Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

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

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee vendor who specialises in international brews loose teas, and a variety.

When you step into this old-fashioned West Village shop, the scent of freshly coffee beans fills your nostrils. Unopened bags of dark brown beans are displayed on the shelves alongside jars of sugar, coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrants Patsy Albonese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increase in Italian immigrants who had opened businesses to serve their culinary requirements. Albanese named her shop after the famous Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - a beverage that was so popular at the time that even the Pope consumed it.

Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, including those from around the globe 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, current owner and president, was raised in the family bakery located on Bleecker Street, where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. The business is still run by the shop in the same manner as his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

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

Sey's decision to buy micro-lots or whole harvests, from farmers who are one has earned him the respect of New York City coffee enthusiasts. Last year they made a six-bag micro-lot purchase of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai 785 from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were handpicked at peak ripeness, removed by flotation to eliminate defects and then dried fermented for about 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a coffee that has hints of berry and melon.

Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall wellbeing of staff and farmers, as well as its customers. It utilizes biodegradable disposables as well as composts to keep waste out of landfills and turning it into agents that lower harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, a move that puts baristas in a position to sustain their livelihoods and motivate them to concentrate on their profession.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was established in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. It began with a tiny shop and a dedicated team. Their honest and innovative approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a following not only in their own town but also around the world.

La Carba has a rigorous procedure for locating their ideal beans, going through hundreds of different varieties each year to identify the ones that are perfect for their tastes. They roast them light, adjusting the desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees clearer and more vibrant taste.

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

The shop uses the La Marzocco modbar and the cups and plates are designed specifically for Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, an artist-run by a father and son. In a recent Q&A with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different types of coffees each year, and usually has seven or eight varieties on offer at any given time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit coffee retailer that roasts on-site and brews to order with every cup of coffee being roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than minutes. It searches the globe for the highest quality specialty beans that are sourced directly providing customers with the choice and quality.

Their on-site roaster utilizes fluid bed technology which is quite different from the classic drum-type machines used in most UK coffee houses. The beans are blown inside a heated container with high-speed, circulating air. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a constant roasting rate.

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

The coffee that has been roasted is transported to the store's Eversys brewing machines that are super-automatic and can be it is brewed to your requirements in less than a minute. Customers can select from a selection of nine single origin choices and a wide range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop, complete with an espresso machine with a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans can be found in top restaurants, cafes and home brewers in the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to procuring the highest-quality beans, that have gone through a long journey before reaching its roasters.

According to their own words the owners "have a relentless passion for craft and a belief that great coffee should be available to everyone." They accomplish that by creating a simple space on a residential street--think compost bins, chalkboards hand-made up-cycled goods, and low-frills deco.

They roast their own blends (there were six at the time I was there) and single-origins, but they also have cuppings on Sundays that are open to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room, where you can smell and taste the beans in the ground. They vary from earthy to chocolatey (one was almost like tomato!). They're off the beaten track, but it's worth the trip.