Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're an avid coffee drinker, you must visit a coffee shop. They offer a wide selection of whole beans from all over the world. These stores also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other products.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions for their coffee beans. Others offer large quantities of coffee beans at their retail locations.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee retailer specializing international brews as well as a range of loose teas

The scent of freshly roasted beans fills the air as you enter this West Village shop. The shelves are stacked with jars and sacks filled with dark brown beans, along with coffee-making equipment, tea accessories, and sugar.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrant Patsy Albonese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing an influx of Italian immigrants, who set up businesses in order to meet their food needs. Albanese named the shop after the popular Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so renowned in the present, that even the Pope would drink it.

Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, including beans from all over the world, at three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market, and online. Porto Rico roasts their own beans and provides wholesale distribution for 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current owner and president of the company was raised above his family's bakery on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. The owner continues to run the shop in the same manner as his grandfather and father.

Sey Coffee

The shop is located along Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both a roaster and coffee shop. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33, started roasting in a fourth-floor loft located across the street at their new location in 2011 under the name Lofted Coffee (with local clients including Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart service Peddler).

Sey's preference for micro-lots or even whole harvests from single farmers--has earned it the respect of knowledgeable New York City coffee aficionados. The last time Sey was in the market, he purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai, a Brazilian coffee from the Espirito-Santo region. The beans were handpicked at peak ripeness and floated to eliminate any defects and dried fermented for 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a cup that has hints of berry and melon.

Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall well-being of employees and growers as well as customers. It uses composts and biodegradable disposables in order to ensure that waste is kept out of landfills. This helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also nourish the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, a move that places baristas in the position to sustain their livelihoods and motivate them to focus on their art.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was established in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. It began with a tiny store and a dedicated staff. Their honesty and ingenuity to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned their acclaim not just in their hometown but all over the world.

La Carba follows a strict procedure to find their perfect beans. They go through hundreds of varieties each year in order to select the beans that best fit their ideals. They Fresh Barista Blend Coffee: Arabica & Robusta Roast them in a light style, dialing them in to achieve their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees clearer and more vibrant taste.

The East Village store, which opened in the month of October last year and has been praised by critics for its excellent pour overs as well as its baked goods that are overseen by Jared Sexton. He previously worked at Bien Cuit, Dominique Ansel and various coffee houses.

The shop utilizes the La Marzocco Modbar as well as the cups, plates and bowls are made by Wurtz ceramics, a father-and-son studio in Horsens. In a recent interview, Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees every day and usually has seven or eight different varieties available at any time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit retailer of coffee that roasts on site and brews according to your preferences, with each cup of coffee roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than minutes. It searches the world wide for the highest-grade, directly Ethically Sourced 1kg House Blend Coffee Beans specialty beans that provide customers with a choice and quality.

Their on-site roaster utilizes fluid bed technology that is a bit different to the drum-type machines that are commonly used in most UK coffee houses. The beans are blown around an enclosed box heated by high-speed air, which keeps the beans suspended and allows roasting to happen in a steady manner when they pass through the machine.

I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was velvety and rich with a smooth taste. Dark chocolate was evident from the aroma, and as you sip the coffee you could taste subtle citrus fruit aromas.

The roasted coffee is then transported to the Eversys super-automatic brewing machines and you can have your coffee brewed to your specifications in just a few minutes. Customers can pick from nine single origins and several blends.

Parlor Coffee

In 2012, the company was established in the back of a barbershop, complete with a single-group espresso machine, Parlor 1kg Coffee Masters Triple Certified Arabica Beans - Award Winning Flavor has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans are found at great cafes, restaurants and home brewers all over the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to finding the finest quality beans, which have all undergone a long journey before they reach its roasters.

The owners, who are self-described as "passionate about coffee and believe that good coffee should be available to everyone," have created a environment that is simple with chalkboards, compost bins and up-cycled products, and minimal decor.

They roast and make their own blends and single-origins (there were six when I was there), but they also do cuppings Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as an artisanal tasting room in which you can smell and taste the ground beans, from chocolaty to earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). It's a little away from the main roads, but well worth the trip.