Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a fan of coffee and you're looking for a place to shop, then you'll need to visit a coffee shop. These shops provide a variety of whole beans from all over the globe. They also sell exclusive trinkets, kitchenware and other products.

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 specialises in international brews loose teas and a variety.

The aroma of freshly roasted beans fills the air once you enter this West Village shop. The sacks of dark brown beans line the shelves, along with jars of sugar as well as coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.

Originally opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing a surge of Italian immigrants, who opened businesses in order to meet their food needs. Albanese named her shop after the well-known Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) which was so famous at the time that even the Pope drank it.

Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, which includes those from around the globe, at three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market and online. The company roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

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

Sey Coffee

Sey coffee Beans London, a coffee roaster and shop is located on Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood in Brooklyn's Bushwick district is situated on Grattan Street. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in a fourth-floor loft located across the street 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 buying micro-lots, and even whole harvests, from single farmers has earned it the acclaim of New York City coffee enthusiasts. In the past they made a six-bag micro-lot purchase of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai 785 from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were handpicked at peak ripeness, floated to remove defects and dried fermented for about 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a blend with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.

Sey's commitment to holistically improving the wellbeing of employees, customers and growers extends beyond the walls of the shop. It uses composts and biodegradable products to ensure that waste is kept out of the landfills. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases and nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, which puts baristas in a position to sustain their livelihoods and inspire them to concentrate on their profession.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They started with a small store and a team of dedicated employees. Their open and creative approach to delivering a truly exceptional coffee experience earned them a following, not just in their own town however, but across the globe.

La Carba follows a strict method to select their best beans. They scour through hundreds of varieties every year in order to find the ones that best fit their ideals. They roast them light, adjusting the desired flavor profile. This results in more clarity and a better taste.

The East Village store, which opened in the month of October last year was praised for its high-quality pour overs, as well as the baked goods, which are overseen by Jared Sexton. He previously worked at Bien Cuit, Dominique Ansel and various coffee houses.

The shop uses 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 interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves around 250 different coffees a year, and usually has seven or eight varieties available at any given time.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant, a multi-unit coffee retailer, roasts and brews its coffee on the spot. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your specifications in less than seconds. It searches far and across the globe for the highest-quality specialty beans that are directly sourced, offering customers choice and high-quality.

Their roaster on site is a fluid bed machine which is different from the traditional drum machines commonly found in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown in the heated box using high-speed air that is circulated. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was rich with smooth mouthfeel, dark chocolate aroma was present and the coffee started to cool down as you sipped the coffee. The subtle scents of citrus fruit were detected.

The coffee that has been roasted is whisked to the Eversys super-automatic brewing equipment and you can have your coffee bean shop brewed to your specifications in under a minute. Customers can select from nine single origins as well as a variety blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor barista coffee beans was founded in 2012 in a barbershop with a single espresso machine. It has since morphed to become a burgeoning roastery, whose coffee beans are sold in top cafes as well as restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor is committed to procuring high-quality coffee beans sale beans from across the globe each of which is a long, arduous journey before getting into the roasters.

The owners, who self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that great coffee should accessible to everyone," have created a space that is grounded and has chalkboards, compost bins, up-cycled hand-made products, and low-frills decor.

They roast their own blends (there were six at the time I was there) and single-origins, however they also host cuppings on Sundays that are accessible to the public. Think of it as a tasting room for breweries. You can smell and taste the beans, ranging from chocolaty earthy (one was very tomato-like!). They're a bit off the beaten track but are it's worth the trip.