hashbrown, and veggies followed by an XL honey bun that was the size of my face.

We (me and roommate) hosted a potluck in my apartment on Monday and I was reminded of how FUN it is to host. I made 5 pounds of fries out of Japanese sweet potatoes. Favorite eats included a ginormous tiramisu made by a talented baker friend and some of the best roasted chicken of my life, made by my roommate.

READING:

I finished reading Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabbathin Ali and Gastronativism by Fabio Parasecoli on the same train ride. Both of these books, while incredibly different, will be reread over and over for the next year of my life.

DOING:

Published a lovely little piece on matcha obsession for Everyday Drinking. I had fun with this one, and I’m pumped to be regularly writing again. Working on some new stuff so make sure you subscribe here and to Everyday Drinking!

Attended a coffee cupping hosted by Coffee Project in Long Island City. This cupping was a little different from others I’ve been to—might have to write about the experience for you all.

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Next week you can expect a list of my favorite coffee-related kitchen products for the summer and/or NYC coffee shops based on how I’m feeling. I’m not enabling paid only content yet while I test out different topics and formats. But please consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting my writing.

Let me know what you think in the comments!