MIAGuide
The Best Miami Coffee Shops For Getting Work Done
photo credit: Tasty Planet
Whether you work remotely, need a weekend to catch up on emails, or got banned from your coworking space after the staff discovered you’d been stealing the kitchen hot sauce for the last six months—sometimes you need a coffee shop where you can get some work done. But not every coffee shop is built for that. You need a place with strong wifi, a noise level that makes concentrating possible, and a staff that won’t throw you out if you don’t buy something every 45 minutes. These Miami cafes have all of the above.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Courtesy White Rose Coffee
White Rose Coffee is a tattoo parlor and a coffee shop. The empanadas come from Milly’s Empanada Factory and pair great with the lavender iced matcha latte. And the round tables make this an ideal spot for working in groups, or simply having intense conversations about which forearm you want to compromise with a large tattoo of an ouroboros. A strong cup of coffee and some cheesy tequeños can help you work up the courage to get said tattoo in the back. We should make clear you don’t have to get a tattoo when you come here, but you will almost certainly seem cooler if you do.
Magdalena is an Edgewater coffee shop on a side street just off Biscayne. And not only is the coffee excellent, but the wifi is strong and the atmosphere is very conducive to clearing your inbox. You’re coming here primarily to consume caffeine and relax, but there are some pastry options from the wonderful Caracas Bakery—croissants, danishes, and (if you get there early) cachitos. Also, on Fridays, they give out free flowers to customers while supplies last, which is just incredibly cute. This is the kind of neighborhood coffee shop that’s worth traveling to whether or not Edgewater is your neighborhood.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings
Suffering from a case of writer’s block? Maybe it’s just us. But if you’re ever in need of a little inspiration, The Cafe At Books & Books in Coral Gables is the best place to go. This restaurant and local bookstore feels alive with creative energy. And also food. Their very solid cafe serves soups, salads, and sandwiches with both indoor and outdoor seating. It’s a lovely spot to eat, read, or work while you attempt to absorb ideas through osmosis. Plus, people use their library voices around books, so you won’t get distracted.
There are six Panther Coffee locations around Miami, but there are only two we like for actually getting work done: the Little Haiti and Sunset Harbour locations. We like Little Haiti best, because it’s big and usually not too busy. Sunset Harbour can certainly get more crowded, but they’ve got a lot of seating—including a long communal table with plenty of power outlets in the center. The cold brew is strong enough to make you productive at either location, even if the person next to you is having a very loud conversation about a celebrity they went on a date with.
This coffee shop is located near Downtown (don’t mistake it for their other location inside The Citadel, or the one in a Brickell hotel lobby). If you find it hard to concentrate with a lot of motion and activity, maybe go somewhere else. But while this place can get a little crowded, one of the stools by the window will probably become available before your very good coffee is ready. Celebrate finding the perfect seat to finally file your very late expenses by getting one of those donuts or, if it’s too early for sugar, an empanada.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings
There’s nothing like a ham and cheese cachito to get you through the fourth Zoom call of the day. But this MiMo bakery has more than just pastries. They have some glorious sandwiches, like turkey and brie with sweet jam or a crispy broccoli and cheese sandwich for the vegetable-y (we made that word up) inclined. If you’re trying to get work done on the weekend, skip Caracas because a) it’s packed and b) why are you working on a weekend? But weekdays here are quiet. You can spread out on a banquette, sip your cappuccino, and let the smell of baking bread soothe you through all those measurable objectives.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings
If you're more into tea than coffee, try Ohla. This North Miami Beach spot lets you choose the exact percentage of sweetness for each drink, whether you want it topped with cheese foam (you do), and the boba choices are plentiful. This place makes one of our absolute favorite taro milk teas, if that's what you're into. And they have food too—a small but tasty menu of hot dogs, dumplings, and egg waffles with ice cream. It's quiet and a good coffee shop alternative to bring your laptop and get some work done.
Little River’s Imperial Moto sells motorcycle apparel—but if you’re not interested in souping-up your hog, it’s also a very solid spot to grab a coffee, an empanada, and outline that novel. There are some couches in the front of the space and a handful of tables. Thankfully, we’ve never seen this place get too crowded for us to find a comfortable spot to take advantage of their strong wifi.
photo credit: Cleveland Jennings
They say Newton developed the law of gravity while sitting under an apple tree. And although Coral Gables doesn't have a single apple tree (that we know of), it does have Cafe Demetrio—a historic building next to a giant banyan tree. It’s a breakfast and lunch spot where you can order a strong, chocolatey coffee that arrives with a cacao powder heart on top. Sit inside at one of many small wooden tables and enjoy a grilled chicken sandwich. Or relax outside under the shade of that banyan tree—where there’s a surprising amount of outlets—and wait for the brilliant idea that’ll get you a raise to fall out of the sky.
Novela is a Wynwood cafe that also calls itself a "co-working community"—which essentially just means they have tables good for working solo (or with a few friends) and solid wifi. This spot isn’t as cluttered and chaotic as most Wynwood cafes, so it’s one of the neighborhood’s better working options. The food isn’t really the reason to come here, so stick to coffee and pastries for snacking.
“Calm” and “secluded” are words that apply to Brickell about as well as “affordable” and “old-fashioned.” However, I Think She Is, a small coffee shop and cafe on the northern edge of Brickell, is actually both those things (at least by Brickell standards). The coffee shop is probably the neighborhood’s best option if you want to get work done in a relatively chill and comfortable space that’s not overflowing with business people having loud AirPod conversations. If you come early, there’s also an above-average chance of finding parking on SW 1st Ave just a block away, which is something we rarely get to say about Brickell establishments.
South Beach desperately needs more coffee shops where one can concentrate without having to wrestle with a family of tourists over the only seat near a power outlet. Bebito’s is just such a place. It’s in the lobby of a residential building slightly away from the always-busy Alton Road. But the best part is that there’s lots of seating, both downstairs and upstairs, where they have these set-ups that almost look like those VIP cabanas you can rent at a pool party. But instead of popping rosé, they’re ideal for cleaning up that spreadsheet you haven't touched in six months.
