In the world of coffee, there’s a tremendous amount of judging-a-book-by-its-cover that goes on, and there’s a lot to scrutinise before a drop of coffee has even passed your lips.
Having taken home your coffee of choice after thoroughly reviewing packaging and tasting notes, you might then be presented with another, slightly more unexpected point of differentiation -really tiny beans.
Since many of us are familiar with the appearance of coffee beans, the fact that our beans are significantly smaller than usual may spark curiosity, and even concern in some cases. If you’ve purchased coffee beans that seem smaller than they should, chances are, you’ve picked up some peaberry beans.
Avoided by mainstream producers, but revered by speciality coffee roasters, what’s the deal with peaberries?
What are peaberry coffee beans?
Peaberries occur as a random mutation within a coffee cherry - the fruiting body of the coffee tree.
Typically, within each cherry, two seeds are found that resemble two halves of one whole. With one rounded surface and the other more flat, these ‘flat berries’ are what most people traditionally associate with a coffee bean’s appearance.
However, occasional mutations occur within the cherry that mean that only one ‘half’ is fertilised. Although flat berries can still form in these conditions, the lack of another bean competing for space is more likely to result in a singular cherry that will often develop a rounder, pea-like form - hence the name!
While there is no clear answer on why these mutations occur, what we do know is that they account for approximately 5-7% of all coffee beans produced.
Where can peaberry coffee beans be found?
As a random mutation, peaberry beans can be found anywhere that coffee is grown. From our experience, certain countries tend to produce coffee with a higher peaberry yield than others, including Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
With research into the conditions required for peaberries to grow still in relative infancy, the jury’s out on what factors cause them to be more prominent within particular coffee nations. It could be related to climate, altitude, fertilisation techniques, soil type, or a delicate balance of all of the above.
Does peaberry coffee contain more caffeine than other types of coffee?
While some sources suggest that peaberry coffee may have slightly higher caffeine content than flatberry beans, like any coffee, peaberry coffee’s caffeine content can vary for several reasons.
When reviewing peaberry’s caffeine content, it’s important to remember that peaberry coffee can come from arabica and robusta beans (with robusta generally being higher in caffeine content), and even within these species, variation can be found. Caffeine content can change again depending on the roast, with darker roasts typically containing less caffeine than lighter roasts.
While this means that actual caffeine content in peaberry beans is highly variable, it would be accurate to say caffeine content per bean is higher in peaberry coffee due to the concentration of caffeine within a smaller bean. However, the difference in caffeine between a peaberry by weight and its equivalent flat berry would be fairly nominal, resulting in a minimal difference in coffee drinking experience.
Does peaberry coffee taste better?
This is the most important question, isn’t it? The short is an emphatic yes, but really, it depends who you ask.
Peaberries in mainstream coffee production
For general coffee drinking purposes, many consider bigger beans to be better, with stronger flavours and more intense aromas, but this isn’t necessarily true. The reality is that conditions such as processing methods, growing conditions and the variety of coffee plant do the heavy lifting in determining flavour.
A more likely reason for the shunning of peaberries within mainstream coffee production is their inability to be roasted en masse with flat berry beans. Coffee beans are screened by size, and as each additional screening size is applied, peaberries tend to be left at the bottom along with broken beans and other detritus, making their harvesting far more time-consuming.
Additionally, because of their smaller size, peaberries require wholly separate conditions; roasting them alongside flat berries is like putting every part of your dinner in the oven at the same time and expecting them all to be perfectly cooked.
Avoiding this mismatched roasting approach requires more effort and greater attention to detail, making it particularly challenging for coffee producers who prioritise affordability over quality. Therefore, peaberries are generally removed en masse (although the odd bean might still slip through).
Peaberry beans in speciality coffee
While increased production costs may deter mainstream coffee producers, this doesn’t render peaberries without value - far from it!
Peaberries have created a bit of a buzz among speciality coffee roasters because (and have even been used as a shorthand for a more high-brow coffee choice in The Sopranos!) despite popular preference, they appear to have a more impressive flavour profile than flat berries.
Anecdotally considered to be sweeter, brighter, cleaner and more intense in flavour, there’s yet to be any scientific confirmation of this trend (some say this is because the peaberry doesn’t need to ‘share’ nutrients with another flat bean, though this is also unconfirmed).
Based on our own experiences with these beans, however, the widespread consensus among speciality coffee roasters holds true, with peaberry coffees regularly attaining an SCA (Speciality Coffee Association) score over 80. Research suggests that this may be due to a more optimal shape for roasting.
Trying peaberry coffee for yourself
If we’ve piqued your curiosity about peaberry coffees and you’d like to try some for yourself, you’re in luck! At Dear Green, we’ve been lucky enough to have sampled and stocked several peaberry coffees among our single origin range, including our new Ethiopian Hamasho Peaberry, a natural processed coffee with a highly impressive88.5 SCA Score; in other words, an absolute belter!
Give it a go and let us know if, like us, you think peaberry coffee lives up to the hype!
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