Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee lover, you should go to a coffee shop. They offer a wide selection of whole beans from all over the globe. They also sell exclusive trinkets, kitchenware and other products.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee seller who specializes in international brews, loose teas, and a wide selection.

When you walk into this old-fashioned West Village shop, the smell of fresh coffee beans fills your nostrils. Open sacks of dark-brown beans are displayed on the shelves alongside sugar jars as well as coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.

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

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

Peter Longo, current owner and president, was raised in the family bakery located on Bleecker Street, where his father ran Porto Rico. He runs the business in the same way like his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

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 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 preference for buying micro-lots or whole harvests, from single farmers has earned him the respect of New York City coffee enthusiasts. In the past, Sey bought a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito Santa region. The beans were carefully picked at the peak of ripeness, then floated to eliminate any defects, then dry fermented for a period of 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a coffee that is a little berry and melon.

Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall wellbeing of staff and farmers, ground coffee beans and customers. It makes use of biodegradable disposables and composts to keep waste out of garbage and converting it into substances that reduce harmful greenhouse gases as well as nourish soil. It also reduces gratuity. This allows baristas to focus on their craft and to earn a living.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a committed team. Their innovative and honest approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal following not only in their hometown but also around the world.

La Carba follows a strict process to find their perfect beans. They go through hundreds of varieties each year in order to select the beans that best meet their standards. They roast them in a light manner, 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 October last year was praised for its top-quality pour-overs, as well as the baked goods that are overseen by Jared Sexton. He previously worked at Bien Cuit, Dominique Ansel as well as other coffee houses.

The shop utilizes the La Marzocco modbar and the plates and cups are custom-designed at Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, an artist-run by a father and son. In a recent interview Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees a yea and typically has seven or eight coffees available at any given moment.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

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

Their onsite roaster is a fluid bed device, that is distinct from the traditional drum machines that are used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown in the heated box using high-speed air that is circulated. This keeps the beans in suspension and ensures a consistent roasting rate.

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

The coffee is whisked to the store's Eversys super-automatic brewing equipment and brewed to your specification within less than a minute. Customers can choose from nine single origins as well as different blends.

Parlor Coffee

It was founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop that had a single-group espresso machine, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans are available at top cafes, restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to sourcing the highest-quality beans, that have all undergone a long journey before reaching its roasters.

In their own words according to their own words, they "have an unrelenting love of craft and believe that good coffee should be accessible to anyone." They do just that by creating a simple streetscape that is a mix of residential and commercial. Think compost bins, chalkboard welcome hand-made up-cycled goods, and a simple deco.

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