Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're an avid coffee drinker, then you should go to a coffee shop. These shops sell a range of whole beans from around the world. These stores also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other items.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee shop that concentrates on international brews, loose teas and a selection.

The aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air once you walk into this West Village shop. Open bags of dark-brown beans are stacked on the shelves along with sugar jars coffee-making equipment, tea and other accessories.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrants Patsy Albonese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increasing number of Italian immigrants who set up businesses to cater to their culinary needs. Albanese named her shop after the famous Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - - a drink that was so popular that even the Pope drank 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. Porto Rico also roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

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

Sey Coffee

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

Sey's commitment to buying micro-lots, and even whole harvests, from farmers who are one has earned it the praise of New York City coffee enthusiasts. 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 harvested at the peak of ripeness, and then steamed to eliminate any defects. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a blend that is fragrant with hints of the melon and berry.

Sey's commitment to holistically improving the quality of life for staff, customers, and growers extends beyond the store. It uses biodegradable disposables and composts, keeping waste out of landfills and turning it into substances that reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also eliminates gratuity. This allows baristas to concentrate on their craft and help sustain their livelihoods.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee bean near me company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small shop and a team of dedicated employees. Their honesty and ingenuity to delivering a truly exceptional coffee experience earned them a following, not just in their own town but also around the world.

La Carba follows a strict procedure to find their perfect beans. They scour hundreds of varieties each year in order to find beans that meet their standards. They roast them in a light style before dialing them in to achieve their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees more clarity and a better taste.

The East Village store opened last October with a sleek minimalist design. It's been praised by international coffee enthusiasts for its scrumptious pour-overs and baked goods that 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 plates and cups are custom-designed at Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, a father and son studio. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees per day and typically has seven or eight varieties on offer at any time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Barista coffee beans

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit retailer of coffee that roasts on site and brews to order with each cup of coffee beans types being roasted and brewed according to your preferences in less than a minute. It searches countries far and far for the finest quality specialty beans that are directly sourced providing customers with choice and quality.

Their onsite roaster is a fluid bed machine which is different from classic drum machines used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown around in the heated box by high quality coffee beans-speed air which keeps the beans in a suspended state and allows them to be roasted at a consistent rate throughout the machine.

I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was velvety and rich with a smooth taste. Dark chocolate was evident from the aroma, and as you sip the organic coffee beans you could smell subtle citrus fruit flavors.

The coffee that has been roasted is transported to the store's Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in under a minute. Customers can select from nine single origin options and a wide range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

The company was founded in 2012 at the back of a barbershop that had one espresso machine in a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a burgeoning roastery whose beans are found at great restaurants, cafes and home brewers across the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to procuring the highest-quality beans, which have been through a lengthy journey before arriving at its roasters.

According to their own words the owners "have a relentless passion for craft and a belief that great coffee should be available to everyone." They do just this by putting their home-like area on a residential street. Think compost bins, a chalkboard welcome handmade up-cycled items, and low-frills deco.

They roast and make their own blends and single-origins (there were six while I was there) Also, they hold cuppings on Sundays, and are open to the public. Think of it like a brewery tasting room--you can smell and taste the ground beans, ranging from chocolaty earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). It's a bit off the beaten path, but worth the journey.