This 100% Kona Peaberry coffee was the best Kona peaberry coffee and second-highest rating in a cupping of Hawaiian coffees for Coffee Review’s May 2019 tasting report. Peaberry coffees tend to have a greater density of flavor, sugars, and lipids compared to regular coffee beans. You could think of these Kona peaberry beans as being the 'only child' of a coffee cherry, enjoying all the nutrients to itself. 

What is Peaberry Coffee?

Peaberry coffees are rare, comprising only 3-7% of the total crop. Considering the exclusive status of this rare type of coffee, it’s hard to believe that peaberry coffee beans came into existence because of a random mutation! These pea-shaped, natural formations of the coffee bean are thought to form when several pistils get knocked off the coffee flower, causing only one seed to form inside the coffee fruit rather than two. 

Peaberry vs. Regular Coffee Bean 

Although peaberry Kona coffee beans grow on the same tree as other regular coffee, they are truly special, as there’s only one coffee bean in the cherry as opposed to the two beans found in traditional coffee.

Since only one oval bean grows inside the cherry, the peaberry is also shaped differently. It’s smaller in size and round in shape, unlike the oblong traditional coffee beans that are found in two halves. Named after its pea shape, this rare coffee, occurring through an anomaly in the growing process, is fittingly called the “champagne of Kona coffee”.In earlier times, the Kona peaberry coffee beans were considered ‘defective’ as their round shape and small size differed from that of traditional coffee beans and were therefore discarded. Looking at where peaberry coffee stands today and the exclusive status awarded to it, it has indeed come a long way!

Kona Peaberry Sorting and Grading Process

Peaberry coffee beans comprise a very tiny proportion of the total harvest and undergo rounds of sorting by machine as well as hand. Before the final grading, they’re once again hand-inspected and sorted again. The uniqueness of the beans coupled with the due diligence in sorting contribute to the making of 100% Kona coffee – a rare coffee type whose limited supply makes it truly exclusive.

Kona peaberry coffee enjoys high demand year round. However given that these beans are a rare, unpredictable, and exclusive variety, supply is always limited and demand tends to exceed supply.

The exclusive Kona peaberry coffee has an air of mystery around its perceived taste and it delivers, with its complex taste profile!! A mind boggling fact about peaberry Kona coffee is that despite growing on the same tree as regular coffee beans, it has an inherently distinct taste, which can be partly attributed to the fact that it lends itself perfectly to uniform roasting, thanks to its unique round shape. 

A cup of this fine coffee is pure excellence – slightly lighter in body, smoother in concentration, sweeter, richer, and bolder in taste. It can be described as the highest quality coffee with an aroma that is intense and complex but as distinct as it is familiar. It’s a gourmet coffee experience no doubt and one that everyone will enjoy – from the coffee enthusiasts to the connoisseur!

It’s also said that since a single peaberry bean resides in the cherry, in contrast to the two found in regular coffee, it cultivates twice the taste and flavor in its growing phase.

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Notes: This Kona Peaberry coffee tied for the second-highest rating in a cupping of Hawaiian coffees for Coffee Review’s May 2019 tasting report. Produced entirely of the Typica variety of Arabica and processed by the traditional wet or “washed” method, in which skin and fruit flesh are removed from the beans or seeds before they are dried. This sample also consists entirely of peaberries, a kind of bean that results when the coffee fruit develops only a single, oval bean rather than the usual pair of flat-sided beans. Peaberries produce a somewhat different (often better) cup than normal beans from the same crop, from which they may or may not be separated during grading. Big Island Coffee is an award-winning coffee roaster and coffee farm operated with hands-on passion by Kelleigh Stewart and Brandon von Damitz.