The Reasons You're Not Successing At Coffee Bean Shop

Five Brooklyn Coffee Bean Shops

If you're an avid coffee drinker, then you should go to a coffee shop. These shops sell a range of whole beans from around the world. They also sell unique trinkets, kitchenware and other things.

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

Porto Rico Importing Co.

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

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

Porto Rico, originally opened in 1907 by Italian immigrants Patsy Albonese. Greenwich Village at the time was witnessing an influx of Italian immigrants, who had opened businesses in order to meet their food requirements. Albanese named the shop after the famous Puerto Rican Coffee she imported and sold - a beverage that was so well-known at the moment, even the Pope would drink it.

Porto Rico offers 130 different kinds of beans, including beans from all over the world in three locations, including Bleecker Street, Essex Market and online. The company also 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 above his family's bakery on Bleecker Street where his father was the owner of Porto Rico. He still runs the business in the same way as 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.  coffeee beans -founders Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, both 33, started roasting in a fourth-floor loft just around the corner at their new location in 2011 under the name Lofted Coffee (with local clients including Greenpoint's Budin and Soho cart service Peddler).

Sey's reliance on micro-lots -- or even whole harvests from single farmers earned it the praise of the most discerning New York City coffee aficionados. Last year, Sey purchased a six-bag micro lot of Danilo Dones Sitio Catucai, a Brazilian coffee from the Espirito-Santo region. The beans were harvested when they were ripe and steamed to remove any imperfections. They were then dried on the farm following a 36-hour dry fermentation. The result is a blend with hints of berry melon and lemongrass.

Sey's focus on holistically improving the quality of life for growers, staff and customers extends beyond the walls of the shop. It uses composts and biodegradable products to ensure that waste is kept out of landfills. This helps to reduce greenhouse gases and nourish the soil. It also eliminates gratuity, which puts baristas in a position to provide their livelihoods as well as encourage them to focus on their art.

La Cabra

La Cabra is a modern specialty coffee company founded in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. They began with a small shop and a dedicated team. Their honesty and ingenuity to providing a unique coffee experience earned them a following that was not only in their own town, but globally.

La Carba has a rigorous process to find their perfect beans, going through hundreds of different varieties every year to find ones that match their ideals. They roast them in a very light style and dial them in to achieve their desired flavor profile. This gives the coffees greater clarity and a more vibrant taste.

The East Village store opened last October with a sleek and minimalist design. It's been praised by global coffee lovers for its precise 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 uses the La Marzocco modbar and the cups and plates are custom-designed at Wurtz ceramics in Horsens, a father and son studio. In a recent interview with Atlanta Coffee Shops General Manager Ian Walla revealed that La Cabra serves 250 different types of coffee per day and has typically seven or eight different varieties available at any one time.

The Roasting Plant Coffee

The Roasting Plant is a multi-unit coffee retailer roasts and brews its coffee on the spot. Each cup is roasted and brewed according to your preferences in less than an hour. It is a search engine for the finest specialty beans that are sourced directly to give customers the option of choice and quality.

Their onsite roaster is a fluid bed machine, that is distinct from the classic drum machines used in UK coffee shops. The beans are blown in the heated box using high-speed air, which is circulated. This keeps the beans in suspension and allows for a constant roasting rate.

I tried the Sumatran Coffee and it was rich and velvety with a velvety flavor. Dark chocolate was evident from the aroma, and as you sip the coffee there were subtle citrus fruit aromas.

The coffee is whisked to the store's Eversys brewing machines that are super-automatic and can be you can have your coffee brewed to your specifications in just a few minutes. Customers can select from a selection of nine single origin choices and a variety of blends.

Parlor Coffee

It was founded in 2012 in the back of a barbershop, complete with one espresso machine in a single group, Parlor Coffee has become an energizing roastery whose coffees can be found in top restaurants, cafes and home brewers all over the city. Parlor Coffee is dedicated to sourcing only the highest-quality beans, that have all undergone a long journey before they reach its roasters.

In their own words in their own words, they "have a relentless passion for craft and believe that good coffee should be accessible to everyone." They do just that with their down-to-earth space on a residential street--think compost bins, chalkboard welcome, handmade up-cycled products and a minimalist deco.

They roast their own blends (there were six when I was there) and single-origins. However, they also have cuppings on Sundays that are open to the general public. Imagine it as a brewery tasting area where you can taste and smell the beans as they are roasted. They are a mix of earthy and chocolate (one was similar to tomato!). It's a bit off the beaten track, but worth the trip.