Vice City Bean

Small-batch Miami roasting sits behind the counter at Vice City Bean, where espresso drinks and a shelf of house coffees do most of the talking.

A specialty roaster with its own retail shelf

Vice City Bean started in 2016, set up by a roaster who had moved to South Florida from Los Angeles, and its language has stayed direct: “Miami’s Coffee Destination”, “Really Good Coffees”, locally roasted and small-batch, brewed for the city it serves. The retail shelf shows the focus. House coffees have included Midtown Espresso, Daybreak Blend, Buenas Tardes Decaf, Ramirez Estate, Mehbuba Seid, El Mirador Pink Bourbon Natural and Yemen Sharqi Haraz Anaerobic Natural, which covers an espresso blend, a day-to-day blend, a decaf, single-origin lots, a Pink Bourbon and an anaerobic natural from Yemen. The roasting runs classically clean washed coffees alongside funkier experimental processes, so the shelf usually holds both a comfortable cup and a strange one.

A Miami coffee run with counter service

This branch works as a neighbourhood café inside a roaster-retailer model, in the Edgewater and Wynwood corridor where a coffee run fits the ordinary shape of a day rather than a special occasion. It is not a one-off: by 2025 the company had grown into a small Miami group, with cafés in the Wynwood area, at The Citadel in Little River and in Brickell, plus a further expansion planned in North Miami. The Brickell room reads as a sleek, modern coffee bar that also puts roasters from around the country on drip and espresso, which reinforces the coffee-first identity across the branches.

Start with the latte, then take the empanadas seriously

For a first order, the latte, cappuccino and tea latte are the clearest named drinks. The latte puts the espresso service front and centre, the cappuccino is the other classic, and the tea latte is there when coffee is not the point. Beans to take home are the second half of the order, since the house roasts what it pours.

Food is narrower but worth noting. Empanadas are the named savoury item and the main thing to eat here, which makes them more than an afterthought beside the coffee. Pastry and kitchen work are not what this house is built on, so read the food as a light café companion rather than a menu to plan around. The practical draw is Miami-roasted coffee, named beans to carry away, classic counter espresso drinks and an empanada to go with them.