Mathew Deshotel

Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a lover of coffee and you're looking for a place to shop, then you'll need to check out a coffee shop. These shops provide a variety of whole beans from around the globe. They also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware, and other products.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions for their coffee beans. Some shops sell coffee beans in bulk.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee bean near me shop that concentrates on international brews, loose teas and a selection.

The scent of freshly roasted beans fills the air as you enter this West Village shop. Unopened bags of dark brown beans are stacked on the shelves along with sugar jars, coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrant Patsy Albonese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increasing number of Italian immigrants who established businesses to cater to their culinary requirements. Albanese named her shop after the popular Puerto Rican gourmet coffee beans she imported (and sold) the beverage was so famous at the time that even the Pope took a sip.

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

Peter Longo, current owner and president, grew up in the family bakery on Bleecker Street, where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He continues to run the business in the same manner as his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

Sey Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster is located on Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This Brooklyn neighborhood, in the Bushwick district, is located on Grattan Street. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their co-founders of 33 years, began roasting coffee in an apartment on the fourth floor, just across the street, in 2011. The name was Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.

Sey's reliance on micro-lots -- or even whole harvests from single farmers--has earned it the praise of knowledgeable New York City coffee aficionados. In 2011, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai, a Brazilian coffee from the Espirito-Santo region. The beans were carefully 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 cup with hints of berry melon and lemongrass.

Sey's focus on holistically improving the well-being of staff, growers and customers extends beyond the store. It makes use of biodegradable plastics and composts to keep waste out of landfills and turning it into substances that help reduce harmful greenhouse gases and enrich the soil. It also removes gratuities. This lets baristas concentrate on their craft and help sustain their livelihoods.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee beans bulk buy company, was established in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small shop and a committed team. Their honesty and ingenuity to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a following not only in their home town, but globally.

La Carba follows a strict process to find their perfect beans. They go through hundreds of lots each year in order to find those that best fit their ideals. Then they roast them in a light style and dial them in to achieve their desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees more vibrant flavor and clarity.

The East Village store opened last October, with a minimalist and sleek design, and has been praised by coffee aficionados for its exacting pour overs and baked goods overseen by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.

The shop uses a La Marzocco modbar, and the plates and cups are made by Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, a father and son studio. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different coffees a year, and usually has 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 its own coffee and brews to order, with every cup of coffee roasting and brewed according to your preferences in less than a minute. It scour countries far and across the globe for the highest-quality specialty beans that are directly sourced that offer customers a variety and quality.

The roaster on site uses fluid bed technology that is a bit different to the classic drum-type machines used in the majority of UK coffee shops. The beans are blown around the heated box by high-speed air, which keeps the beans suspended and allows them to be roasted in a steady manner throughout the machine.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was rich with velvety mouthfeel. Dark chocolate scent was evident and the coffee began to cool as you sip and subtle aromas of citrus fruit were evident.

The roasted coffee will then be whisked into the store's Eversys Super-Automatic Brewing Machines and brewed according your specifications in less than a minute. Customers can pick from nine single origins and different blends.

Parlor Coffee

Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop that had an espresso machine with a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a growing roastery, whose beans can be found in top cafes, restaurants and home brewers all over the city. Parlor is committed to sourcing top-quality beans from across the globe each of which has been through a long and difficult journey before getting into the roasters.

The owners, who self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that good coffee bean suppliers near me should be accessible to everyone," have created a space that is grounded and has chalkboards, compost bins, up-cycled handmade products, and minimal decor.

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six while I was there), but they also have cuppings on Sundays that are open to the public. Imagine it as a tasting room where you can smell and taste the beans that are ground. They are a mix of earthy and chocolate (one was almost like tomato!). They're a bit off the beaten track, but it's worth the trip.