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.
3 editor picks for Cafe con leche in Key West, ranked by editorial score. All Key West signature dishes · Cafe con leche across every city.
Also in: Tampa.
5 Brothers Grocery & Sandwich Shop ★ 4.7
old-town · 930 Southard Street, Key West, FL 33040
5 Brothers Grocery has pressed Cuban mixes and poured con leche at Southard and Grinnell in Key West since 1978, a family corner store with a bench crew.
Sandy's Cafe ★ 4.6
white-street · 1026 White St, Key West, FL 33040
Sandy's Cafe is the laundromat lunch counter of Key West, pressing Cuban mixes and pouring con leche at a White Street walk-up window from 05:00 daily.
Cuban Coffee Queen ★ 4.6
historic-seaport · 284 Margaret Street, Key West, FL 33040
Cuban Coffee Queen pulls con leches at a muralled walk-up window by the Key West Bight, the waterfront original of the island's Cuban coffee mini-chain.