Trader Joe’s Papua New Guinea Peaberry Coffee Review and Pairing

Trader Joe's Papua New Guinea Peaberry in it's nitrogen vacuum sealed can

Trader Joe’s Limited Edition Peaberry Coffee from Papua New Guinea.  A peaberry coffee is somewhat rare.  Instead of two coffee beans growing within the fruit, only one does.  They call this a “peaberry”.  100% peaberry coffees are known for a slightly more concentrated or rich taste, and sometimes have a stronger brightness to them.

Ever since the inception of my family’s coffee obsession, we have had the need for an inexpensive coffee that is readily available and tastes good.  We love to order from specialty roasters online, but since we can consume a pound of coffee in less than a week we need a lower cost option.  So we have been trying coffee from different stores in our neighborhood.  We find Starbucks to be roasted too dark most of the time, and Caribou didn’t really do it for us either.  Enter Trader Joe’s.  Their coffees look great and are nitrogen sealed in cans for freshness.

For $7.99 per 13 ounces, this could be the winner.  The coffee appears to be on the darker end of a medium roast, with some oils showing on the beans.  Let’s find out if it tastes good.

Nose: Smells delicately sweet with a woods-y undertone.  There may be a hint of cardamom type spice hiding in there too.  From the scent alone I would imagine this coffee to have a syrupy body.  Overall the nose characteristics make me think “amped up Kona”.

Fresh smelling whole beans

Mouth: A flare of acidity with a citrus zing right off the bat.  It’s reminiscent of grapefruit but doesn’t stick around long enough for detailed analysis.  The mid portion is pretty light, with a weaker nutty flavor.  Then the finish shows up!  A long stretch of slightly burnt maple syrup comes through and hangs out till the very end.  Imagine making french toast in a pan on the stove, and pouring some maple syrup on the bread.  Some of the syrup drips off of the toast onto the pan and is seared.  That’s what this tastes like.  It’s most definitely an enjoyable taste and it stays through the entire finish.  Not very smooth, this dark taste in the end makes the finish a little rough.  Body is a little less than syrupy in consistency.

Trader Joe's Cafe Twists

Pairing: Trader Joe’s Cafe Twists. The twists have a light coat of cinnamon/sugar over the crispy fried pastry.  Immediately the twists smooth out the semi-rough caboose of the coffee, while at the same time mixing superbly with the maple flavor.  This is a very good pairing.  (I should add that the twists are very tasty on their own too)

I’m happy to say that I’ve found a very enjoyable coffee for $7.99 per 13 oz, and that due to nitrogen sealing, is available very fresh.  Combine these factors with the idea that this coffee is within a 5 minute drive from my house (no shipping charges!) and I already have a smile on my face.

This peaberry would work well at night when one is really focuses on all the flavors they can glean from the coffee.  But for the price it’s available at why not drink it all the time?  I have also tried Trader Joe’s Organic Sumatra, and it wasn’t so great.  I suspect because of their lower prices that some inconsistency in quality is to be expected.  I can for sure attest to the fact that as of March 2010, the peaberry is excellent. If you have a Trader Joe’s near you I highly suggest this coffee.