What is PB level? Will PB Blue Mountain coffee beans taste better than Blue Mountain No. 1? What are coffee male beans, female beans, round beans and flat beans?

As we all know, coffee beans are agricultural products and have natural quality differences. Therefore, many coffee beans pass through the local grading system to classify their quality before being exported, which facilitates trade pricing and buyers 'screening during purchase.

There are many grading systems, but no matter which grading is, theoretically, the higher the grade, the better the quality (Note: Not all of them), and the higher the quality, the more expensive the price. If you look at coffee graded by size with this concept, you will definitely find an interesting thing ~ because in many systems based on size, there is a special grade called "PB", such as Kenya or Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. Although PB is often ranked fourth or lower in the system, and its selling price should be cheaper than the second and third levels, it is the opposite, and it is not much different from the selling price of the highest level of coffee beans.

So many friends will be curious, what's going on with this PB level and why its price can be comparable to the highest level of coffee beans?

So today, Qianjie will come to share with you what PB grade is, and how the flavor of PB grade coffee beans will differ from that of regular grade coffee beans.

What is PB level? The "PB" in coffee bean grades comes from the abbreviation of "Peaberry", which translates to "round bean". Maybe compared to round beans, everyone will be more familiar with its nickname, which we can brush up on all major coffee forums on the Internet, and that is-"male beans." So what are round beans/"male beans"? It actually refers to a special form of coffee beans. Conventional coffee beans have a semi-arc shape and a flat surface, while round beans are a complete oval shape without a flat surface, which is the result of abnormal development.

As we all know, coffee beans are the seeds in coffee cherries. Under normal circumstances, a coffee fruit usually contains two coffee beans with opposite planes, but occasionally some coffee fruits cannot breed two coffee beans at the same time due to lack of nutrients, pests and diseases, or environmental pressure. At this time, nutrients will only be absorbed by one of the coffee beans. Since only one coffee bean develops and there is no room for another coffee bean to squeeze, it can develop a complete oval bean body with no flat surface and a round and full shape. Because of this, people call it "round beans" based on its appearance, while regular coffee beans with flat surfaces are named "flat beans". The so-called PB level refers to a batch composed entirely of round beans.

Will the flavor of round beans and flat beans be very different? The reason why round beans can be sold independently and the price is comparable to that of the highest grade of coffee beans is first because their output is very small, accounting for only 5% to 10% of the total coffee bean output. Secondly, people believe that compared with flat beans, which absorb nutrients in half, round beans independently absorb all the nutrients of coffee cherries, so they will have more material content, and the baked round beans will definitely perform better. So is this really the case? Qianjie specially conducted an experiment for this! The content of the experiment is very simple. It is to pick round beans from a serving of coffee beans, and then pick flat beans for brewing and comparison to see if there is a big difference between the two.

The last coffee bean selected by Front Street was Front Street Panama Poquet Rose Summer in the bean list. The classification system for coffee beans in Panamanian producing areas is based on the altitude at which the coffee beans are planted, and is not graded by size, so we can find round beans in many coffee beans in Panamanian producing areas.

The total weight of round beans picked out on the front street is 12g, so the comparative weight of flat beans is also 12g. Due to the small amount of weight and in order to reduce the influence of human factors, the front street here uses cup testing to produce it. The parameters are as follows: powder and water ratio 1:16, water temperature 94°C, soaking time 4 minutes.

When tasting, Qianjie did not feel any obvious differences. The flavors were all elegant white flower flowers, round citrus fruit acids, and clean green tea tail. The taste was balanced, sweet and long, and the concentration and taste were not too big. So we can know that there is not much difference between round beans and flat beans. "Since there is not much difference, why would the round bean list be sold? This adds an additional screening process. Isn't it thankless? "Qian Jie believes many friends will want to ask this.

The answer is obvious: this way, you can get greater benefits. Qianjie mentioned earlier that the situation of selling round bean lists mainly comes from the system of grading coffee bean particle size. The reason for this is because the particle size of round beans is not that large. Usually, the particle size of round beans will be slightly smaller than that of flat beans of the same variety! If the particle size of flat beans is about 16 - 18 meshes, then the particle size of round beans is about 14 - 15 meshes, because their body shapes are round and they are easier to pass through the sieve.

If you grade them according to the number of meshes, then round beans will be classified into 14 - 15 meshes, and the price will not be as high. But if you take them out individually and use the stories mentioned in Qianjie earlier combined with the promotion of low yield, then the price of round beans can be increased to the level of 17 - 18 goals. Therefore, many production areas that use the size of coffee beans as a grading indicator will add the special rating of PB to obtain more benefits. And those at altitude will be more consistent, which is also an advantage of round beans. It is not just a vase. The bigger the coffee beans are not the same as the better. The quality of coffee beans is still related to various factors such as variety, planting and processing.

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