Do Coffee Beans Have “Genders”? Why Peaberries Might Be the Tastiest Beans You’ve Never Tried

 


“Peaberry” coffee beans (commonly called male beans) are a unique type of coffee bean that develop as a single oval-shaped seed inside the coffee cherry. This usually happens due to unusual pollination, drought, or other environmental factors, causing only one of the two seeds that normally grow in a cherry to fully develop. The lone seed then absorbs all the nutrients, forming a round bean.

Unlike the typical flat “regular beans” (sometimes called female beans or flat beans), peaberries have a plump, oval shape. Because they develop individually, round beans usually have a higher density. In terms of flavor, peaberries are often described as having a richer body, brighter acidity, and more concentrated flavors—though this is debated, and not all coffee enthusiasts agree that they taste better than regular beans.

Another key feature of peaberries is their rarity: they make up only about 5% to 10% of a coffee harvest. Their scarcity and the need for manual sorting mean that peaberries typically command higher prices than regular beans from the same region.



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