Posts Tagged ‘Lofty Latte’

I really want to love this place; from the attractive setting in the heart of Miami Beach to the two level “loft” feel, it has all the right elements to be a great cafe. However, whereas Luna Cafe had a problem with atmosphere, Lofty Latte lacks in the quality of coffee.

To be brutally honest, I see this place closing within a year or two, I’ve seen this happen more then once with new start-up cafes. Its right in Miami Beach, subsequently the rent can’t be that cheap. Combined with the fact they’ve done everything they could to make the place look like a professional (Starbucks) cafe, complete with custom cups, menus, and twin La Cimbali super automatics. Their website does seem to be more store oriented selling coffee related items, so perhaps that revenue combined with the cafe will keep this operation afloat. In any case the coffee leaves much to be desired.

Where to start. I ordered a cappuccino to accompany my meal and sat in the second level overlooking the cafe. My first observation was how empty the cafe was. Granted, it was a Tuesday night, but after a while I was the only one left at around 7:00pm, later some other customers arrived however I don’t see how they can make any money with the hours they’re currently open. When my cappuccino arrived, it was in a “to go” paper cup instead of a ceramic, even though I explicitly told them I would be dining in. Upon opening the lid, the foam was too light, and had the visible consistency of dish soap bubbles, no microfoam to speak of. The ratio of milk to espresso was way to high, more on the lines of a cafe latte rather than a cappuccino, in fact it felt like I was drinking hot milk with coffee flavor. The size was also annoying; a small entailed a 12oz cup, filled to the brim with only a half inch of poorly developed foam. The temperature was constant however, although I would contend the cappuccino I had previously at Luna Cafe was far better. This was more reminiscent of something I’d get at Starbucks.

So far things are not looking good for coffee in Miami, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting much to begin with. As far as I can tell, this place along with Out of the Blue, are the only two late night cafes that really peaked my interest. If worse comes to worse I guess I could stop by the Segafredo cafe, although I’m almost positive that would be a disappointment. Perhaps I should abandon my search for good coffee and re-direct my efforts towards sushi.