The 10 Most Scariest Things About Coffee Bean Shop

Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee connoisseur then you'll want to try out a coffee bean shop. These stores offer a wide assortment of whole beans from all across the globe. They also sell unique kitchenware and trinkets.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Others sell large quantities of coffee beans at their retail stores.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee retailer specializing international brews as well as a range of loose teas

When you walk into this traditional West Village shop, the aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air. The shelves are filled with jars, sacks and dark brown beans, with tea-making equipment, coffee accessories and sugar.

In 1907, the first time it was opened, Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the coffee bean shop time was witnessing an influx of Italian immigrants, who established businesses in order to meet their culinary needs. Albanese named her shop after the well-known Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) the beverage was that was so well-known at the time that even the Pope was a fan.

Today, Porto Rico sells 130 varieties of beans from around the world at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. Porto Rico roasts their own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC, Brooklyn and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current owner and president of the company was raised on the top floor of his family's bakery on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He continues to run the business in the same fashion as his father did 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. Tobin Polk, Lance Schnorenberg and their co-founders, who are 33 years old, started roasting coffee in the loft on the fourth floor, just across the street in the year 2011. They dubbed it Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin, and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.

Sey's decision to buy micro-lots, or even entire harvests, from single farmers has earned it the respect of New York City coffee enthusiasts. In 2011, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were picked at the peak of ripeness, and floated to remove any defects. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup that has hints of berry and melon.

Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall wellbeing of staff and growers, as well as customers. It uses composts and biodegradable plastics to ensure that waste is kept out of the garbage dumps. This helps reduce greenhouse gases as well as nourish the soil. It also does away with gratuity, which puts baristas in a position to provide their livelihoods and motivate them to focus on their art.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee beans near me brand, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They started with a small store and a team of dedicated employees. Their open and creative approach to delivering a truly exceptional organic coffee beans experience earned them a following that was not only in their own 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 find the ones that best meet their ideals. They roast them in a very light style and dial them in to achieve 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 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 employs 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 Q&A session with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves around 250 different types of coffees each year, and typically has seven or eight different varieties available at any given time.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit retailer of coffee roasts and brews the coffee on site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your specifications within less than an hour. It searches the globe for the highest-grade specialty beans that are sourced directly offering customers a the option of choice and quality.

Their on-site roaster is an automatic fluid bed machine which is different from traditional drum machines that are used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown around in a heated container by high-speed air that keeps the beans suspended and allows roasting to happen at a consistent rate as they travel through the machine.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was delicious with a velvety mouthfeel. Dark chocolate scent was present and the coffee started to cool while you sipped, subtle flavours of citrus fruit were evident.

The roasted coffee is then whisked to the store's Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and it is brewed to your requirements in under a minute. Customers can pick from nine single origins as well as several blends.

Parlor Coffee

In 2012, the company was established in the back of a barbershop with an espresso machine with a single group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans are sold at top restaurants, cafes and home brewers in the city. Parlor is dedicated to sourcing top-quality beans from all over the world Each one has endured a laborious journey before it reaches the roasters.

The owners, who self-described as "passionate about craft and believe that a good cup of coffee should be available to everyone," have created a place that is a bit more grounded with chalkboards, compost bins and up-cycled products, and minimal decor.

They roast their own blends (there were six at the time I was there) and single-origins. But they also have cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the general public. Think of it like an artisanal tasting room in which you can smell and taste the ground beans, ranging from chocolaty to earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). It's a bit off the beaten path, but worth the journey.