malkore Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 228 Location: NE Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Wed Oct 7, 2009, 6:24am Subject: Where's all the peaberry?
Is it the wrong time of year to find green peaberry beans? I looked at SM's and also some other bean site (never used it so the name escapes me) and SM had one peaberry and the other site has none at all.
are we between harvests? bad growing conditions? am I just THAT impatient?
just curious, I need to order about 10-15lbs of 2-3 origins/varieties and I need both peaberry and some Colombian. 3rd might be a nicaraguan limoncello.
PaulTNH Senior Member Joined: 2 Oct 2009 Posts: 27 Location: NH Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Saeco Italia Super Auto Grinder: hearthware. virtuosa coming Drip: Ge drip Roaster: hearthware gourmet
Posted Wed Oct 7, 2009, 10:36am Subject: Re: Where's all the peaberry?
I sent you an e mail, and can post it here. http://www.burmancoffee.com/coffeelist/ has some, whats nice here is that if you click on the individual link, it tells you when he got the beans.
No affiliation, I have 5 lbs ordered that I will get friday sometime,
rocco Senior Member Joined: 15 Jan 2007 Posts: 4 Location: phila pa Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Black Cat Grinder: Baratza Vac Pot: french press Drip: Hario Roaster: commerical
Posted Fri Nov 9, 2012, 3:23am Subject: Re: Where's all the peaberry?
Hi, Ive have come across an artive on Peaberry beans..but not much info was given. Ive gone thru Coffeegeek and many coffee sites..such as Stumptown, Allbean direct and Intelligencia..but can;t find a site that sells and informs about this type of bean, any help would be appreciated. Rocco
Posted Fri Nov 9, 2012, 5:09am Subject: Re: Where's all the peaberry?
I'm sure theres a wiki page on peaberries, but in talking with my source for India Giri-Mountain Region (his family owns a plantation) the peaberries are the screened single-seed variants of about 5%-10% of a particular crop.
They happen when only one half of the flower (which becomes the cherry) gets fertilized, and only one of the halves of the cherry actually develops into a viable seed. It isn't a varietal or cultivar, but more of a sorted shape variant from the crop. Because there is only one "seed" inside the cherry, it develops into a round shape, like a pea with a cleft in it.
Pavan told me that they get about 4% peaberry in a particular crop. I've found it roasts only slightly different, but does not roast well if mixed with normal (or flatbean) coffee,even at 4%. The peaberries tend to underroast compared to flatbeans IIRC, and act like a "denser" bean.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
It occurs about 5% of the time in the worlds coffee crops. While it is claimed to be better then its twin brothers it is only a claim however there is more work involved in separating peaberry beans from the rest of the crop so it usually brings a little more money and this of course means it must be better, right?
I pick peaberry beans the same way I pick normal beans, if the cupping description fits my tastes I will buy it.
If the peaberry comes from the same crop, AND it is separately roasted but roasted to similar level in the same roasting device, I would be hard pressed to say they are distinguishable from a flatbean.
I can't roast peaberry in the Behmor. They drop through the drum grate and burn like a futhermucker in the chaff pan.
There's a claim that due to the shape a peaberry "roasts" better. Enh. I think this is speculative at best. If you have proper agitation and control over the roasting process and you're not "winging" it without temperature monitoring, I don't find this to be the case. It roasts slightly differently, but so do different varietals.
I understand that peaberry are somewhat more common in African coffees, but looking at some of my Tanzania and Ethiopa beans, I am not surprised. They trend toward smaller size anyway, and have a "rounder" shape than, say, a central american Bourbon varietal.
I concluded that for me, if I could get them at same price then fine. If I am being charged more for a peaberry than a flatbean of same varietal, just because it's a peaberry, then pass.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
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