Mathew Deshotel

Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a fan of coffee, then you will want to try out a coffee bean shop. These shops offer a broad selection of whole beans from all across the globe. They also sell exclusive trinkets, kitchenware and other items.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Some shops offer the beans in bulk.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee retailer specializing international brews and a selection of loose teas

As you enter this quaint West Village shop, the aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air. The shelves are packed with jars and sacks of dark brown beans, with coffee-making equipment, tea accessories and sugar.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrant Patsy Albonese. Greenwich Village at the time was experiencing an influx of Italian immigrants, who established businesses to cater to their dietary needs. Albanese named her shop after the well-known Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - - a drink that was so famous at the time that even the Pope drank it.

Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from around the world at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. Porto Rico also roasts their own beans and provides wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, current owner and president, was raised in the family bakery on Bleecker Street, where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. The owner continues to run the shop in the same way like his father and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

It is located along Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both a cafe and a roaster. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 began roasting in a fourth-floor loft around the corner at their new location in 2011 under the name Lofted coffee beans bulk buy (with local clients including Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart service Peddler).

Sey's decision to buy micro-lots or whole harvests from single farmers has earned it the praise of New York City coffee enthusiasts. Last year they made a 6-bag micro-lot purchase of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai 785 from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were harvested at their 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 coffee with hints of berry lemongrass and melon.

Sey's commitment extends beyond its shop to improve the overall well-being of staff and growers, and customers. It uses biodegradable disposables and composts to keep waste out of landfills and converting it to agents that lower harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, a move that puts baristas in a position to support their livelihoods and motivate them to focus on their craft.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. It started with a small shop and a committed team. Their honest and creative approach to delivering an extraordinary coffee experience earned them a following that was not only in their hometown, but globally.

La Carba has a rigorous procedure for locating their ideal beans, going through hundreds of different lots every year to find ones that are perfect for their tastes. They then roast them very lightly, dialing in 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 coffee lovers for its meticulous pour overs and baked goods, which are overseen by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.

The shop employs the La Marzocco Modbar as well as the cups, plates, and bowls are custom-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 varieties of coffee each year, and usually has seven or eight coffees available at any given moment.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit retailer of coffee roasts and brews coffee on site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than an hour. It scour countries far and wide for the highest rated coffee beans-grade specialty beans that are directly sourced, offering customers choice and quality.

Their on-site roaster utilizes fluid bed technology that is quite different from the drum-type machines commonly found in most UK coffee shops. The beans are blown into a heated container with high-speed air, which is circulated. This keeps the beans suspended and ensures a consistent roasting speed.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was delicious with a an enveloping mouthfeel, dark chocolate aroma was present, and the coffee began to cool as you sip the coffee. The subtle scents of citrus fruit were detected.

The coffee that has been roasted is whisked to the store's Eversys brewing machines that are super-automatic and can be the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in less than a minute. Customers can pick from a selection of nine single origin choices and a wide range of blends.

Parlor expensive coffee beans

Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop with one espresso machine in a single group, Parlor coffee beans for sale has become an energizing roastery whose coffees are found at great cafes, restaurants and home brewers throughout the city. Parlor is committed to sourcing top-quality beans from all over the world, each of which has been through a long and difficult journey before reaching the roasters.

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

They roast and create their own blends and single-origins (there were six at the time I was there), but they also offer cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as an artisanal tasting room in which you can smell and taste the beans, from chocolaty to earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). They're off the beaten track but are it's worth the trip.