Porto Rico Coffee is one of those places that makes you feel good the second you walk in the door. A coffee (and tea) classic for New Yorkers who have a big love for a Cup O’ Joe. Porto Rico’s flagship location on Bleecker Street is the first stop for many of us downtown dwellers on our walk to work in the morning or before we grab the Sunday paper.
It is where we meet up with friends to grab a light roast with soy or an Earl Grey before a long walk through the park. In other words, it is part of the fabric of our downtown New York City life. I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter, whose family has been running Porto Rico for well over a century. I hope that you enjoy learning about all things Porto Rico then, now, and for the future as much as I did.
Dana – What year was Porto Rico founded and which location was the first location?
Peter – Porto Rico was founded in 1907 by Patsy Albanase. The store at some point moved across the street to 195 Bleecker, and then back again. 201 Bleecker street has been home to Porto Rico since at least 1917. The current iteration of the store has been this way since 1975 when my father took it over from his father. Our most recent renovation was in 2023.
Who handles the bean selection and roasting and how often does Porto Rico get new flavors?
We offer premum examples of specialty coffees grown from most major coffee producing countries on earth, and we break them down geographically for our customers. We bring on some specialties when we find fun or interesting varieties or coffees produced with interesting processes.
We roast daily like a bakery, and cup coffees often to keep the quality exceptional. We offer a variety of blends and offer custom blending to our customers as our stock and trade.
You have many regular customers, what part does the community play in the spirit of Porto Rico?
Porto Rico is a very local establishment, which prides itself on staying “in stasis” as time passes and the world changes. Its very “village” oriented, and a lot of our customers are locals whom parents were customers, and so on and so forth.
You also have tea, how much of the business is tea vs coffee and what is a favorite coffee bean choice and tea choice?
I would say that we really try to be a House which provides all things coffee and tea related. Like our coffees, we maintain excellent examples of commonly consumed teas of all varieties.
We carry Greens, Blacks, herbals, and a good batch of spices and herbs. We sell more coffee than we do tea, but we sell a healthy volume. We produce our own Earl Grey in
house; as well as hand blend a number of our herbal and flavored black teas. I really think our Earl Grey is very good, but I personally drink Darjeeling’s like our 2nd Flush Margret’s Hope.
What are the plans for Porto Rico now and in the future?
Keep roasting coffee! Our biggest goal is to keep the store as historical as possible while offering contemporary coffees and coffee related equipment. Just because the store is old doesn’t mean the selection has to become “old school”. We try to stay on the bleeding edge of coffee, and see ourselves working to maintain our pedigree that our customers have grown to know and love.
Since New Yorkers love their coffee, do you feel that it is special to bring it to them, and what makes you want to keep the business going
year after year?
I, as well as the other members of our family, live and breathe Porto Rico. I grew up here, I met my wife here, I have children that run about here. We work hard to provide the best quality coffees and teas with a really really good edge for customer service; emphasis on Custom. We do a lot of hand holding, and special deliveries, and notekeeping for individual customers.
We pride ourselves on being a place where people can come in and get their “regular.” The world is constantly changing and growing and New York as a City has its ebbs and flows; but Porto Rico remains constant.
Awesome article!