Peaberry Coffee: Tiny Mutant with Fuller Flavor

by Echo Store on July 06, 2018

Who says size matters?

The Peaberry disagrees. Smaller, rounder, and denser than regular coffee beans, peaberries were once considered “runts.”

Today, peaberries fetch higher prices not only for their taste and novelty but also for the extensive labor each bag of beans entails.

Peaberry results from a genetic mutation that occurs in about 5 percent of the world’s coffee. Normally, a coffee cherry contains a pair of seeds, facing each other on their flat sides. When one of the two beans fails to develop,  the result is a coffee cherry with a single bean—a peaberry.

These “tiny mutants” are carefully sorted by farmers to separate them from the regular flat and bigger beans.

Peaberry’s round oval shape allows for better roasting, according to some coffee connoisseurs. “Peaberries are more uniform in size, and interact with heat in a more uniform way than a larger flat-bean size variation coffee," Steve Smith, a certified Q Grader who has roasted for 36 years, said in an article.

Some coffee experts also say that peaberry beans have higher density, more concentrated, fuller flavor, and rich aroma.

For renowned coffee connoisseur and author Kenneth Davids, “More often than not peaberries produce a lighter-bodied, slightly more acidy, brighter cup than normal beans.”

Benguet Peaberry Arabica and Sulu Peaberry Robusta are available at echostore.ph and ECHOstore branches in Serendra in Taguig City, Salcedo Village in Makati City, Podium in Mandaluyong City and Eton Centris Walk in Quezon City.

Enjoy the taste of this small yet flavorful coffee bean!

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