What Is the Full Name of Peaberry Coffee Beans? The Difference Between Flat Beans and Peaberries Is More Complex Than It Appears

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FrontStreet Coffee: Introduction to Round Beans and Flat Beans

When coffee cherries are harvested and the outer skin is peeled off, we typically see the situation shown in the picture below - two semi-circular beans, one side curved and one side flat, with the flat sides of the two beans tightly pressed together forming a round shape. We call beans in this form "flat beans."

Coffee green beans are generally predominantly flat beans, but sometimes in a bag of roasted coffee beans, we occasionally find a few round beans, which we call round beans or Peaberry (PB).

Regarding the flavor of round beans, coffee enthusiasts have their own interpretations. Round beans are plump and round, and during their growth, they absorb the essence of two beans into one body. Therefore, in theory, the flavor of round beans is richer and more prominent compared to flat beans.

There are many reasons for the formation of round beans. First, coffee round beans usually grow at the tips of branches, where there's a higher probability of formation. They generally account for only 5-10% of the total yield of an entire tree. Another reason is that during the growth process of coffee beans, due to environmental disturbances (malnutrition, drought, pests and diseases, etc.), the coffee fruit cannot develop two flat beans normally. Coffee is a dicotyledonous plant. Usually, when developing two or more cotyledons, because one of the two flat beans is not strong enough in growth, the stronger one takes away more nutrients and becomes a round bean, while the other withers and stops developing. As shown in the picture below, coffee beans grow in a "twin" manner, where one stops developing, and the stronger one grows into a round bean.

Coffee beans are the fruit of the coffee tree. Under normal circumstances, a single fruit contains two coffee beans, which is called Type I (form 1), generally referred to as flat beans. However, due to the aforementioned factors, some fruits will become single beans when mature. These oval-shaped single beans are colloquially called "peaberry," which is Type II (form 2). Compared to Type II, Type I is sometimes colloquially called "female beans" in Chinese, but in reality, the two are just differences in the growth form of coffee beans, not gender differences. This Chinese colloquialism can easily mislead coffee enthusiasts.

Peaberry is a variant of coffee beans, mainly referring to Peaberry or caracoli, also called small round beans, while "peaberry" is just a Chinese colloquialism. Botanically, peaberry can be considered a defect. Generally, coffee beans have two cotyledons, but peaberry has only one, also known as single beans. A single cotyledon absorbs more nutrients, making the color and shape of the coffee beans fuller, and the brewed coffee continuously fragrant. Due to their relatively small quantity, they are known as "dream coffee."

Knowledge Point

There are two ovules in the ovary of a coffee flower. Because it 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).

In Summary

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