MIAGuide
The Best Miami Coffee Shops For Getting Work Done
The spots where you’ll actually be able to concentrate (and not have to wrestle someone for a power outlet).
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
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.
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Downtown’s All Day can get a little crowded, because they serve Miami’s best coffee as well as some really great breakfast and lunch food. But if you manage to get a seat at the counter or one of their little tables, this place is still calm enough to get some work done—even if the person next to you is making strange noises while inhaling their delicious French toast. Plus, the coffee here is outstanding. It'll give you plenty of reasons to keep drinking if you camp out for a couple of hours. Plan on ordering multiple rounds of their cold brew and rosemary limeade.
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 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.
Paolo Fontanot is an Italian bakery and cafe inside a residential building in Edgewater. They’ve got all the stuff you could want to nibble on while toiling away at a spreadsheet: solid paninis, salads, croissants, cookies, stuffed focaccia, and espresso. The layout is great for parties of one. Downstairs, there’s seating close to power outlets. Upstairs, there are small tables with enough room to install your own pop-up office as well as counter seating with a view of, well, a parking lot. But hey, at least you won’t be distracted.
Miam is a great safe haven for folks looking for some peace and quiet in Wynwood—and possibly a good sandwich too. The sunny French cafe is very relaxed, with wifi and seating perfect for small groups or working solo. They have plenty of coffee options ranging from cappuccino to cold brew and a solid menu of sandwiches, toast, bowls, and salads. This place is located inside an office building (the one that’s painted like a zebra) so most folks around you should be in work mode, as opposed to the rest of Wynwood, where most folks are in drink-and-be-loud mode.
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 answer emails. 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, quiet spot to take advantage of their very strong wifi.
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 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 inbox you’ve let go to hell.
This coffee shop is located on the first floor of a residential building (don’t mistake it for their other location inside The Citadel), so there’s always a steady flow of people grabbing coffee or a donut on their way out. 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 even 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.
House of Per’la in Coral Gables always serves an excellent coffee, but it’s also especially great for working because it’s always so quiet. Maybe it’s the low music or the fact that it’s so small, but there’s something about this place that makes people keep their decibel levels down. Per’la is not spacious, but there are a handful of solo seats along a counter that are exactly what you want for popping in your headphones and spending three hours desperately trying not to get distracted by that cat video your friend keeps sending you. Just know that this place closes at 3:30pm, so come early—or don’t and have a convenient excuse to stop working at 3:30pm.
If you want to work with coffee and have a meal that’s slightly more substantial than a croissant, try La Social. The pink cafe in the Upper East Side has a small dining room and some outdoor seating where you can order decent salads, toast, sandwiches, or an acai bowl. It feels slightly more like a restaurant than a coffee shop inside, but it’s still a place that’s totally acceptable to prop open a laptop and not speak to anyone but your server for two hours.
