Peaberries come at the ends of the branches. Normally there are two beans per cherry but a peaberry is the only bean in the cherry .... Therefore the flavor of peaberry is more intense. It takes a particular screen size to segregate the peaberries from the other beans. The price is higher because not only are there fewer beans but its an extra process to separate it out.
Also, peaberries can happen on any type of coffee plant - they're not a specific variety. Skip Lord papalatte.com On Oct 3, 2008, at 9:05 AM, Ben McCafferty wrote: Sorry for the slightly off-topic post... Just received some greens from Smith Farms (Peaberry Kona) in Hawaii. Obviously peaberry is the shape of the bean, i.e. roundish like a rugby ball. Is that the only thing that defines peaberry, or is peaberry like a "varietal"? In other words, is there peaberry of every type of coffee, or is peaberry a single type that is grown in many places, similar to a type of grape (merlot, chardonnay, etc.)? Is peaberry found all on one tree, or is it an anomaly within a normal coffee crop that gets sorted out (i.e. 10 of 100 beans have the peaberry shape, and are separated to be sold as peaberry, or an entire tree produces nothing but peaberry)? I also notice that it is the highest priced coffee that Smith sells. Is it considered a superior bean, or is it just the rareness factor that drives the price up? Thanks and talk soon, bmc "Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel....." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
