Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee connoisseur and you're looking for a place to shop, then you'll need to try out a coffee bean shop. They offer a wide selection of whole beans from around the world. They also sell unique trinkets and kitchenware.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee shop that specialises in international brews loose teas, and a wide selection.

When you enter this old-school West Village shop, the scent of freshly coffee beans fills your nostrils. Open bags of dark-brown beans line the shelves alongside sugar jars, coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.

In 1907, the first time it was opened, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was experiencing an influx Italian immigrants, who had opened businesses to cater to their dietary needs. Albanese named her shop after the renowned Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) the beverage was that was so popular at the time that even the Pope drank it.

Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from all over the world at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. The company also roasts their own beans and provides wholesale distribution for 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn 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. He continues to operate the business in the same manner as his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

Sey Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster is located on Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood in Brooklyn's Bushwick district is situated on Grattan Street. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their co-founders of 33 years, began roasting coffee in an apartment on the fourth floor, just around the corner in the year 2011. They called it Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin, and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.

Sey's preference for buying micro-lots, and even 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 handpicked at their peak ripeness, removed by flotation to eliminate defects and dried fermented for 36 hours prior to being dried on the farm. The result is a coffee that is fragrant with hints of the melon and berry.

Sey's commitment to holistically improving the health of growers, coffee bean shop staff and customers extends beyond the retail store. It makes use of biodegradable disposables and composts to keep waste out of the landfill and converting it into substances that help reduce harmful greenhouse gases and nourish soil. It also prevents gratuities. This lets baristas concentrate on their craft and help sustain their livelihoods.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They started with a small store and a committed staff. Their innovative and honest method of providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal following, not just in their hometown but also around the world.

La Carba has a rigorous procedure for locating their ideal beans, going through hundreds of different varieties every year to locate the ones that are perfect for their tastes. They roast them lightly, dialing in their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees an enhanced taste and clarity.

The East Village store opened last October with a sleek minimalist design. It's been praised by international coffee aficionados for its exacting pour overs and baked goods supervised by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.

The shop employs a La Marzocco Modbar and the cups plates and bowls are designed by Wurtz ceramics, a father-and son studio located in Horsens. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee coffeee shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees a yea and has typically seven or eight varieties available at any given moment.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit coffee retailer that roasts its own coffee and brews on demand, with every cup of coffee roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than a minute. It searches the globe for the highest-grade specialty beans that are directly sourced offering customers a choices and high-quality.

Their on-site roaster utilizes fluid bed technology that is quite different from the drum-type machines that are commonly used in most UK coffee shops. The beans are blown through a heated box with high-velocity and circulating air. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting speed.

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 sip the coffee, there were subtle citrus fruit aromas.

The roasted coffee will be poured into the Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines to be brewed according your specifications within less than a minute. Customers can select from nine single origins and different blends.

Parlor Coffee

It was founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop equipped with an espresso machine that was single-group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans are sold at top restaurants, cafes and coffee bean Shop home brewers across the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to sourcing the finest quality beans, which have gone through a long journey before arriving at its roasters.

In their own words the owners "have a relentless passion for craft and a conviction that good coffee should be available to everyone." They accomplish that with their down-to-earth space on a residential street--think compost bins, chalkboard welcome handmade up-cycled items, and a simple deco.

They roast and create their own blends as well as single-origins (there were six when I was there) Also, they offer cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room--you can smell and taste the ground beans, from chocolaty to earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). It's a bit off the beaten path, but it's worth the drive.