Fair Trade Coffee Near FIU: A Coral Way Guide

Fair trade coffee near FIU is easier to find than most students expect. specialTEA sits in the Columbia Shopping Plaza on Coral Way, about 2 minutes from campus, and all of our coffee is USDA organic, fair trade certified, and locally roasted right here in Florida. We have been Miami's original tea lounge since 2009, so tea is still the heart of the place, but the coffee we pour gets the same attention as the 60+ loose leaf teas behind the counter.

If you have been buying your morning cup wherever the line is shortest, here is what is actually a short drive from campus and what to do with it once you get here.

Where to find fair trade coffee near FIU

We are at 10766 SW 24th St (Coral Way) in Miami, FL 33165, inside the Columbia Shopping Plaza in the Westchester neighborhood. Free parking sits in the plaza lot directly in front of our door, which matters more than it sounds like it should when you have twenty minutes between classes. From FIU it is roughly 2 minutes. From Coral Gables it is about 10, and from Kendall or Doral it is closer to 15.

Weekdays we open at 8:00 AM, which covers the early lab sections, and we are open until 11 PM six days a week, which covers everything else. Sunday we close earlier, so check the hours on our Visit page before a late Sunday session. If you would rather not wait at all, you can order ahead for pickup on Toast and grab it on your way through, or get delivery through Uber Eats and DoorDash.

What the coffee actually is, and what to order

Every coffee drink on the menu starts from the same beans: USDA organic, fair trade certified, locally roasted in Florida. That covers the espresso, the French press, and the cold brew, which we brew for 16+ hours before it ever reaches a cup. From there it branches into signature lattes, mochas, and the eye opener for mornings when the reading did not get done the night before.

A few honest recommendations. French press is the one to order if you want to taste the roast itself rather than milk and syrup. Cold brew is the workhorse for long afternoons because it stays drinkable for the two hours it takes you to finish it. Every drink can be made with organic soy, almond, or oat milk, so the plant based crowd does not get stuck with one option. You can see the full lineup on our menu, and if you want the longer explanation of what the certifications mean and why we went that route, we wrote that up separately in our guide to organic and fair trade coffee.

Not in a coffee mood? Chai, matcha, and boba

Plenty of people walk in for coffee and leave with something else entirely, which is a reasonable outcome at a tea lounge. Our Indian spiced chai comes as a hot pot or a spiced chai latte, and it is the drink we hand to people who want warmth and caffeine without the bitterness. Matcha lattes and London fog fill a similar spot. When the afternoon heat wins, the frozen side of the menu has the matcha freeze and the chilly vanilla chai.

Then there is the boba, which is what brings a good share of FIU students through the door in the first place. Classic tapioca pearls, popping pearls, and fruit jellies across over 10 flavors, including taro, thai tea, matcha, and honeydew, in milk teas, slushies, and cremes. Pickup boba works the same way the coffee does: order ahead on Toast, walk in, walk out. If you are settling in instead, build your own with any of the 60+ teas and see how far you can get from the standard bubble tea order.

Staying longer than one cup

Most people who come in for coffee near campus are not really here for the coffee alone. They need somewhere to sit. Our WiFi is free and high speed with no password and no time limits, which is the part students tend to care about most, and we go into the study logistics in more detail in our WiFi and study guide.

There is also a full library of board games and card games on the shelf, free to anyone sitting with a drink, plus a colorful outdoor patio when you want fresh air instead of fluorescent lighting. Between the games, the late hours, and a room that is not silent but is not loud either, it has quietly become a first date spot near FIU as much as a study spot. Grab a board game, order something neither of you has tried, and you have a plan that costs less effort than it looks like.

Come by whenever the campus coffee stops cutting it. Come for the tea, stay for the vibes, and know that the coffee in your cup was grown by people who got paid fairly for it. You can read more about where the beans and leaves come from on our story page, or just show up on Coral Way and let us pour you something.