The 10 Most Terrifying Things About Coffee Bean Shop

Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're a coffee lover then you'll want to visit a coffee bean shop. These stores provide a large selection of whole beans from all over the world. They also offer unique kitchenware and trinkets.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

Veteran coffee seller specializing in international brews and a selection of loose teas

When you step into this old-school West Village shop, the scent of freshly coffee beans fills your nostrils. The shelves are lined with jars and sacks of dark brown beans, along with tea-making equipment, coffee accessories, and sugar.

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrant Patsy Albonese. At the time, Greenwich Village was seeing an increasing number of Italian immigrants who set up businesses to meet their culinary requirements. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a drink that was so famous 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 roasts its own beans and provides wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.

Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the business was raised on the top floor of his family's bakery located on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. The business is still run by the shop in the same fashion as his father did and grandfather.

Sey Coffee

Located along Grattan Street in Morgantown, Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, Sey Coffee is both an espresso bar and a coffee roaster. Co-founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33 started roasting in a fourth-floor loft just around the corner from their new shop 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, or even whole harvests, from single farmers 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 picked at their peak ripeness and then floated to eliminate any defects. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a cup with hints of berry, melon and lemongrass.

Sey's commitment goes beyond its shop to improve the overall health of staff and farmers, as well as its customers. It makes use of biodegradable disposables and composts, keeping waste out of the landfill and converting it into agents that lower harmful greenhouse gases and enrich the soil. It also eliminates gratuity. This lets baristas concentrate on their work and to earn a living.

La Cabra

La Cabra, a modern specialty coffee company, was founded in Aarhus in Denmark in 2012. They started with a small store and a committed staff. Their honesty and ingenuity to delivering a truly exceptional coffee experience has earned them a following that was not only in their own town but all over the world.

La Carba follows a strict process to find their perfect beans. They scour hundreds of varieties each year to find the ones that best match their ideals. Then they roast them in a light style then dial the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This results in clearer and more vibrant taste.

The East Village store opened last October, with a minimalist and sleek design. It's been praised by global coffee aficionados for its exacting pour-overs and baked goods supervised by head baker Jared Sexton, who's previously worked at Bien Cuit and Dominique Ansel.

The shop employs a La Marzocco modbar and the plates and cups are designed by Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, a father and son studio. In a recent Q&A session with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves around 250 different coffees per year, and usually has seven or eight different varieties available at any given time.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is the only multi-unit coffee retailer that roasts its own coffee and brews to order, with each cup of coffee being roasted and brewed to your specifications in less than one minute. It searches the globe for the highest rated coffee beans quality specialty beans that are sourced directly, giving customers choice and quality.

The on-site roaster employs fluid bed technology which is quite different from the drum-type machines that are commonly used in many UK coffee beans price houses. The beans are blown through a heated container with high-speed air that is circulated. This keeps the beans suspended and allows for a constant roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran coffee and it was rich with a velvety mouthfeel, dark chocolate scent was evident and the coffee began to cool while you sipped and subtle aromas of citrus fruit were detected.

The roasted coffee will be poured into the store's Eversys Super-Automatic brewing Machines to be brewed according your preferences in less than a minute. Customers can pick from nine single origin options and a variety of blends.

Parlor Coffee

Parlor Coffee was founded in 2012 behind a barbershop, with a single espresso machine. It has since developed into a bustling coffee roastery, whose coffee beans can be found in great cafes as well as restaurants and home brewers across the city. Parlor is committed to procuring high-quality coffee beans from across the globe, each of which has endured a laborious journey before reaching the roasters.

The owners, who are self-described as "passionate about coffee 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, recycled handmade products, and low-frills decor.

They roast their own blends (there were six when I was there) and single-origins, but they also have cuppings on Sundays, which are open to the general public. Think of it like a brewery tasting room--you can smell and taste the beans, ranging from chocolaty to earthy (one was almost tomato-like!). It's a bit away from the main roads, but worth the journey.