Five Brooklyn
Coffee Bean Shops
If you're an avid coffee drinker, then you should consider visiting a coffee shop. These stores offer a wide selection of whole beans from all across the globe. These stores also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware, and other things.
Some of these shops offer subscriptions for their coffee beans. Some shops offer the beans in bulk.
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Veteran coffee shop that is a specialist in international brews, loose teas and a selection.
The aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air as you enter this West Village shop. Open bags of dark-brown beans line the shelves alongside jars of sugar as well as coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.
Originally 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 set up businesses to satisfy their food needs. Albanese named the shop after the popular Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a beverage that was so popular at the moment, even the Pope would drink it.
Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, including those from around the world located in three locations including Bleecker Street, Essex Market, and online. Porto Rico also roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.
Peter Longo, current owner and president, grew up in the family bakery located on Bleecker Street, where his father ran Porto Rico. The owner continues to run the shop in the same way as his father and grandfather.
Sey Coffee
Sey Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster located on Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This Brooklyn neighborhood, in the Bushwick district, is located on Grattan Street. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their 33-year-old co-founders started roasting coffee in the loft on the fourth floor, just across the street in the year 2011. They dubbed it Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin, and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.
Sey's emphasis on buying micro-lots--or even whole harvests from single farmers has earned it the praise of knowledgeable New York City coffee aficionados.
the Coffee Bean shop last time Sey was in the market, he purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were picked at their peak ripeness, floated to remove defects and dried fermented for about 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a coffee with hints of melons and berries.
Sey's dedication to holistically improving the wellbeing of staff, growers and customers extends beyond the store. It makes use of composts and biodegradable products to ensure that waste is kept out of the garbage dumps. This helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, which puts baristas into a position to sustain their livelihoods and motivate them to focus on their profession.
La Cabra
La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a committed team. Their innovative and honest method of providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal following, not just in their local area, but worldwide.
La Carba has a rigorous method of identifying their ideal beans, searching through hundreds of different varieties every year to locate the ones that are perfect for their tastes. They then roast them very lightly, adjusting their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees clearer and more vibrant taste.
The East Village store opened last October with a sleek minimalist style, and has been praised worldwide by
speciality coffee beans lovers for its meticulous pour-overs and baked goods overseen by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.
The shop utilizes the La Marzocco Modbar and the cups plates and bowls are designed by Wurtz ceramics, a father and son studio in Horsens. In a recent Q&A with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different types of coffees each year, and usually has seven or eight varieties on offer at any given moment.
The Roasting Plant Coffee
The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit retailer of
amazon coffee beans roasts and brews the coffee on site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your preferences in less than an hour. It is a search engine for the finest specialty beans that are directly sourced, giving customers the option of choice and quality.
The roaster on site uses fluid bed technology which is quite different from the classic drum-type machines used in most UK coffee shops. The beans are blown in a heated box with high-velocity and circulating air. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a constant roasting rate.
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 taste subtle citrus fruit aromas.
The roasted coffee will be taken to the Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines and brewed according your preferences in under a minute. Customers can select from nine single origin selections and a range of blends.
Parlor Coffee
Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop with an espresso machine that was single-group, Parlor Coffee has become a burgeoning roastery whose beans can be found in
top 10 coffee beans cafes, restaurants and home brewers all over the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to procuring the highest-quality beans, that have all been through a long journey before reaching its roasters.
The owners, who self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that great coffee should accessible to everyone," have created a place that is a bit more grounded and has chalkboards, compost bins and up-cycled items, and simple decor.
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 accessible to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room, where you can taste and smell the beans as they are roasted. They vary from earthy to chocolatey (one was similar to tomato!). It's a little off the beaten path but well worth the trip.