Doing Work Coffee Shop & Roaster

By morning it's a coffee shop. By afternoon it's an ice cream shop. Doing Work shares its tiny Duval Street footprint in Key West with Wicked Lick Ice Cream, swapping roles around midday, and the schedule is part of how the operation makes the math work in a tourist-heavy town. Owner Daniel roasts in-house, and the headline bean is a rum-barrel-aged Peruvian that he prepares in a French press at the counter. Order that one. The Papua New Guinea single-origin is the second pour to ask about. The chai is steady. A rum-barrel-infused americano takes the same Peruvian and routes it through espresso, which is the order for anyone who wants the flavor without the wait. Blueberry scones round out the small food side, and the espresso drinks pull cleanly. The shop is easy to miss from the street if you're not looking for it, since the storefront stays modest and the signage doesn't shout. Inside there are a couple of sofas, a few tables, and a small railing area with chairs outside on the sidewalk. The vibe shifts as the day rolls forward. Coffee shop in the morning. Ice cream shop in the afternoon. The morning is the window for a sit-down coffee chat with Daniel if he's around, and that conversation is part of what regulars come for. Paper cups only. Compostable. Wifi works and there are outlets, which makes the shop a reasonable Key West remote-work option if you can grab a seat before the ice cream crowd starts cycling through. Travelers stop in once because someone told them to. Some of them come back two days later for another French press, and a few end up ordering the rum-barrel Peruvian to ship home. That's the test of the operation. The owner-led conversation does as much of the work as the coffee does, which is the way a small shop like this is supposed to function in the first place.