Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops
If you're a coffee enthusiast, you should consider visiting a coffee shop. These shops offer a broad selection of whole beans from all across the globe. They also offer unique trinkets and kitchenware.
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 premium coffee beans retailer specializing international brews and a variety of loose teas
The scent of freshly roasted beans fills the air once you walk into this West Village shop. Open bags of dark-brown beans are displayed on the shelves alongside sugar jars coffee bean coffee-making equipment, tea and other accessories.
Originally opened in 1907, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing an influx of Italian immigrants, who set up businesses to cater to their culinary needs. Albanese named her shop after the well-known Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) the beverage was so popular that even the Pope consumed it.
Porto Rico offers 130 different varieties of beans, which includes beans from all over the world, at three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market, and online. Porto Rico also roasts their own beans and offers wholesale distribution for 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn and Brooklyn.
Peter Longo, the current owner and president of the company was raised above his family's bakery located on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. The business is still run by the shop in a similar way to his father and grandfather.
Sey Coffee
Sey Coffee, a coffee roaster and shop, is located along Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood, located in Brooklyn's Bushwick district is situated on Grattan Street. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their 33-year-old co-founders started roasting coffee in an apartment on the fourth floor, just around the corner in the year 2011. They named it Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.
Sey's commitment to buying micro-lots or whole harvests, from single farmers has earned him the respect of New York City coffee enthusiasts. Last year, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai, a Brazilian coffee from the Espirito-Santo region. The beans were harvested at the peak of ripeness, and steamed to remove any imperfections. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a coffee with hints of berry lemongrass and melon.
Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall health of staff and growers, as well as its customers. It uses composts and biodegradable disposables to keep waste out of landfills. This helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, which places baristas in the position to help sustain their livelihoods and inspire them to concentrate 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 dedicated team. Their honest and innovative approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal following not just in their own town but also around the world.
La Carba follows a strict method to select their best beans. They scour through hundreds of lots each year to find those that best meet their ideals. They then roast them very lightly, adjusting their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees an enhanced taste and clarity.
The East Village store opened last October with a sleek minimalist design. It has been praised by global barista coffee beans aficionados for its exacting 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 uses the La Marzocco modbar and the cups and plates are designed specifically for Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, an artist-run by a father and son. In a recent Q&A session with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves approximately 250 different coffees per year, and typically has seven or eight coffees available at any given point.
The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee
The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit coffee retailer roasts and brews the coffee on site. Each cup is brewed and roasted according to your preferences in less than one second. It searches the world for the highest-grade specialty beans that are sourced directly to give customers the option of choices and high-quality.
Their onsite roaster uses fluid bed technology that is quite different from the classic drum-type machines used in many UK coffee houses. The beans are blown around in a heated container by high-speed air, which keeps the green beans suspended and allows roasting to happen at a consistent rate throughout the machine.
I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was very rich with velvety mouthfeel. Dark chocolate aromas were present. The coffee began to cool as you sipped delicate citrus flavours fruit were detected.
The coffee that has been roasted is whisked to the store's Eversys super-automatic brewing equipment and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in under a minute. Customers can choose from nine single origin options and a wide range of blends.
Parlor Coffee
Founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop equipped with an espresso machine that was single-group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans can be found in top restaurants, cafes and home brewers all over the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to sourcing the highest-quality beans, which have all undergone a long journey before they reach its roasters.
According to their own words the owners ”have an unrelenting love of craft and a belief that good quality coffee beans coffee should be accessible to everyone.” They achieve this with their earthy area on a residential street. Think compost bins, a chalkboard welcome, handmade up-cycled products and a minimalist deco.
(Image: https://cdn.freshstore.cloud/offer/images/778/151/napoli-1kg-italian-blend-roasted-coffee-beans-intense-dark-persistent-151.jpg)They roast and brew their own blends and single-origins (there were six when I was there), but they also offer cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting area where you can taste and smell the beans as they are roasted. They vary from earthy to chocolatey (one was similar to tomato!). It's a little off the beaten path, but worth the journey.
