Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you are an avid coffee drinker, you should consider visiting a coffee shop. These shops sell a range of whole beans from around the globe. They also sell unique kitchenware and trinkets.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

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

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

Originally opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrant Patsy Albanese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increase in Italian immigrants who opened businesses to serve their culinary requirements. Albanese named the shop after the popular Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a beverage that was so famous that at the time, even the Pope would drink 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 for 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the company was raised over his family's bakery on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He still runs the shop in the same manner as his grandfather and father.

Sey Coffee

Sey Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster is located along Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood, located in Brooklyn's Bushwick district is located on Grattan Street. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in the fourth-floor loft just around the corner from their new location in 2011 under the name Lofted Premium 1kg Daybreak Blend Coffee Beans - Rounton Roasters (with local clients including Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart service Peddler).

Sey's preference for buying micro-lots, or even entire harvests, from farmers who are one has earned it the respect of New York City coffee enthusiasts. Last year, they made a six-bag micro-lot purchase of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai 785 from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were harvested at their peak of ripeness and steamed to remove any imperfections. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup with hints of berry, lemongrass, and melon.

Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall wellbeing of growers and staff, as well as its customers. It uses biodegradable disposables and composts to keep waste out of garbage and converting it into substances that help reduce harmful greenhouse gases as well as nourish soil. It also does away with gratuity, which puts baristas into a position to support their livelihoods and inspire them to concentrate on their craft.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. It started with a small shop and a dedicated team. Their innovative and honest approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a devoted following not just in their local area and across the globe.

La Carba has a rigorous method of identifying their ideal beans, going through hundreds of different lots every year to find ones that are perfect for their tastes. Then, they roast them in a light manner, dialing the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees a more intense flavor and clarity.

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

The shop uses a La Marzocco modbar, and the plates and cups are designed specifically for Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, the son and father studio. In a recent Q&A interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves around 250 different coffees a year, and typically has seven or eight different varieties available at any given moment.

The Plant Coffee 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 being roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than a minute. It scour countries far and far for the finest quality specialty beans, which are directly sourced, offering customers choice and 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 through an enclosed box that is heated and has high-speed air that is circulated. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a consistent roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was rich and velvety with a velvety flavor. Dark chocolate was evident from the aroma. And as you sip the coffee there were subtle citrus fruit flavours.

The coffee that has been roasted is whisked to the store's Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in under a minute. Customers can select from nine single origins as well as different blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 in a barbershop with a single group espresso machine. It has since evolved into a flourishing coffee roastery, and its beans can be found in great cafes as well as restaurants and home brewers throughout the city. Parlor is dedicated to procuring high-quality coffee beans from around the globe, each of which is a long, arduous journey before it reaches the hands of its roasters.

The owners, who self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that good coffee should accessible to everyone," have created a place that is a bit more grounded and filled with chalkboards. There are compost bins, recycled handmade products, and a minimalist interior.

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six while I was there) They also have cuppings on Sundays that are open to the public. Imagine it as a tasting room, where you can taste and smell the beans that are ground. They range from earthy to chocolatey (one was similar to tomato!). It's a bit off the beaten path but worth the journey.