Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're an avid coffee drinker, then you should go to a coffee shop. These stores provide a large assortment of whole beans from all over the world. They also sell exclusive trinkets, kitchenware, and other items.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee seller that is a specialist in international brews, loose teas, and a variety.

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

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

Porto Rico offers 130 different kinds of beans, including beans from all over the world in three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market and online. The company also roasts its own beans and provides wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current owner and president of the business, grew up above the bakery of his family on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He still runs the shop in the same way like his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

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

Sey's preference for buying micro-lots, or even entire harvests from single farmers has earned it the acclaim of New York City coffee enthusiasts. Last year, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito-Santo region. The beans were picked at peak ripeness and removed by flotation to eliminate defects, then dry fermented for 36 hours prior to being dried on the farm. The result is a cup that is fragrant with hints of berry and melon.

Sey's dedication extends beyond its shop to improve the overall well-being of growers and staff, and customers. It makes use of biodegradable plastics and composts, keeping waste out of landfills and turning it into substances that reduce harmful greenhouse gases and nourish soil. It also eliminates gratuity, which puts baristas in a position to support their livelihoods and motivate them to focus on their art.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee beans online brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. It began with a tiny store and a dedicated staff. Their open and creative approach to delivering a truly exceptional coffee experience earned them a following that was not only in their hometown however, but across the globe.

La Carba follows a strict method to select their best beans. They scour through hundreds of varieties each year to find the ones that best fit their ideals. Then, they roast them in a very light style then dial the medium roast coffee beans to create their desired flavor profile. This results in clearer and more vibrant taste.

The East Village store, which was opened in October of last year was praised for its excellent pour overs and baked goods, which are overseen by Jared Sexton. He previously worked at Bien Cuit, Dominique Ansel and various coffee establishments.

The shop employs a La Marzocco modbar and the cups and plates are custom-designed at Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, which is a father-son studio. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different types of coffee per day, and has usually seven or eight coffees available at any given time.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit coffee retailer that roasts on-site and brews on demand, with each cup of coffee roasting and brewed according to your preferences in less than one minute. It searches the world for the Highest rated coffee beans-grade specialty beans that are directly sourced offering customers a choice and quality.

Their onsite roaster is an automatic fluid bed machine which is different from the traditional drum machines found in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown around in a heated box by high-velocity air which keeps the beans in a suspended state and allows them to be roasted in a steady manner throughout the machine.

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

The roasted coffee will be whisked into the Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines and brewed according to your preferences within less than a minute. Customers can select from nine single origin options and a variety of blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 in a barbershop equipped with a single group espresso machine. It has since morphed into a bustling coffee roastery, whose coffee beans are sold in top cafes as well as restaurants and home brewers in every city. Parlor Coffee is committed to procuring the highest rated coffee beans quality beans that have all been through a long journey before reaching its roasters.

The owners, who are self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that great coffee should be available to everyone," have created a place that is a bit more grounded, with chalkboards, compost bins, up-cycled hand-made products, and low-frills decor.

They roast their own blends (there were six when I was there) and single-origins, however they also hold cuppings on Sundays that are accessible to the public. Imagine it as a tasting room where you can taste and smell the beans as they are roasted. They vary from earthy to chocolatey (one was almost like tomato!). It's a bit off the beaten path but well worth the trip.