Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a lover of coffee and you're looking for a place to shop, then you'll need to try out a coffee bean shop. These shops sell a range of whole beans from around the globe. They also sell unique trinkets and kitchenware.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Others offer coffee beans in bulk at their retail stores.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee seller who specialises in international brews loose teas and a selection.

When you enter this quaint West Village coffeee shop, the scent of freshly coffee beans fills your nostrils. The shelves are stacked with jars and bags of dark brown beans, with tea-making equipment, coffee accessories and sugar.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrants Patsy Albonese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increasing number of Italian immigrants who opened establishments to cater to their dietary requirements. Albanese named the shop after the popular Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a beverage that was so well-known in the present, that even the Pope would drink it.

Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from around the globe at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. The company roasts its own beans and provides wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current owner and president of the business was raised above his family's bakery on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He continues to run the business in the same fashion as his father did and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

Sey Coffee, a coffee roaster and shop is located along Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood in Brooklyn's Bushwick district is located on Grattan Street. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their co-founders of 33 years, began roasting coffee in a loft on the fourth floor just across the street in the year 2011. The name was Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin, and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.

Sey's commitment to buying micro-lots or whole harvests from single farmers has earned it the acclaim of New York City coffee enthusiasts. In 2011, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito-Santo region. The beans were carefully picked at peak ripeness, floated to get rid of any imperfections, then dry fermented for 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a coffee that has hints of the melon and berry.

Sey's focus on holistically improving the quality of life for growers, staff and customers extends beyond the walls of the shop. It uses biodegradable disposables and composts, keeping waste out of landfills and turning it into agents that reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, which puts the baristas in a position to provide their livelihoods as well as encourage them to concentrate on their craft.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They started with a small store and coffee bean shop a dedicated team. Their honest and innovative approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a devoted following not just in their own town but all over the world.

La Carba follows a strict method to select their best beans. They search through hundreds of varieties each year in order to find beans that meet their standards. They then roast them very light, adjusting the desired flavor profile. This results in an enhanced taste and clarity.

The East Village store opened last October with a sleek, minimalist design. It's been praised by international coffee lovers for its precise pour-overs and baked goods supervised by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.

The shop uses a La Marzocco modbar, coffee bean shop and the cups and plates are designed specifically for Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, a father and son studio. In a recent Q&A session with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different types of coffees each year, and typically has seven or eight different varieties available at any given moment.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit retailer of coffee which roasts on-site and brews to order, with each cup of coffee roasting and brewed according to your preferences in less than an hour. It scour the globe for the highest-quality specialty beans that are directly sourced providing customers with choices and high-quality.

Their on-site roaster is an automatic fluid bed machine that is distinct from the traditional drum machines that are used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown around in a heated box by high-velocity air that keeps the beans suspended and allows them to be roasted at a consistent rate as they move through the machine.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was delicious with a smooth mouthfeel, dark chocolate aromas were present and the coffee started to cool as you sip, subtle flavours of citrus fruit were detected.

The coffee is transported to the Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in less than a minute. Customers can select from nine single origins as well as a variety blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 behind a barbershop, using a single espresso machine. It has since grown to become a burgeoning roastery, with beans that are sold in top cafes and restaurants as well as home brewers in every city. Parlor is committed to sourcing top-quality beans from all over the world Each one is a long, arduous journey before reaching the roasters.

In their own words, they "have an unrelenting love of craft and believe that good coffee should be available to everyone." They do just this by putting their home-like street space, which includes compost bins, a chalkboard welcome handmade up-cycled items, and a minimally-decorated space.

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six on the menu when I was there) However, they also hold cuppings on Sundays, and are open to the public. Imagine it as the tasting room of a brewery. You can smell and taste the beans, ranging from chocolaty earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). It's a little off the beaten path but well worth the trip.