How to Distinguish Peaberries from Regular Coffee Beans - Do Peaberries Really Offer a More Enjoyable Flavor Profile?

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Pea-berry Coffee Beans

During the development of coffee fruit, the seeds inside (i.e., coffee beans) split into two pieces, with the flat sides facing inward and the curved sides facing outward. This type of coffee bean is called a "flat bean" and is the most common form, known as the female bean. Seeds that do not develop well and do not split grow independently inside the fruit shell, maintaining a complete elliptical shape. These are called "round beans" and are considered male beans.

The English name for flat beans is "Flat Bean," and for round beans is "Pea-berry." This doesn't seem to have much to do with the male-female terminology, does it?

Coffee flowers are plants that possess both male and female organs simultaneously, belonging to the Rubiaceae family of the Gentianales order. Before roasting, coffee beans themselves are the core seeds of coffee fruit. They can grow on their own when they fall into the soil, and even a single tree can produce coffee fruit.

Therefore, the distinction between male and female beans is purely fabricated imagination.

Three Main Reasons for Pea-berry Formation

There are approximately three reasons why pea-berries form:

1. Growing at the very tip of coffee tree branches may lead to the formation of pea-berries inside the coffee fruit.
2. Due to survival competition and nutrient acquisition, one bean "consumes" another bean, resulting in a pea-berry.
3. During the growth process of coffee fruit, damage from pests and diseases leads to incomplete internal development, resulting in pea-berry formation.

On a single coffee tree, pea-berries account for only about 5%-10%. Astute merchants separate pea-berries for individual sale, and due to their rarity, they can fetch higher prices.

Do Pea-berries Taste Better?

Thanks to their round shape, pea-berries roll more easily during roasting, allowing for more even heat distribution. Therefore, most people find that roasted pea-berries have superior flavor characteristics.

In reality, the coffee we typically drink is a mixture of both pea-berries and flat beans. Moreover, coffee flavor expression varies due to factors such as harvest time, processing methods, and roasting techniques. In summary, what suits you best is what matters most.

Additional Knowledge

There are two ovules in the ovary of a coffee flower. Because coffee is self-pollinating, the pollination rate is extremely high. Usually, both ovules are successfully pollinated and develop into coffee berries containing two seeds (flat beans).

FrontStreet Coffee's Mission

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research center dedicated to sharing knowledge about coffee with everyone. Our unrestrained sharing aims to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Furthermore, we hold three low-discount coffee events every month because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible prices. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years!

Important Notice :

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