Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops
If you are an avid coffee drinker, you must visit a coffee shop. These shops offer a variety of whole beans from around the globe. They also have unique trinkets and kitchenware.
Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Some shops offer them in bulk.
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Veteran coffee shop that specializes in international brews and a variety of loose teas
When you walk into this old-school West Village shop, the aroma of freshly coffee beans fills your nostrils. The shelves are filled with jars, sacks and dark brown beans, along with tea-making equipment, coffee accessories and sugar.
In 1907, the first time it was opened, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrant Patsy Albanese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increase in Italian immigrants who opened businesses to meet their culinary needs. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a beverage that was so famous that at the time, even the Pope would drink it.
Porto Rico offers 130 different kinds of beans, including those from around the world at three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market, and online. The company 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 way like his father and grandfather.
Sey Coffee
Sey Coffee, a coffee shop and roaster located on Grattan Street, in Morgantown. This neighborhood in Brooklyn's Bushwick district is located on Grattan Street. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33, started roasting in a fourth-floor loft just around the corner from their new location in 2011 under the name Lofted Coffee (with local clients including Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart service Peddler).
Sey's emphasis on buying micro-lots--or even whole harvests from single farmers has earned it the acclaim of highly discerning New York City coffee aficionados. Last year, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito Santa region. The beans were carefully picked at peak ripeness and floated to get rid of any imperfections and dried fermented for about 36 hours before being dried on the farm. coffee beans bristol is a coffee with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.
Sey's commitment to holistically improving the wellbeing of staff, growers and customers extends beyond the store. It uses composts and biodegradable disposables in order to keep waste from the landfills. This helps reduce greenhouse gases and nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, which puts baristas in a position to provide their livelihoods and inspire them to focus on their art.
La Cabra
La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was established in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a dedicated staff. Their honesty and ingenuity to delivering an extraordinary coffee experience earned their acclaim not just in their own town, but globally.
La Carba has a rigorous process to find their perfect beans, scouring through hundreds of different lots each year to identify the ones that match their ideals. They then roast them very light, adjusting the desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees a more vibrant taste and clarity.
The East Village store opened last October with a sleek and minimalist design. It has been praised by global coffee 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 utilizes the La Marzocco Modbar and the cups, plates, and bowls are custom-designed by Wurtz ceramics, a father/son studio located in Horsens. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different coffees per day and has typically seven or eight varieties on offer at any one time.
The Roasting Plant Coffee
The Roasting Plant A multi-unit retailer of coffee, roasts and brews its coffee on the spot. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your preferences in less than a second. It scour the globe for the highest quality specialty beans that are sourced directly providing customers with the choice and quality.
Their onsite roaster is an automatic fluid bed machine which is different from traditional drum machines commonly found in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown around in a heated box by high-velocity air that keeps the green beans in suspension 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 velvety taste. Dark chocolate was evident from the aroma. And as you sip the coffee there were subtle citrus fruit aromas.
The roasted coffee is then whisked to the store's Eversys brewing machines that are super-automatic and can be brewed to your specification in less than a minute. Customers can select from nine single origins and different blends.
Parlor Coffee
Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 behind a barbershop, equipped with a single group espresso machine. It has since evolved into a flourishing coffee roastery, whose beans are sold in top cafes, restaurants, and home brewers throughout the city. Parlor Coffee is committed to sourcing the highest quality beans that have all been through a long journey before arriving at its roasters.
The owners, who are self-described as "passionate about craft and believe that great coffee should be accessible to all," have created a space that is down-to earth with chalkboards, compost bins, up-cycled handmade products, and low-frills decor.
They roast and create their own blends as well as single-origins (there were six while I was there) However, 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 beans in the ground. They range from earthy to chocolatey (one was similar to tomato!). They're off the beaten path and worthwhile to visit.