Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops
If you are a coffee enthusiast, you should visit a coffee shop. These stores offer a wide variety of beans that are whole from all over the world. They also offer unique kitchenware and trinkets.
Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Others offer large quantities of coffee beans at their retail stores.
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Veteran coffee retailer specializing international brews, as well as a variety of loose teas
The aroma of freshly roasted beans fills the air as you walk into this West Village shop. The shelves are lined with jars and sacks of dark brown beans, with coffee beans in bulk-making equipment, tea accessories, and sugar.
The first restaurant opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an influx of Italian immigrants who set up businesses to serve their culinary requirements. Albanese named the shop after the popular Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold – a beverage that was so renowned that at the time, even the Pope would drink it.
Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from all over the world at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. The company roasts its own beans and offers 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 was the owner of Porto Rico. He still runs the shop in the same manner as his father and grandfather.
Sey Coffee
Sey Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster, is located along Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood, located in Brooklyn’s Bushwick district is situated on Grattan Street. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in the fourth-floor loft located 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 single farmers has earned him the respect of New York City coffee enthusiasts. The last time Sey was in the market, he purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil’s Espirito-Santo region. The beans were carefully picked at the peak of ripeness, then floated to eliminate any defects, then dry fermented for 36 hours prior to being dried on the farm. The result is a cup with hints of the melon and berry.
Sey’s dedication extends beyond its shop to improve the overall well-being of staff and farmers, as well as its customers. It makes use of composts and biodegradable disposables in order to ensure that waste is kept out of the landfills. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases and helps nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, a move that puts baristas in a position to help sustain their livelihoods and encourage them to concentrate on their profession.
La Cabra
La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee beans bulk brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. It began with a tiny store and a dedicated team. Their innovative and honest approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a devoted following, not just in their home town, but worldwide.
La Carba follows a strict process to find their perfect beans. They search through hundreds of varieties every year to select the beans that best match their ideals. They roast them in a very light manner and dial the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This results in more clarity and a better taste.
The East Village store opened last October with a sleek and minimalist design. It’s been praised by coffee enthusiasts for its scrumptious 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 a La Marzocco modbar, and the cups and plates are designed specifically for Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, which is a father-son studio. In a recent interview Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different types of coffee beans of coffee per day, and has usually seven or eight coffees available at any given time.
The Roasting Plant coffee beans to buy
The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit coffee retailer that roasts its own coffee and brews on demand, with each cup of coffee roasting and brewed according to your requirements in less than an hour. It scour countries far and across the globe for the highest-quality specialty beans that are directly sourced that provide customers with a choice and high-quality.
Their on-site roaster is an automatic fluid bed machine which is different from the traditional drum machines that are used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown inside a heated container with high-speed, circulating air. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a consistent roasting speed.
I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was very rich with a velvety mouthfeel, dark chocolate aroma was evident and the coffee began to cool as you sip, subtle flavours of citrus fruit were detected.
The Coffee Bean Shop coffee is transported to the store’s Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in just a few minutes. Customers can select from nine single origins and several blends.
Parlor Coffee
The company was founded in 2012 at the back of a barbershop, complete with one espresso machine in a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans are sold at top cafes, restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to sourcing the highest quality beans that have been through a lengthy journey before reaching its roasters.
The owners, who self-described as “passionate about their craft and believe that good coffee should be available to everyone,” have created a environment that is simple with chalkboards, compost bins, up-cycled hand-made products, and low-frills decor.
They roast and make their own blends and single-origins (there were six on the menu when I was there) They also hold cuppings on Sundays, and are open to the public. Imagine it as a tasting area where you can taste and smell the ground beans. They are a mix of earthy and chocolate (one was similar to tomato!). It’s a little away from the main roads, but it’s worth the drive.