The surface morphologies of microporous zincophosphate crystals obtained by the conventional hydro-thermal synthesis method and the reverse micelle method are compared. The particular zincophosphate under examination is of faujasite topology and is referred to as ZnPO-X (analogy to zeolite X). The crystal growth process is about an order of magnitude slower in the reverse micelle method, as compared to the hydrothermal method, The topologies of crystals prepared by both methods are similar and of octahedral shape, as expected for faujasitic structure. However, the surface of the hydrothermal crystals was found to have multiple layers and terraces, whereas the crystals obtained from the reverse micelle method were atomically smooth, except for a few triangular terraces/indentations. On the basis of the literature of microporous materials, the terraces are expected and arise because nucleation dynamics on the crystal surfaces is comparable to growth of terraces along the crystal surfaces. We propose that the striking surface structural difference of the reverse micelle grown crystals arises because the water layer surrounding the crystal lowers the supersaturation of the nutrient species and primarily serves as a reservoir of growth units.