When Miami’s coffee culture began to boom, present-day coffee aficionados were still watching cartoons while their parents drank Folgers.

If you check out a Miami Vice episode, and not only will you discover what men look like without steroids, you’ll also see a whole lot of cafeteria action.

Like many things in Miami (nepotism, inability to locate one’s turn signal, papas rellenas, chongas and Medicare fraud), the city’s vibrant coffee culture is often attributed to Cuban influence.

And like most things in Miami, it only thrives because the general population wholeheartedly embraces the custom. Live in Miami for more than a few months, and you too will drink-up your diabetes and high blood pressure in a thimble sized cup. (And don’t be surprised if you give your husband’s cousin, Roy, the company plumbing job a few months later).

You won’t find any faux italian cup sizes, 1000 calorie lattes, Splenda or insane prices at Miami’s cafeterias, just coladas, cafecitos, cortaditos and cafe con leche with a good dose of cane sugar.

Most Miami cafeterias also offer walk-up windows, which resonate with me for many reasons. They assume people are on foot, not in their cars. They promote loitering, political discussions and a lot of compliments on my dog.

I have never seen a walk-up coffee window anywhere else in Latin America. So, I’m claiming them as uniquely Miamian. Don’t forget to order you Christmas piglet, if you go.

*Blue Bottle, you chose Brooklyn and Tokyo over us?