If you’re cruising through Miami and need a quick energy boost, a pit-stop at Vicky Bakery to grab a colada should be on your radar. The coffee, a Cuban delicacy, is served in a four-ounce Styrofoam cup with thimble-sized plastic cups for sharing.
It’s known for its espumita, or its sweet, creamy froth, and potent caffeine content—enough to make your heart flutter with a single shot. Although Vicky’s has morphed into a chain with more than 20 bakeries throughout South Florida, mom and pop shops in Hialeah remain the best spots to taste Cubans’ holy grail.
Here’s a list of five bakeries in Hialeah where you can snag a colada!
Café Real Bakery
2410 E. Eighth Ave.
Hialeah
(786) 536-6315
Monday – Friday: 5 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Sunday: 6:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Café Real Bakery is a quaint shop with a view of LeJeune Road, Navarro Discount Pharmacy and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts. It couldn’t be simpler—two tables with four black chairs and a counter with four wooden stools—but they make a sweet colada, literally, for only $1.85.
It’s made with Café Bustelo beans, which have a bold, acidic flavor profile that lingers long after your last sip. They also offer homemade pan con bistec—Cuban bread with thin steak—pizza, spaghetti and cakes. The store’s manager, Rachel Reuolta, says almost everyone who comes in asks for a colada—including the employees.
“We ourselves are addicted to coffee,” Reuolta said. “We make it three, four, five times a day.”
Los Tres Conejitos Bakery
1912 W. 60th St.
Hialeah
(305) 821-5740
Monday – Friday: 5 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday: 5 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday: 6 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Los Tres Conejitos Bakery (The Three Bunnies Bakery) is a small shop nestled between Price Choice Supermarket and a beauty salon in West Hialeah. It features the classic Miami ventanita, a small window offering fast-food service, granting the perfect opportunity for some coffee and conversation with strangers passing by.
Their coladas are made with San Martín Coffee and are sold for $1.50. They’re sweet, but not overpowering, and have rich espumita. The store also offers homemade merenguitos (meringue kisses), pan con lechon (bread with pulled pork) and kekes (honey cookies).
“I love them,” said Yadeline Bergolla, a server. “When I’m at my house on my days off, I come to drink coffee here.”
Finalé Bakery
1738 W. 68th St.
Hialeah
(305) 822-0088
Monday – Sunday: Open 24 hours
As you pull into the parking lot of Finalé Bakery in West Hialeah, you’re greeted by the shop’s interior orange wall sprawling with Cuban sayings like “Si la belleza fuera pecado, usted jamás iría al cielo” (if beauty were a sin, you’d never go to heaven) and “Eres tan dulce que solo con mirarte engordo” (you’re so sweet that I gain weight just by looking at you).
Their coladas are made with Café La Llave, which is known for being slightly softer than competing Cuban coffee brands, and has rich foam. They’re sold at $2 and served in plastic containers with a small opening on the cap—good for sipping and minimizing sticky fingers. Even at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday, Finalé Bakery draws in customers craving a caffeine jolt.
Warren Clark moved to Hialeah from Scranton, Pennsylvania, 48 years ago and has been coming to Finalé Bakery for more than a decade. He consumes their coladas religiously—one in the morning and one at night, every day of the week.
“It’s made perfectly,” Clark said.
La Nueva Fé Bakery
2975 W. 4th Ave.
Hialeah
(305) 863-1939
Monday – Friday: 4 a.m. – 9 p.m.
La Nueva Fé Bakery (New Faith Bakery) sits on the corner of 30th Street and Fourth Avenue—a busy intersection in Hialeah—with windows featuring elaborately decorated cakes that’ll have you contemplating your next birthday dessert. Their coladas, which sell for $2.14, are brewed with Café Pilon, giving their drink a smokey, potent coffee taste and thick espumita that lasts several pours. Items like pan con croqueta (croquette sandwich), eclairs and dulce de leche cortada, a dessert made with curdled milk, are also a big hit.
Silvia Leyva, who has been working at the shop for 19 years, says a funeral home nearby is a big part of their clientele, bringing in between 15 to 30 customers daily, some of whom come with thermos. Leyva, originally from Nicaragua, confessed working at Nueva Fé Bakery has her hooked on Cuban coffee.
“Despite the fact that I’m Nicaraguan, that colada is an everyday thing, so when I go to my country, I think I’m going to bring a machine to make that coffee,” Leyva said.
Tres Monitos Bakery
5374 W. 12th Ave.
Hialeah
(305) 556-1321
Monday – Saturday: 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Despite being a Colombian bakery and restaurant, Tres Monitos Bakery (Three Monkeys Bakery) is so conscious of its Cuban clientele in Hialeah that they offer coladas. Although they have little espumita, their coladas, which are made with Café La Llave and sell for $2.25, are as sweet and strong as the cafecito from any Cuban bakery.
The shop also sells pastelitos (Cuban pastries) and Colombian staples, such as pandebono (cheese bread) and bandeja paisa (a paisa platter) featuring foods like chorizo, steak and a fried egg.
“They’re good because they’re made with love,” said store manager Dario Giraldo, whose uncle founded the shop in 1978. At the time, their biggest rival was Vicky Bakery in East Hialeah.
