Cafe Demetrio

Cappuccino in a 1924 newspaper building

Cappuccino is not a menu footnote at Cafe Demetrio, it is the founding image. The cafe presents itself as the first coffee house in Coral Gables, opened in December 1997 by a husband and wife on the premises of the city's first newspaper, and its own story imagines a guest sitting with a steaming cup, playing chess, letting the afternoon run long. The model reaches back to the European coffee house, where poets, artists and working people held the same table for hours. The Infatuation named it in its 2026 coffee guide. The founder's own route was hands on: he started behind the bar as a barista and learned the craft one shot at a time.

Chess, a courtyard and a slow pace

The pace is unhurried and the building is part of the reason. The structure dates to 1924, once housed the city's first newspaper and is now recognised as a local landmark, with a courtyard tree well over a century old still shading the tables. Inside, the mood comes from classic decor, antiques and accumulated history; outside, it is terracotta umbrellas, a fountain, birds and light coming through the branches. The inspiration the cafe claims runs through Paris, Madrid and Rome, along with the chess culture of the nineteenth century salons, and the chess knight in its logo is not decorative. Playing a game here is an invitation the house extends rather than something you would be tolerated for. The result is a coffee house comfortable with being quiet, which among newer openings is its own kind of distinction.

Order the white chocolate latte, then breakfast

Start with the drinks the cafe is actually known for. Cappuccino belongs to the founding image, but the white chocolate latte is the one guests single out, served with a heart drawn in the foam and balanced towards sugar, cream and milk rather than towards a technical single origin cup. Take it as a composed espresso drink and it makes complete sense. For food, breakfast is the strongest part of the kitchen: blueberry pancakes, red velvet pancakes when they appear, an egg, ham and cheese croissant, and an English muffin filled with sausage, egg, tomato and onions. Any of those with a latte in the courtyard is the version of this place people come back for.