Emissary didn't start with a business plan. It started with a belief in creating a timeless space, for everyone, that feels connected to the community and rooted in quality — a place to connect or disconnect, free of hype or pretension.
Elias Hengst opened his first café in Washington, D.C. more than a decade ago. Emissary Coconut Grove is its Miami evolution — and its truest expression. In a city often defined by hype and transient glamour, a commitment to quality, authenticity, and community is meaningful and resonates.
We seek to create welcoming gathering places for people to connect in a meaningful way — with friends, family, and community — in a setting that is design-forward but timeless.
We're into old school service, the highest quality ingredients, and places people can genuinely call their own: conceived for their community, quality-driven, and defined by authenticity and kindness.
Our mission, through every cup of coffee, every plate, every glass of wine: to create gathering places that connect and nourish — and become woven into the fabric of daily life. Not a destination you visit, but a place you belong to.
What we believeWe seek to create welcoming, authentic, analog gathering places for people to connect — with friends, family, and community — in a setting that is design-forward but timeless. We're into old school service, the highest quality ingredients, and places people can genuinely call their own.
Coconut Grove made sense immediately. A neighborhood with real roots, real residents, real community — not a destination built for tourists but a place people actually live. The space at 3308 Mary Street was designed to reflect both the neighborhood and Miami itself.
Floor-to-ceiling glass fills the space with natural light and connects the interior to Miami's tropical foliage. Carrara marble, warm oak, walnut, steel, and chrome sit alongside exposed I-beams and poured concrete — timeless materials in a distinctly contemporary Miami setting. In its first year, Emissary quickly established itself as both a neighborhood gathering place and a citywide coffee destination.
The founderElias grew up in the hospitality business and has spent his career building and operating quality-driven neighborhood gathering places.
His father, Wolf Hengst, immigrated from Germany and rose to become President and COO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and later Chairman of Six Senses. His mother, Ani-Tenzin Lhamo, is a psychotherapist and ordained Tibetan-Buddhist nun who imbued the family with intellectual curiosity, compassion, and a deep commitment to service.
After Middlebury College and a Master's in Foreign Service at Georgetown, Elias opened his first multi-million dollar restaurant operations in D.C. while still a graduate student. He's been building ever since.