Kenya PB Grade? Flavor Profile Characteristics of Peaberry Coffee Beans - Kenya Coffee's 8 Grading System and Standards

Understanding Peaberry Coffee

Peaberry refers to a single coffee bean growing inside a coffee cherry instead of the usual two. Due to its rounder shape that minimizes sharp edges, it allows the berry to roll more easily in the roasting chamber and roast slightly more evenly, resulting in a very consistent flavor in the coffee.

The taste of Kenya Peaberry coffee is similar to Kenya AA coffee.

Kenya Peaberry (PB) coffee beans are a natural mutation in the coffee tree's reproductive cycle, occurring when a coffee cherry produces only one coffee bean instead of two. Peaberry beans must be hand-sorted after harvesting to separate the rounder, plumper beans from their flat counterparts. This increases the price of Peaberry, and some say that because there's only one bean, it gains more flavor, body, and sweetness during roasting.

Kenya Coffee Grading System

In the dry mill, coffee passes through a husker, thresher, and polisher before reaching the sorter where letters appear.

The sorter is a giant sieve that sorts grains by size. In this case, grades are physical parameters, not quality indicators.

Grade Classifications

AA: Screen 18 (15-20% of total production)

Kenya AA coffee beans grow at altitudes above 6,600 feet. Kenya AA is considered one of the world's finest specialty coffees.

Some Kenya AA coffees are light-bodied yet very bright, exhibiting floral aromatics. Flavors of passion fruit and wine often appear, almost always balanced by a crisp, refreshing acidity, which is one of the reasons it's considered among the world's finest gourmet coffees.

AB: Screen 16

Kenya AB coffee beans consist of both A and B coffee beans. Grade A is sorted using a 6.8mm screen, while Grade B uses a 6.2mm screen. These two bean types, A and B, are mixed together to form Kenya AB grade. Although not as valuable as Kenya AA, Kenya AB is also popular and rated as quality coffee. Typically, Kenya AB grade is the most abundant in specific shipments and serves as a representative for other grades.

C: Screen 15/10

PB: Kenya Peaberry

Kenya PB coffee beans are peaberry coffee beans, where there's only one coffee bean in the cherry instead of the usual two half-beans. Approximately 10% of Kenya coffee beans are peaberries.

E: Elephant Bean/Super Bean

TT

Kenya TT coffee beans are the result of separating light-density coffee beans from Kenya E grade, Kenya AB grade, and Kenya AA grade beans through air aspiration.

T

Kenya T coffee beans consist of broken, defective, thin, and small coffee beans or light-density coffee beans separated from Kenya C grade coffee beans.

MH/ML

Kenya MH/ML coffee beans account for about 7% of Kenya's coffee production. These beans may have fallen from coffee plants themselves before maturing or were never harvested at all. MH/ML beans typically carry pronounced sour notes.

All coffee delivered to the dry mill will undergo the same process throughout the season, and they will all be uniformly sorted.

Market Analysis and Insights

We can discover some interesting observations:

The AA grade has a wide price range with significant quality variations.

If looking at the worst price of C grade, it's higher than the lowest AB price of the day. Meanwhile, the best price of PB is higher than the best AB price of the day.

At the same time, we cannot say that denser, heavier coffee beans won't taste better than lighter C grade beans from the same batch. But it's important to know that this isn't always the case or a rule.

The conclusion is that due to processing issues, AA grade batches might taste as bitter or fermented as C or T grades. While many PB and AB taste better than poor AA, they're also more expensive.

Brewing Recommendations

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee only offers Kenya AA and AB grade coffees. We recommend everyone first standardize the following brewing methods to compare the flavors of both.

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Brewing Parameters:

• Dripper: V60 dripper
• Water Temperature: 90-92°C
• Coffee Dose: 15 grams
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
• Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (Chinese standard #20 sieve, 80% pass-through)
• Brewing Technique:分段式萃取 (Segmented extraction)

Use 30g of water for blooming, with a blooming time of about 30 seconds. When injecting 125g of water with a small stream in the center circular motion, segment the pour. Wait until the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, then continue pouring to 225g to finish. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from blooming). Total extraction time is 2'00".

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473