Dark Cuban espresso whipped with sugar into a foam, then let down with hot steamed milk and drunk at a walk-up window. Order a buchi if you want it neat and small.
Where to eat it: 6 restaurants across 2 cities.
The coffee window came over with the cigar workers and never left. Key West drinks it Cuban style: the sugar is beaten into the first drops of espresso to make the espumita, the sweet crema that sits on top, and the whole thing is served at a hatch onto the street rather than at a table. 5 Brothers Grocery pours it at Southard and Grinnell alongside the sandwich counter, Sandy's Cafe opens its White Street window at 05:00, and Cuban Coffee Queen has grown from one muralled window by the Bight into several sites plus its own roastery.
Common allergens: Dairy
Tip from the editors. Beat the espumita before the coffee cools. Once the first drops drop below about 60C the sugar will not whip pale and you get sweet coffee instead.
5 Brothers Grocery feeds Old Town Key West on corner-store prices, pressing Cuban mixes and frying bollos at Southard and Grinnell since 1978.
Try: Cuban mix, con leche and bollos
Tip: The Bench Crew of regulars holds court outside each morning; come before the 06:30 rush clears the pastry case.
Sandy's Cafe is Key West's cheapest good lunch, a laundromat window on White Street pressing Cuban mixes and pouring con leche from 05:00 every day.
Try: Cuban mix and cafe con leche
Tip: Order at the window, eat on the stools facing the street; the buchi shot is the fastest caffeine on the island.
Cuban Coffee Queen pairs pressed sandwiches with dollar-scale Cuban coffee at its Key West Bight window, breakfast and lunch for pocket change.
Try: Pressed Cuban sandwich and con leche
Tip: Five windows now operate across Key West, including a roastery at 6 Key Lime Square; the Margaret Street original keeps the mural queue.
La Teresita on Columbus Drive has run a Cuban counter and dining room in West Tampa since 1972, owned by the Capdevila family across two generations.
Order: Palomilla steak with yellow rice and black beans.
Tip: The counter side runs 6am to midnight Friday and Saturday; the dining room takes reservations next door.
La Segunda in Ybor City has baked Cuban bread daily since 1915, with 18,000-plus loaves a day and the palmetto frond baked into the top loaf for steam.
Worth the queue: Long Cuban bread with palmetto frond
Mauricio Faedo's Bakery on North Florida Avenue bakes Cuban bread, breakfast Cuban toast and deviled crabs daily, with the family running it since 1955.
Worth the queue: Daily-baked Cuban bread
More cities are in research. Want cafe con leche (cuban coffee with milk) covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.