Roasting Peaberry Coffee

[expat]

A friend has a 100kg of peaberry coffee from China delivering in a couple weeks. He's asked The Lovely & Talented Roast Mistress to roast it for him. Frankly we've never roasted peaberry.

I know the bean is smaller than normal, rounded and not flat on one side, and evidently a bit denser. An old article from Roast Magazine said that typically the peaberry roasts faster because of its smaller size which makes it easy to miss the roasting 'sweet spot'.

So that's about all we know. Hopefully some of you know a lot more and are in a sharing mood. Please let us know how best to handle this unique bean. :-?

 

[namballe]

Hi Expat,
i get a lot of those so called "Peaberries" in my shipments mixed in with regular beans. at first we started to pick them out, but became too tedious. in your friends case, they are all peaberries! they are sought after due to their "roundness" taking on an even roast. having no flat areas. i would suggest, if possible, to roast a small quantity to get a feel for your particular roast profile. they are smaller than the average bean, and therefore will take less time to get to your desired roast. hope someone else can chime in with their experiences.
Happy Roasting.

 

[krivera1]

Last year I bought 100 lbs. of Maui Mokka Screen 14 beans. Very small, dense beans. I bought 3 large containers to store them - when I received the bag I thought I had been jipped - filled less than 2 containers. Weighed them - yup, I had 100 lbs, just again very dense.

I found that it was necessary to roast them at slightly lower temperature for a longer time to ensure they were fully roasted by the time the outer color got to full-city (my preference). When I first received them I was still using a Gene Cafe roaster, so I set the max temp lower and ran longer. I've since upgraded to a 1 kg. shop roaster (Coffee-Tec Torrefattore Auto). I'm only able to control drop temperature and time (the roast profile is programmed). I've found that lowering the drop temperature allows the beans to roast evenly.

I have a friend who roasts with a homemade roaster (heat gun type mechanism). He bought a few pounds of these beans from me after I gave him a roasted sample which he liked. He could not get an decent roast with his configuration. He found them to be the most difficult beans that he'd ever roasted.

One more thing... because of the bean density the resting period after roasting is pretty extended... I find that I need a good 7-10 days for the flavor to stabilize (sooner and you'll get some off-flavors which kill the smooth and fruity nature of the bean).

I hope this helps - good luck!

 

[Spice]

Thanks for asking this question. I just received 5lbs. of peaberry from Kenya. I have never tried to roast peaberry before either.

 

[JumpinJakJava]

Great answers to an interesting post. I have roasted Tanz., Colombian, and Kenyan peaberries. Chinese peaberry, first time I heard of it.
I had some coffee from the Yunan region called Pearl Dragon, but it has been a while. Actually it was very good. Namballe & Krivera1 have given
good insight. I would suggest a few small batches, try dropping beans at 375-385 degrees(small batch), as suggested because of size and density
shoot for 380-385(first crack) degrees at 12 - 12:30(sorry I calculate fahrenheit not celsius). Coast for at least 3min. to second crack.
If you do some small batches, finish at about 1)428 2)433 3)438 let it rest- then cup and compare. I remember that the Col. peaberry was also
very good at French roast. So to me the Chinese will most likely be similiar.The peaberries give great body after the rest stated.
Also note that 2nd crack rolls quickly and more distinctly than regular Arabica beans(like a machine gun), This is my experience especialyy
with the Tanzanian P. Expat your are making me jealous, love trying new coffees. Happy roasting. Please post your findings for the best cup.

 

[CoffeeLovers]

A Pearyberry bean is an oval shape. It can be roasted differently from the flat berry. To roast evenly and in high grade coffee, the bean should be separated. That’s why it is carefully selected to have optimal quality.

 

[expat]

Great answers to an interesting post. I have roasted Tanz., Colombian, and Kenyan peaberries. Chinese peaberry, first time I heard of it.
I had some coffee from the Yunan region called Pearl Dragon, but it has been a while. Actually it was very good. Namballe & Krivera1 have given
good insight. I would suggest a few small batches, try dropping beans at 375-385 degrees(small batch), as suggested because of size and density
shoot for 380-385(first crack) degrees at 12 - 12:30(sorry I calculate fahrenheit not celsius). Coast for at least 3min. to second crack.
If you do some small batches, finish at about 1)428 2)433 3)438 let it rest- then cup and compare. I remember that the Col. peaberry was also
very good at French roast. So to me the Chinese will most likely be similiar.The peaberries give great body after the rest stated.
Also note that 2nd crack rolls quickly and more distinctly than regular Arabica beans(like a machine gun), This is my experience especialyy
with the Tanzanian P. Expat your are making me jealous, love trying new coffees. Happy roasting. Please post your findings for the best cup.

Hey JumpinJak, tell me, what size batches were you roasting? And what's a small batch for you? I'm roasting on a 10kg machine so 4-5kg is a small batch for me. And we will let you know how we get on with the roasts.

 

[Sidram]

Pea berry from china, humm? Peaberry comes in small and long type. They both roast differently, I roast the small taz pea berry in a medium roast, not going to dark as pea berry has lots of flavor you do not want to roast out.

 

[expat]

Thanks for all the feedback so far. We found out last night that the beans won't show up for another 3-4 weeks so keep the replies coming. Very interesting.