Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops
If you’re a coffee connoisseur then you’ll want to go to a coffee bean shop. They offer a wide selection of whole beans from all over the world. They also offer unique kitchenware and trinkets.
Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Others sell coffee beans in bulk at their retail stores.
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Veteran coffee vendor specializing in international brews as well as a range of loose teas
As you enter this quaint West Village shop, the aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air. The sacks of dark brown beans line the shelves, along with sugar jars as well as coffee-making equipment and tea accessories.
Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrants Patsy Albonese. Greenwich Village at the time was experiencing an influx of Italian immigrants, who established businesses to satisfy 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.
Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from around the globe at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. The company also roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.
Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the company, grew up above the bakery of his family on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. He still runs the shop in the same manner like his father and grandfather.
Sey Coffee
It is located on Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both a roaster and coffee shop. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their 33-year-old co-founders began roasting coffee beans bulk in the loft 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 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 hand-picked at the peak of ripeness, then floated to eliminate any defects and dried fermented for a period of 36 hours before being dried on the farm. The result is a cup with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.
Sey’s mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall wellbeing of growers and staff, as well as its customers. It makes use of biodegradable plastics and composts, preventing waste from landfills and turning it into substances that help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, which puts baristas in a position to sustain their livelihoods as well as encourage them to focus on their art.
La Cabra
La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee brand that was established in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small store and a team of dedicated employees. Their honest and creative approach to delivering an extraordinary coffee experience earned them a following that was not only in their home town but also around the world.
La Carba follows a strict process to find their perfect beans. They scour through hundreds of lots each year to select the beans that best fit their ideals. Then, they roast them in a very light style then dial the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees a more intense flavor and clarity.
The East Village store opened last October, with a minimalist and sleek design. It has been praised 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 utilizes the La Marzocco modbar, and the cups and plates are designed specifically for Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, the son and father studio. In a recent interview 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 different varieties available at any given time.
The Roasting Plant Coffee
The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit retailer of coffee beans delivery that roasts its own coffee and brews to order, with every cup of coffee roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than a minute. It searches far and far to find the finest, directly sourced specialty beans that offer customers a variety and high-quality.
The roaster on site uses fluid bed technology, which is quite different from the drum-type machines commonly found in many UK coffee houses. The beans are blown through the heated box using high-speed air, which is circulated. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a constant roasting rate.
I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was very rich with velvety mouthfeel. Dark chocolate from the fragrance was evident and the coffee began to cool as you sipped and subtle aromas of citrus fruit were evident.
The coffee is whisked to the Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and brewed to your specification in less than a minute. Customers can pick 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 growing roastery, whose beans can be found in top cafes, restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor is dedicated to procuring high-quality coffee beans from all over the world each of which has had to endure a lengthy journey before it reaches the roasters.
In their own words in their own words, they “have an unrelenting passion for craft and a belief that good coffee should be accessible to anyone.” They accomplish this by putting their home-like street space, which includes compost bins, chalkboards handmade up-cycled items, and a minimalist deco.
They roast their own blends (there were six when I was there) and single-origins, but they also have cuppings on Sundays, which are accessible to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting room where you can smell and taste the beans in the ground. They range from earthy to chocolatey (one was similar to tomato!). It’s a little off the beaten path but well worth the trip.