Does size matter?

[janry]

OK, get your minds out of the gutter.

This evening, I was pouring some beans from a freshly opened bag and noticed the sizes were quite inconsistent. I probably would not have thought anything of this except in another thread about beans from Whole Foods, someone asked me if their beans were consistent in size. The beans I was looking at this evening were from a well established local roaster and are from Mexico. In just a dozen or slightly more beans in my hand, I saw some were about double the size of the smallest beans. So, I pulled out a ruler and found the smallest beans were about 5/16" in length and the longest were about 1/2" in length.

To compare, I looked at some other beans I had and they were very consistent in size.

I guess my question is, what is normal regarding size consistency?

And of course, does size matter?

 

[John P]

Lots from reputable buyers would be screened for size. Unless it is a blend, and then you should expect different sizes.

 

[PinkRose]

I always thought that, unless you bought a blend, the bean size should be consistently the same. However, there have been a few times when I've bought Papua New Guinea beans from my local roaster and the bean sizes were noticeably different. I didn't think much of it, because the coffee tasted the same. So to me, the size doesn't matter. Oh, and my mind went straight to the gutter when I read the title of your post.

 

[JumpinJakJava]

Sounds like it was a co-oped coffee or as John P stated is was Mexican, blended from more than one region.
Were the peaberries in the coffee?

Coffee is often co-oped all over the world. Comes together at washing stations usually.
Last Fall I purchased 2 bags of co-oped Yirgacheffe- cupping score of 88. Very good coffee. It was all grown in
the Yirgacheffe region. The screen size was very even.

History of Coffee in Mexico | Equal Exchange

Mexico coffee co-op, with border operations, helping ease immigration pressures

 

[janry]

Sounds like it was a co-oped coffee...

Yes, this roaster does state on his website they get 80% of their coffee from cooperatives many of which, they helped start.

Were the peaberries in the coffee?

I have not found any so far.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

This got to be blend. It just can't be single origin bean.
For example, There are noticeable difference in size between Nicaraguan beans to Ethiopian beans in size. And it is very typical to see those two get blended often to create very rich and smooth flavor.

I hope this helps.

 

[peterjschmidt]

Also, in many regions and farms, they'll have more than one varietal of coffee growing. Sumatra is famous for this. The farmers will plant whatever they can get their hands on. So the Mexican beans came from one processing mill, but had crops from several farmers in that lot, so it may have been farmers that had only one varietal in what they brought to a central processor, or they may have each one harvested from more than one type of coffee tree.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Also, in many regions and farms, they'll have more than one varietal of coffee growing. Sumatra is famous for this. The farmers will plant whatever they can get their hands on. So the Mexican beans came from one processing mill, but had crops from several farmers in that lot, so it may have been farmers that had only one varietal in what they brought to a central processor, or they may have each one harvested from more than one type of coffee tree.

This is very true but when they are sold to wholesale company in US, they would only take beans with very similar in size. As we all know, if the beans are in difference size and gets roasted together, it can create very uneven roast. That can result in very awful flavor or unexpected taste. I am sure, those beans were roasted differently and blended after the roast. That is my guess.

 

[BlueMoods]

I sometimes get mixed sizes because it's co-op coffee. Now say kidney bean and pinto bean together fine but not those with small navy bean or Lima bean sized beans. You may have to size them before roasting and, roast the markedly larger ones separate form the smaller ones to get them all to end up making the same coffee.

 

[saigoncafe]

The beans have to be categorized in sizes to assure the consistency in roasting. Smaller beans will turn darker in a shorter time. The same size beans will be better with the exact taste.