Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops
If you're a coffee lover, you should go to a coffee shop. These stores provide a large assortment of whole beans from all over the world. They also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other products.
Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Others offer coffee beans in
Bulk buy coffee beans at their retail locations.
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Veteran coffee seller specializing in international brews and a selection of loose teas
The aroma of freshly roasted beans fills the air when you enter this West Village shop. The sacks of dark brown beans are stacked on 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 immigrant Patsy Albanese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increase in 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 drink that was that was so well-known at the time that even the Pope consumed it.
Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, including those from around the globe located in three locations including Bleecker Street, Essex Market, and online. The company roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution for 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn and Brooklyn.
Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the company was raised over his family's bakery located on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. The owner continues to run the shop in the same way as his father and grandfather.
Sey Coffee
Located along Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both a coffee shop and roaster. 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 reliance on micro-lots -- or even whole harvests from single farmers--has been praised by the most discerning New York City coffee aficionados. 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 harvested when they were ripe and then steamed to eliminate any defects. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.
Sey's commitment extends beyond its shop to improve the overall health of staff and farmers, as well as customers. It uses composts and biodegradable products to keep waste from landfills. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases and helps nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, a move that puts the baristas in a position to sustain their livelihoods and inspire them to focus on their art.
La Cabra
La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a dedicated team. Their honest and innovative approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a devoted following, not just in their hometown and across the globe.
La Carba has a rigorous procedure for locating their ideal beans, scouring through hundreds of different varieties each year to identify the ones that match their ideals. Then they roast them in a light style, dialing them in to achieve their desired flavor profile. This results in a brighter taste and clarity.
The East Village store opened last October, with a minimalist and sleek design. It has been praised by international coffee lovers for its meticulous pour-overs and baked goods supervised 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 located in Horsens. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees every day and typically has seven or eight varieties on offer at any one time.
The Roasting Plant Coffee
The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit retailer of coffee roasts and brews the coffee on site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than an hour. It searches the globe for the highest quality specialty beans that are sourced directly, giving customers choices and high-quality.
The on-site roaster employs fluid bed technology which is quite different from the classic drum-type machines used in most UK coffee houses. The beans are blown into the heated box using high-speed air that is circulated. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting speed.
I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was velvety and rich with a smooth taste. Dark chocolate was evident in the aroma. As you sipped the
coffee beans types you could smell subtle citrus fruit flavors.
The coffee that has been roasted will be transferred to the store's Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines to be brewed according your specifications within less than a minute. Customers can choose from nine single origins and several blends.
Parlor Coffee
Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop equipped with an espresso machine with a single group, Parlor Coffee has become an energizing roastery whose coffees are found at great cafes, restaurants and home brewers all over the city. Parlor is dedicated to sourcing top-quality beans from all over the world, each of which has endured a laborious journey before getting into the roasters.
In their own words, they "have an unrelenting passion for craft and a belief that great coffee should be available to everyone." They accomplish that by creating a simple space on a residential street--think compost bins, chalkboards, handmade up-cycled products and low-frills deco.
They roast their own blends (there were six when I was there) and single-origins, however they also have cuppings on Sundays that are open to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room, where you can smell and taste the beans that are ground. They range from earthy to chocolatey (one was similar to tomato!). It's a little off the beaten path, but it's worth the drive.