Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a lover of coffee then you'll want to try out a coffee bean shop. They offer a wide selection of whole beans from all across the globe. They also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other items.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions for their coffee beans. Some shops sell coffee beans in bulk.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee shop that specializes in international brews, as well as a variety of loose teas

When you enter this traditional West Village shop, the smell of fresh roasting beans fills your nostrils. The sacks of dark brown beans are displayed on the shelves alongside sugar jars coffee-making equipment, tea and other accessories.

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 established establishments to cater to their dietary needs. Albanese named her shop after the famous Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - a beverage so famous at the time that even the Pope drank it.

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

Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the business was raised over his family's bakery located on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He still runs the shop in a similar way to his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

Sey Coffee, a coffee roaster and shop is located on Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This Brooklyn neighborhood, in the Bushwick district is located on Grattan Street. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 began roasting in a fourth-floor loft across the street from their new shop 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. Last year they made a 6-bag micro-lot purchase of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai 785 from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were harvested when they were ripe and floated to remove any defects. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a blend with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.

Sey's commitment extends beyond its shop to improve the overall wellbeing of staff and growers, as well as its customers. It utilizes biodegradable disposables as well as composts, keeping waste out of the landfill and converting it into substances that reduce harmful greenhouse gases as well as nourish soil. It also prevents gratuities. This allows baristas to focus on their craft and help sustain their livelihoods.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. It started with a small shop and a team of dedicated employees. Their honesty and ingenuity to providing an exceptional coffee experience earned them a following that was not only in their hometown but also around the world.

La Carba has a rigorous process for finding their perfect beans, scouring through hundreds of different lots each year to identify the ones that match their ideals. Then, they roast them in a light manner then dial them in to achieve their desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees greater clarity and a more vibrant taste.

The East Village store, which opened in October last year was praised for its high-quality pour overs and baked goods, overseen and managed by Jared Sexton. He previously worked at Bien Cuit, Dominique Ansel and other coffee establishments.

The shop is equipped with the La Marzocco modbar and the plates and cups are custom-designed at Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, the son and father studio. In a recent Q&A with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves approximately 250 different coffees a 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 coffee retailer that roasts its own coffee and brews to order, with each cup of coffee roasting and brewed to your specifications in less than a minute. It scour the globe for the highest-grade specialty coffee beans beans that are sourced directly providing customers with the option of choice and quality.

Their onsite roaster uses fluid bed technology, which is a bit different to traditional drum-type machines found in the majority of UK coffee houses. The beans are blown around in a heated container by high-speed air that keeps the green beans in suspension and allows them to be roasted at a consistent rate as they move through the machine.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was rich with a velvety mouthfeel, dark roast coffee beans chocolate aromas were present, and the coffee began to cool while you sipped delicate citrus flavours fruit were detected.

The coffee is whisked to the Eversys brewing machines that are super-automatic and can be brewed to your specification in less than a minute. Customers can pick from nine single origins and various blends.

Parlor Coffee

The company was founded in 2012 at the back of a barbershop equipped with an espresso machine with a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans are found at great restaurants, cafes and home brewers across the city. Parlor is committed to sourcing top-quality beans from around the globe each of which has had to endure a lengthy journey before reaching the hands of its roasters.

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

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six while I was there) Also, they do cuppings Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as a tasting area where you can smell and taste the ground beans. They vary from earthy to chocolaty (one was almost like tomato!). It's a bit away from the main roads, but worth the journey.