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11 Ways To Completely Sabotage Your Coffee Bean Shop
Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee enthusiast, you should visit a coffee shop. They offer a wide selection of whole beans from around the world. They also sell exclusive trinkets, kitchenware and other products.

Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Some shops sell the beans in bulk.

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee vendor specializing in international brews and a variety of loose teas

When you enter this old-school West Village shop, the aroma of freshly roasting beans fills the air. Open sacks of dark-brown beans line 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 influx of Italian immigrants who opened businesses to cater to their culinary needs. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so popular in the moment that the Pope would drink it.

Porto Rico offers 130 different kinds of beans, including beans from all over the world located in 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, current owner and president, grew up in the family bakery on Bleecker Street, where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He still runs the business in the same way as his grandfather and father.

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 began 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 preference for buying micro-lots, or even entire harvests, from single farmers has earned it the praise of New York City coffee enthusiasts. In the past, Sey bought a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai from Brazil's Espirito-Santo region. The beans were carefully picked at their peak ripeness, removed by flotation to eliminate defects, then dry fermented for 36 hours prior to being dried on the farm. The result is a coffee that is fragrant with hints of berry and melon.

Sey's goal of holistically improving the health of growers, staff and customers extends beyond the retail store. It uses composts and biodegradable plastics to ensure that waste is kept out of the landfills. This helps reduce greenhouse gases and nourish the soil. It also removes gratuities. This lets baristas concentrate on their craft and to earn a living.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee brand, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. It began with a tiny store and a dedicated staff. Their innovative and honest approach to providing an exceptional coffee experience has earned them a loyal following, not just in their own town and across the globe.

La Carba follows a strict procedure to find their perfect beans. They scour hundreds of varieties every year in order to find beans that meet their ideals. They roast them in a very light manner before dialing the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This gives their coffees an enhanced taste and clarity.

The East Village store, which opened in October last year was praised for its excellent pour overs and baked goods, overseen by Jared Sexton. He previously worked at Bien Cuit, Dominique Ansel and other coffee establishments.

The shop employs the La Marzocco Modbar and the cups, plates and bowls are crafted by Wurtz ceramics, a father/son studio in Horsens. In a recent Q&A interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves approximately 250 different coffees a year, and typically has seven or eight varieties available at any given moment.

The Plant Coffee Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant, a multi-unit coffee retailer roasts and brews coffee on site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your requirements in less than an hour. 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 roaster on site is a fluid bed machine that is distinct from the classic drum machines used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown in a heated container with 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 rich and velvety with a rich and velvety taste. Dark chocolate was evident from the aroma. And as coffee beans types sip the coffee you could taste subtle citrus fruit flavours.

The coffee that has been roasted is whisked to the Eversys super-automatic brewing systems and the coffee is brewed according to your preferences in just a few minutes. Customers can pick from nine single origin selections and a range of blends.

Parlor Coffee

It was founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop, complete with an espresso machine that was single-group, Parlor Coffee has become a rapidly growing roastery whose beans can be found in top cafes, restaurants and home brewers throughout the city. Parlor is committed to sourcing the highest-quality beans around the globe, each of which has been through a long and difficult journey before getting into the hands of its roasters.

The owners, who self-described as "passionate about their craft and believe that a good cup of coffee should be accessible to everyone," have created a space that is down-to earth, with chalkboards, compost bins, up-cycled handmade products, and low-frills decor.

They roast their own blends (there were six at the time I was there) and single-origins. However, they also have cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the public. Think of it like a brewery tasting room--you can smell and taste the beans, from chocolatey to earthy (one was very tomato-like!). They're a bit off the beaten path, but it's worth the trip.