Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a fan of coffee and you're looking for a place to shop, then you'll need to try out a coffee shop. These shops offer a broad range of whole beans from all over the world. They also sell exclusive trinkets, kitchenware, and other things.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Some shops offer them in large quantities.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee shop that specializes in international brews and a variety of loose teas

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

In 1907, the first time it was opened, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrant Patsy Albanese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increasing number of Italian immigrants who opened establishments to cater to their dietary needs. Albanese named her shop after the popular Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - a beverage that was so well-known at the time that even the Pope consumed it.

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

Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the company, grew up above the bakery of his family located on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He continues to run the shop in a similar way as 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. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their co-founders, who are 33 years old, started roasting coffee in the loft on the fourth floor just across the street in 2011. They dubbed it Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin, and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.

Sey's focus on purchasing micro-lots, or even whole harvests from single farmers--has been praised by discerning New York City coffee aficionados. In 2011, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito-Santo region. The beans were harvested at their peak of ripeness and then steamed to eliminate any defects. They were then dried on the farm after a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup with hints of berry and melon.

Sey's goal of holistically improving the wellbeing of staff, growers and customers extends beyond the store. It utilizes composts and biodegradable products to keep waste from landfills. This helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also nourish the soil. It also prevents gratuities. This lets baristas concentrate on their craft and earn a living.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. It began with a tiny shop and a dedicated staff. Their innovative and honest method of providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal fan base not just in their own town, but worldwide.

La Carba follows a strict procedure to identify their ideal beans coffee. They go through hundreds of varieties each year to find beans that match their ideals. They then roast them very lightly, adjusting their desired flavor profile. This results in more clarity and a better taste.

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

The shop utilizes a La Marzocco modbar and the plates and cups are made by Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, a father and son studio. In a recent interview, Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different types of coffee per day and typically has seven or eight varieties on offer at any given time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant, a multi-unit coffee retailer roasts and brews coffee on-site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your preferences in less than one second. It searches countries far and wide for the highest-grade specialty beans, which are directly sourced providing customers with choice and high-quality.

Their onsite roaster uses fluid bed technology that is quite different from the drum-type machines commonly found in most UK coffee shops. The beans are blown inside an enclosed box that is heated and has high-speed and circulating air. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a consistent roasting speed.

I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was velvety and rich with a velvety flavor. Dark chocolate was evident in the aroma. And as you sip the coffee you could smell subtle citrus fruit flavors.

The coffee that has been roasted is whisked to the Eversys brewing machines that are super-automatic and can be it is brewed to your requirements in just a few minutes. Customers can pick from nine single origin selections and a variety of blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 behind a barbershop, equipped with a single group espresso machine. It has since grown into a flourishing coffee roastery, and its beans are sold in top cafes as well as restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor Coffee is dedicated to sourcing only the highest-quality beans, which have all undergone a long journey before reaching its roasters.

According to their own words, they "have an unrelenting love of craft and a conviction that good coffee should be available to anyone." They accomplish this with their earthy street space, which includes compost bins, chalkboard welcome, handmade up-cycled products and a minimalist deco.

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six on the menu when I was there), but they also do cuppings Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room where you can smell and taste the beans that are ground. They are a mix of earthy and chocolate (one was similar to tomato!). It's a little off the beaten path but it's worth the drive.