Fostering genuine human connections fuelled by bloody great coffee, Miami’s newest organic coffee specialist, That’s Whyld Coffee Roasters has sprung to life on Hillcrest Parade, just a hop, skip and jump from Miami Marketta. The venue is the handiwork of Rachel-May Follan, a self-described coffee fanatic and barista of 16 years, alongside her partner Tiago Sperb. Rachel’s long-standing love affair with coffee goes way back to when she first discovered single origins and different brewing techniques. Her quest and thirst to know everything about coffee, led her to understand the farming side as well as the all-important art of roasting, which she learnt from the ever-knowledgeable Ben from Profile Coffee Co-Lab. Helming the espresso machine by day and renting the space at night to experiment with her own creations, Whyld was officially born in 2021.
“It went from a bit of a passion project and a bit of a fun on the weekend to [thinking] we could actually make something serious about this,” Rachel says.
Fast forward a few years and several hundred kilos of coffee beans later and Rachel and Tiago have rolled up the doors to their very own organic micro-roastery and espresso bar. The former baby-pink eyelash studio (which also lived a past life as a mechanic, a paint shed and even a surfboard shaper) has been transformed with a lick of earthy-green paint. “We’re storytellers. We like somewhere with a lot of character and we wanted to be able to add our own character to places. So when we walked in here and we saw the floors that have hundreds of paint drops on them and hundreds of different little stories to go along with that, we really liked it,” Rachel says of the industrial space they now call home.
There’s a scattering of cushion-topped milk crates out the front as well as a cosy courtyard out the back, but the rest of the 60-sqm space is mostly filled with Big Shaz, the venue’s 12-kg Probat bean roaster, a cupping station and bags of organic green beans from around the world including Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and Papua New Guinea, to name a few.
“Our primary goal is coffee education,” Rachel tells us excitedly, revealing plans for monthly cupping sessions, barista training sessions and latte art smackdowns. In terms of the coffee, That’s Whyld Coffee Roasters offers a whole range of sips, from espresso to batch brews, cold-brew towers and everything in between. Although Rachel and Tiago are passionate about coffee, there’s no snobbery here. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“I just want to offer a safe place for people to come and somewhere that they can feel completely comfortable to be in. And if you want to just enjoy a flat white, then you’re welcome to just enjoy a flat white. But if you want to go deeper into it, then we will go deeper into it. That’s the goal.”
That’s Whyld Coffee Roasters is now open in Miami! Hot tip, they’re closed this weekend for a family event but otherwise you’ll find them slinging brews from Wednesday to Sunday. Head to our Stumble Guide for opening times.
