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barista magazine
with amazing food, La Caretta boasts several locations all over Miami,
so no matter where you're staying, you'll be able to fi nd one close to you.
Heck, even Miami International Airport has multiple locations, and every
one is delicious.
It gets harder and harder to leave Miami every time I'm there. When I'd
visit years ago, I could pull myself away from the sun with the promise
of great coffee comfortably located on pretty much every corner of my
neighborhoods in Chicago, San Francisco, or Brooklyn.
Now it's become easy to fi nd quality, hand-crafted coffee in my hometown.
Still, while I'm grateful for the growth of specialty coffee in Miami, I
fi nd myself craving the simple experience of going up to the ventanita,
ordering my coffee, and enjoying a sickly sweet espresso as I stare at what
feels like every Tom, Dick, and Jane (or to be more accurate, every Alexis,
Luis, and Jacqueline, some of the most popular baby names in Cuba this
year) pass me by in the warm, humidity-soaked air. To some, that might
sound awful. But for me, this experience is a part of who I am.
Coffee isn't a drink in Miami—it's an experience, a rite of passage, the
only way you know what's happening in your neighborhood. So stroll up to
the window, take an elbow, and refrain from asking for your espresso sin
azucar; we know you'll want to, but that's not the point. Listen in on a con-
versation, take a bite of your pastelito, and feel it. The sun. The culture. The
sudden jolt you'll get from the caffeine and the sugar. And when your server
asks, "¿Esta bien?" (Is everything good?) you can just say, "Perfecto."
MIAMI COFFEE CITY GUIDE
Panther Coffee: multiple locations; www.panthercoffee.com
All Day: 1035 N. Miami Ave.; www.alldaymia.com
Salty Donut: 50 NW 23rd St. #112; www.saltydonut.com
Blue Bottle: multiple locations; www.bluebottlecoffee.com
Vice City: 1657 N. Miami Ave. Unit C; www.vicecitybean.com
Zak the Baker: 295 NW 26th St; www.zakthebaker.com
Eternity Coffee Roasters: 117 SE 2nd Ave.;
www.eternitycoffeeroasters.com
Alaska Coffee Roasting: 13130 Biscayne Blvd.;
www.acrmiami.com
Macondo Coffee Roasters: 2494 NW 89th Pl;
www.macondocoffee.com
PerLa Specialty Roasters: 4657 SW 71st Ave.;
www.drinkperla.com
Relentless Coffee Roasters: 11965 SW 142nd Terr., #109;
www.relentlessroasters.com
Versailles Restaurant: 3501 SW 8th St.;
www.versaillesrestaurant.com
La Caretta: multiple locations; www.lacaretta.com
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
PANTHER
COFFEE
Panther Coff ee's fourth location is in the MiMo neighborhood of Miami,
just north of the Design District. In MiMo, you'll see hundreds of beautifully
preserved Art Deco buildings and old hotels with amazing neon signs.