Photo by Clarissa Buch
Audio By Carbonatix
Next to Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach, find the charming new coffee shop the Alchemist. Tucked inside a complex of unassuming houses on West Dixie Highway, the quiet retreat sits inside a barn-like structure, where it serves fresh-baked Belgian waffles and churns out 24-hour cold brew.
The space, which opened in February, is strikingly similar to the Alchemist’s flagship in Broward’s Wilton Manors.
Walking toward the entrance, you’re greeted by a garden patio lined with trees and filled with intimate tables and large wooden banks. Inside, a coffee bar packed with laboratory-like flasks and beakers hold various teas and coffees. The baristas tending the bar are called “coffee scientists.”
In an adjacent room to the left, a large communal seating area is filled with used books and magazines. It’s a place for guests to sit back and relax or get some work done using the shop’s complimentary Wi-Fi.
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Back at the coffee bar, you’ll spot a syphon, a contraption used to brew coffee in-house. For the cold brew, beans are roasted onsite and cold-steeped for 24 hours. Then the coffee is mixed with brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk for a rich, creamy flavor and poured into a giant glass dispenser where it infuses further. Order one for yourself, and a barista will hand-shake the brew using a cocktail shaker and pour it over fist-size ice cubes inside a Mason jar.
Photo by Clarissa Buch
The lab also whips up espressos, lattes, macchiatos, and hot chocolate, along with hot and cold herbal teas ($3 to $5). For something more experimental, try the Bulletproof, a unique blend of coffee, coconut oil, and ghee (a clarified butter used in traditional medicines).
But there’s more to the Alchemist than coffee. The café’s signature menu item is a slicer — an open-faced sandwich on Tuscan bread ($7.99). The varieties range from savory to sweet, including turkey and Swiss, smoked salmon, melted Brie, caprese, and Nutella. There’s also an all-day brunch menu offering croissant sandwiches, a breakfast platter, and a waffle of the day ($5.95 and up), plus a selection of small pizzas and stuffed focaccias.
The Alchemist. 17830 W. Dixie Hwy., North Miami Beach; 786-916-3560; thealchemist.cafe. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
