Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're an avid coffee drinker, then you should visit a coffee shop. These stores provide a large variety of beans that are whole from all across the globe. They also sell unique kitchenware and trinkets.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee vendor who concentrates on international brews, loose teas, and a variety.

When you enter this quaint West Village shop, the smell of fresh roasting beans fills the air. Open sacks of dark-brown beans are stacked on the shelves along with jars of sugar, coffee-making equipment as well as tea accessories.

Originally opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was experiencing an influx Italian immigrants, who established businesses to cater to their food requirements. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so well-known that at the time, even the Pope would drink it.

Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, which includes those from around the globe in three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market, and online. Porto Rico roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, current owner and president, grew up in the family bakery located on Bleecker Street, where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. The business is still run by the business in the same way to his father and grandfather.

Sey organic coffee Beans

Sey Coffee, a coffee roaster and shop, is located along 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 started roasting in the fourth-floor loft across the street from their new location in 2011 under the name Lofted Coffee (with local clients including Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart service Peddler).

Sey's focus on buying micro-lots, Organic Coffee Beans and even whole harvests, from single farmers has earned it the praise of New York City coffee enthusiasts. The last time Sey was in the market, he purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito Santa region. The beans were hand-picked at peak ripeness and removed by flotation to eliminate defects and dried fermented for about 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a blend with hints of fruit and melon.

Sey's goal of holistically improving the wellbeing of growers, staff and customers extends beyond the shop. It uses biodegradable disposables and composts, keeping waste out of landfills and turning it into substances that reduce harmful greenhouse gases as well as nourish soil. It also does away with gratuity, a move that puts baristas into a position to help sustain their livelihoods and inspire them to focus on their craft.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a team of dedicated employees. Their honest and innovative approach to delivering a truly exceptional coffee experience earned them a following, not just in their own town however, but across the globe.

La Carba follows a strict procedure to find their perfect beans. They go through hundreds of varieties each year in order to find those that best coffee beans match their ideals. They roast them light, adjusting the desired flavor profile. This results in an enhanced taste and clarity.

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

The shop uses the La Marzocco Modbar and the cups plates and bowls are crafted by Wurtz ceramics, a father/son studio in Horsens. In a recent Q&A interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different coffees a year, and usually has seven or eight coffees available at any given moment.

The Roasting Plant coffee beans chocolate

The Roasting Plant, a multi-unit coffee retailer roasts and brews coffee on-site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your specifications within less than seconds. It searches far and far to find the finest, directly sourced specialty beans providing customers with choice and quality.

Their on-site roaster is a fluid bed machine which is different from the traditional drum machines that are used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown inside the heated box using high-speed air that is circulated. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a consistent roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was a rich cup with an enveloping mouthfeel, dark chocolate aromas were present. The coffee began to cool as you sip, subtle flavours of citrus fruit were detected.

The roasted coffee will then be poured into the Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines and brewed according to your preferences in less than one minute. Customers can select from a variety of single origins and a range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop that had one espresso machine in a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a growing roastery, whose beans are found at great cafes, restaurants and home brewers in the city. Parlor Coffee is dedicated to sourcing only the highest quality beans that have all been through a long journey before reaching its roasters.

The owners, who self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that good coffee should accessible to everyone," have created a space that is down-to earth with chalkboards, compost bins, recycled handmade items, and simple decor.

They roast their own blends (there were six when I was there) and single-origins, but they also host cuppings on Sundays that are open to the general public. Imagine it as a tasting area--you can taste and smell the ground beans. They are a mix of earthy and chocolate (one was almost like tomato!). They're a bit away from the main roads and it's worth the trip.