gourmet coffee beans
If you're an avid coffee drinker, you should go to a coffee shop. These shops offer a variety of whole beans from all over the globe. These stores also offer unique trinkets, kitchenware and other items.
Some of these shops offer subscriptions to their coffee beans. Others sell large quantities of coffee beans at their retail locations.
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Veteran coffee shop that specializes in international brews, as well as a variety of loose teas
The aroma of freshly roasted beans fills the air as you walk into this West Village shop. The sacks of dark brown beans line the shelves alongside jars of sugar coffee-making equipment, tea and other accessories.
Porto Rico was first opened in 1907 Porto Rico was founded by Italian immigrants Patsy Albanese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing an influx of Italian immigrants, who established businesses in order to meet their culinary needs. Albanese named her shop after the famous Puerto Rican coffee she imported (and sold) - a beverage 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 globe at three locations in New York City including their Bleecker Street location, Essex Market and online. The company roasts its own beans and offers wholesale distribution to 350 restaurants in NYC and Brooklyn.
Peter Longo, the current president and owner of the company, grew up above his family's bakery on Bleecker Street where his father operated Porto Rico. The business is still run by the business in the same manner as his father 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. 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 2011. They named it Lofted Coffee. Local clients included Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart services Peddler and Peddler.
Sey's preference for buying micro-lots, or even whole harvests, from single farmers has earned it the praise of New York City coffee enthusiasts. In the past they made a 6-bag micro-lot purchase of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai 785 from Brazil's Espirito Santo region. The beans were hand-picked at peak ripeness, floated to get rid of any imperfections and dried fermented for 36 hours prior to being dried on the farm. The result is a cup with hints of berry melon and lemongrass.
Sey's mission extends beyond the shop to improve the overall health of employees and growers as well as customers. It utilizes biodegradable disposables as well as composts to keep waste out of the landfill and converting it into substances that reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and feed the soil. It also prevents gratuities. This lets baristas focus on their craft and help sustain their livelihoods.
La Cabra
La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. The company began with a small store and a dedicated team. Their honest and creative approach to providing a unique coffee experience earned them a following not only in their hometown, but globally.
La Carba follows a strict procedure to identify their ideal beans. They go through hundreds of varieties each year in order to select the beans that best meet their standards. Then they roast them in a very light style before dialing the roast to create their desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees a greater clarity and a more vibrant taste.
The East Village store opened last October with a sleek, minimalist design. It has been praised worldwide by coffee enthusiasts for its scrumptious 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 plates and cups are custom-designed at Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, the son and father studio. In a recent Q&A interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops, General Manager Ian Walla reveals that La Cabra serves about 250 different varieties of coffee each year, and usually has seven or eight varieties available at any given time.
The Roasting Plant Coffee
The Roasting Plant A multi-unit retailer of coffee, roasts and brews coffee on-site. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your specifications in less than one second. It scour the globe for the finest specialty beans that are sourced directly offering customers a the choice and quality.
The roaster on site uses fluid bed technology which is quite different from the classic drum-type machines used in the majority of UK coffee houses. The beans are blown about in an enclosed box heated by high-speed air that keeps the green beans suspended and allows roasting to happen at a consistent rate as they move through the machine.
I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was rich and velvety with a smooth taste. Dark chocolate was evident in the aroma, and as you sipped the coffee you could detect subtle citrus fruit aromas.
The coffee is then be transferred to the store's Eversys Super-Automatic brewing Machines and brewed according your specifications 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 morphed into a flourishing coffee roastery, whose coffee beans are sold in top cafes restaurants, cafes, and home brewers in every city. Parlor Coffee is committed to finding the finest quality beans, which have been through a lengthy journey before arriving at its roasters.
The owners, who are self-described as "passionate about the craft and believe that a good cup of coffee should be accessible to all," have created a place that is a bit more grounded 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, however they also hold cuppings on Sundays that are accessible to the public. Think of it like a brewery tasting room--you can smell and taste the beans, ranging from chocolaty to earthy (one was very tomato-like!). They're away from the tourist trail, but worthwhile to visit.
