Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee lover then you'll want to check out a coffee bean shop (visit the following post). These shops provide a variety of whole beans from around the globe. These stores also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other things.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

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

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

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrant Patsy Albonese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an influx of Italian immigrants who established businesses to serve their culinary requirements. Albanese named her shop after the popular Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - - a drink that was that was so well-known at the time that even the Pope consumed it.

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

Peter Longo, current owner and president, grew up in the family bakery on Bleecker Street, where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He continues to operate the business in the same way to his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

The shop is located along Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both a cafe and a roaster. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in a fourth-floor loft around the corner 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 decision to buy micro-lots, and even whole harvests, from farmers who are one has earned it the acclaim 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 hand-picked at their peak ripeness, floated to remove defects and dried fermented for 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a blend with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.

Sey's dedication extends beyond its shop to improve the overall well-being of staff and growers, as well as its customers. It makes use of composts and biodegradable disposables to keep waste out of the landfills. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases as well as nourish the soil. It also reduces gratuity. This allows baristas to concentrate on their craft and help sustain their livelihoods.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was established in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a dedicated staff. Their innovative and honest method of providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal following, not just in their hometown and across the globe.

La Carba has a rigorous process to find their perfect beans, by scouring through hundreds of different varieties each year to identify the ones that match their ideals. They then roast them very lightly, adjusting their desired flavor profile. This results in an enhanced taste and clarity.

The East Village store opened last October, with a minimalist and sleek style, and has been praised worldwide by coffee lovers for its precise pour-overs and baked goods, which are overseen by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.

The shop utilizes the La Marzocco Modbar as well as the cups, plates, and bowls are custom-designed by Wurtz ceramics, a father-and-son studio in Horsens. In a recent Q&A interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different varieties of coffee each year, and usually has seven or eight coffees available at any given point.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

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

The roaster they have on site is a fluid bed machine, that is distinct from the traditional drum machines found in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown about in the heated box by high-speed air that keeps the beans suspended and allows roasting to happen at a consistent rate as they move through the machine.

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

The coffee that has been roasted will be whisked into the store's Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines, and brewed to your preferences within less than a minute. Customers can choose from a selection of nine single origin choices and a range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

The company was founded in 2012 at the back of a barbershop that had an espresso machine with a single group, Parlor Coffee has become an energizing roastery whose coffees are sold at top rated coffee beans cafes, restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor is committed to procuring high-quality coffee beans from around the globe, each of which is a long, arduous journey before getting into the roasters.

According to their own words the owners "have an unrelenting love of craft and believe that good quality coffee beans coffee should be available to anyone." They achieve that by creating a simple street space, which includes compost bins, a chalkboard welcome handmade up-cycled items, and a minimalist deco.

They roast their own blends (there were six at the time I was there) and single-origins, but they also host cuppings on Sundays that are open to the public. Imagine it as a tasting room for breweries. You can smell and taste the beans, from chocolaty to earthy (one was very tomato-like!). They're away from the tourist trail and worthwhile to visit.