Verified in 2 cities.
Cafe con leche is a signature dish of United States; we have verified places to eat it in Key West and Tampa. Dark Cuban espresso whipped with sugar into a foam, then let down with hot steamed milk and drunk at a walk-up window.
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.
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.
Where to eat in Key West:
Where to eat Cafe con leche in Key West: the editor picks
Cuban espresso shot pulled with sugar (the cafecito), then pulled long with hot steamed milk. Tampa's morning ritual on every Cuban counter from West.
Cafe con leche arrived with Cuban immigrants to Tampa in the 1880s and has run on every Cuban counter in the city since. The Cuban method (the cafecito): pull espresso through a stovetop moka pot, dump the first dark shot over sugar in a cup, beat with a spoon until pale brown and frothy (espumita), then top with the rest. Cafe con leche extends this with steamed milk. La Teresita on Columbus Drive has poured cafecito since 1972; Versailles in Miami serves the same. Tampa's daily Cuban coffee culture is the longest-running unbroken food tradition in the city.
Where to eat in Tampa:
Where to eat Cafe con Leche (Cuban coffee with milk) in Tampa: the editor picks
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