A native Colombian, Debbie Rabinovici, has loved coffee all of her life. But, it wasn’t until she moved to New York and found herself in shops like Blue Bottle and Stumptown that she became exposed to a coffee lover’s ultimate fantasy: the so-called “third wave” of coffee, the culmination of lightly roasted, high quality beans with a fantastic aroma and taste. Debbie worked as a barista for two years until she decided that she was ready to bring her passion to her hometown of Miami. Debbie now brews Panther Coffee and Counter Culture Coffee at her Coral Gables shop Café Curuba.
And now, as a MIAbites guest contributor, Debbie shares with us her passion for specialty coffee and her commitment to always offering the best experience.
Miami is still a city very much new to the “third wave coffee” game, so as the owner of specialty coffee shop, I spend a lot of time talking to people about what makes the third-wave a little different from your usual cup o’ Joe. What we know as coffee is actually the roasted seed of a cherry-like fruit. Pictured above is my hand holding one of these "cherries" in the Tolima region of Colombia.
One of the most misunderstood topics of conversation is espresso, which ironically, is also the top selling item at my shop. Espresso is a very popular drink in Miami, thanks in great part to the Cuban colada, a long espresso often brewed with pre-ground Café Bustelo and several teaspoons of sugar. It is a drink very much loved in this city, but it is also the antithesis of espressos pulled at specialty coffee shops around the world such as Café Curuba. I’ve thus found that espresso in Miami is a topic that people seem to have very strong opinions about, especially in the mornings, before they’ve had their first dose of caffeine. So I figured that in my first entry for MIAbites, I’d give a brief introduction to this mystical drink.
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