Mathew Deshotel

Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee connoisseur then you'll want to try out a coffee bean shop. These shops offer a broad assortment of whole beans from all across the globe. They also sell unique trinkets and kitchenware.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee seller who specializes in international brews, loose teas and a selection.

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

Originally opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was experiencing an influx Italian immigrants, who established businesses to meet their food requirements. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so renowned that at the time, even the Pope would drink 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 also roasts its own beans and provides wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

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

Sey Coffee

Sey Coffee, a coffee roaster and shop, is located along Grattan Street, in Morgantown. The neighborhood, which is part of Brooklyn's Bushwick district is situated on Grattan Street. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their 33-year-old co-founders began roasting coffee in an apartment on the fourth floor just around the corner in the year 2011. They dubbed it Lofted premium coffee beans. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin, and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.

Sey's preference for micro-lots or even whole harvests from a single farmer has earned it the respect of discerning New York City coffee aficionados. 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 handpicked at peak ripeness and floated to remove defects and then dried fermented for 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a unroasted coffee beans that has hints of berry and melon.

Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall well-being of staff and farmers, as well as its customers. It makes use of biodegradable plastics and composts to keep waste out of landfills and turning it into substances that help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also removes gratuities. This lets baristas focus on their craft and to earn a living.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company that was founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small shop and a dedicated team. Their innovative and honest approach to providing an outstanding coffee experience has earned them a devoted fan base not just in their local area but all over the world.

La Carba has a rigorous procedure for locating their ideal beans, scouring through hundreds of different varieties every year to find ones that are perfect for their tastes. Then they roast them in a very light manner then dial the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This results in an enhanced taste and clarity.

The East Village store opened last October with a sleek and minimalist style, and has been praised worldwide by coffee lovers for its precise 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 is equipped with a La Marzocco modbar and the cups and plates are made by Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, the son and father studio. In a recent Q&A with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves around 250 different coffees a year, and typically has seven or eight varieties available at any given time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant unroasted coffee beans wholesale

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit coffee retailer that roasts its own bulk buy coffee beans and brews according to your preferences, with every cup of coffee being roasted and brewed according to your preferences in less than one minute. It searches the world far for the finest quality specialty beans that are directly sourced providing customers with choice and quality.

The roaster on site uses fluid bed technology that is a bit different to the drum-type machines commonly found in most UK coffee houses. The beans are blown into a heated container with high-speed, circulating air. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was very rich with an enveloping 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 is transported to the Eversys super-automatic brewing machines and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences within less than a minute. Customers can select from nine single origin selections and a range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

It was founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop equipped with one espresso machine in a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a growing roastery, whose beans are available at top cafes, restaurants and home brewers in the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to procuring the finest quality beans, which have been through a lengthy journey before they reach its roasters.

According to their own words, they "have an unrelenting love of craft and a conviction that good coffee should be available to anyone." They achieve that with their down-to-earth streetscape that is a mix of residential and commercial. Think compost bins, chalkboard welcome hand-made up-cycled goods, and a simple deco.

They medium roast coffee beans and create their own blends as well as single-origins (there were six while I was there) Also, they offer cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room, where you can smell and taste the beans that are ground. They vary from earthy to chocolaty (one was similar to tomato!). It's a little off the beaten path but worth the trip.