Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a fan of coffee You'll want to try out a coffee bean shop. These stores provide a large selection of whole beans from all over the world. These stores also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other things.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

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

When you enter this quaint West Village shop, the smell of fresh coffee beans fills your nostrils. The shelves are stacked with jars, sacks and dark brown beans, along with tea-making equipment, coffee accessories and sugar.

In 1907, the first time it was opened, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrant Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing a surge of Italian immigrants, who established businesses to meet their food needs. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so well-known that at the time, even the Pope would drink it.

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

Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the business was raised over the bakery of his family located on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. The business is still run by the shop in the same way to his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

It is located on Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both an espresso bar and a coffee roaster. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in a fourth-floor loft across the street 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 decision to buy micro-lots, and even whole harvests, from farmers who are one has earned it the praise 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 the peak of ripeness, and then floated to eliminate any imperfections. They were then dried on the farm after a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup with hints of berry lemongrass, and melon.

Sey's focus on holistically improving the health of staff, customers, and growers extends beyond the walls of the shop. It makes use of biodegradable disposables and composts, keeping waste out of landfills and converting it to agents that reduce harmful greenhouse gases and enrich the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, a move that puts the baristas in a position to help sustain their livelihoods and inspire them to focus on their profession.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small shop and a dedicated staff. Their honesty and ingenuity to delivering a truly exceptional coffee experience earned their acclaim not just in their own town but all over the world.

La Carba follows a strict process to find their perfect beans. They scour hundreds of lots each year in order to find the ones that best meet their ideals. They roast them lightly, dialing in their desired flavor profile. This results in a brighter taste and clarity.

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

The shop uses a La Marzocco Modbar, and the cups, plates and bowls are designed by Wurtz ceramics, a father/son studio located in Horsens. In a recent Q&A session with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different varieties of coffee each year, and typically has seven or eight varieties available at any given time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit coffee retailer roasts and brews coffee on-site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your specifications within less than seconds. It is a search engine for the highest quality specialty beans that are sourced directly, giving customers the option of choice and quality.

Their onsite roaster uses fluid bed technology that is quite different from the classic drum-type machines used in most UK coffee houses. The beans are blown inside the heated box using high-speed, circulating air. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting speed.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was a rich cup with velvety mouthfeel. Dark chocolate from the fragrance was present. The coffee began to cool as you sip and subtle aromas of citrus fruit were detected.

The coffee that has been roasted will be whisked into the store's Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines and brewed according your specifications in under a minute. Customers can choose from nine single origins and several blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 behind a barbershop, with a single group espresso machine. It has since evolved to become a burgeoning roastery, whose beans can be found in great cafes as well as restaurants and home brewers in every city. Parlor Coffee is committed to finding the highest-quality beans, that have all undergone a long journey before arriving at its roasters.

In their own words in their own words, they "have an unstoppable passion for craft and a conviction that good quality coffee beans coffee should be accessible to everyone." They accomplish that by creating a simple area on a residential street. Think compost bins, chalkboards handmade up-cycled items, and low-frills deco.

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