Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're an avid coffee drinker, you should visit a coffee shop. These shops offer a variety of whole beans from around the world. They also have unique kitchenware and trinkets.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee seller that specialises in international brews loose teas and a variety.

The aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air as you enter this West Village shop. The shelves are lined with jars and sacks filled with dark brown beans, with tea-making equipment, coffee accessories, and sugar.

The first restaurant opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrant Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing an influx of Italian immigrants, who had opened businesses in order to meet their food requirements. Albanese named the shop after the popular Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so well-known in the moment that the Pope would drink it.

Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from around the world at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. Porto Rico also roasts its own beans and coffeee provides wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the business was raised above the bakery of his family located on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. He continues to run the shop in a similar manner as his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

It is located on Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both an espresso bar and a coffee roaster. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in the fourth-floor loft around the corner at 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 micro-lots or even whole harvests from a single farmer has earned it the acclaim of discerning New York City coffee aficionados. Last year, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito Santa region. The beans were harvested when they were ripe and floated to remove any imperfections. They were then dried on the farm after a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup with hints of berry melon and lemongrass.

Sey's dedication extends beyond its shop to improve the overall well-being of staff and growers, and customers. It utilizes composts and biodegradable plastics to keep waste out of landfills. This helps reduce greenhouse gases and helps nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, a move that puts the baristas in a position to provide their livelihoods and inspire them to focus on their craft.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company that was founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small shop and a dedicated team. Their honest and innovative approach to providing a unique coffee experience has earned their acclaim not just in their home town however, but across the globe.

La Carba follows a strict method to select their best beans. They search through hundreds of lots each year in order to find beans that meet their ideals. They roast them in a light style then dial the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees a brighter taste and clarity.

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

The shop employs a 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 interview Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees every day and usually has seven or eight varieties on offer at any time.

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 being roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than minutes. It searches the world across the globe for the highest-quality, directly sourced specialty beans providing customers with choice and high-quality.

Their on-site roaster is a fluid bed machine that is distinct from the classic drum machines used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown inside the heated box using high-speed, circulating air. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was delicious with a a velvety mouthfeel, dark chocolate from the fragrance was present and the coffee started to cool while you sipped the coffee. The subtle scents of citrus fruit were evident.

The roasted coffee is then whisked to the store's Eversys Intensely Strong Super Crema Espresso Beans - 1kg-automatic brewing equipment and it is brewed to your requirements in under a minute. Customers can select from nine single origin options and a range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

In 2012, the company was established in the back of a barbershop equipped with a single-group espresso machine, Parlor Coffee has become a growing roastery, whose beans can be found in top restaurants, cafes and home brewers in the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to finding the highest-quality beans, coffeee which have all been through a long journey before arriving at its roasters.

According to their own words, they "have a relentless passion for craft and a belief that great coffee should be accessible to anyone." They do just that by creating a simple space on a residential street--think compost bins, chalkboards hand-made up-cycled goods, and a minimalist deco.

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six at the time I was there), but they also offer cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the public. Think of it as an artisanal tasting room in which you can smell and taste the ground beans, ranging from chocolaty to earthy (one was very tomato-like!). It's a little off the beaten path but it's worth the drive.