A
coffee bean is a seed of the
coffee plant, and is the source for
coffee. It is the
pit inside the red or purple fruit often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit. Even though the coffee beans are seeds, they are referred to as 'beans' because of their resemblance to
true beans. The fruits - coffee cherries or coffee berries - most commonly contain two stones with their flat sides together. A small percentage of cherries contain a single seed, instead of the usual two. This is called a "
peaberry." The peaberry is more unusual occurring only between 10 and 15 percent of the time, and it's a fairly common (yet scientifically unproven) belief that they have more flavour than 'normal' coffee beans. Like
Brazil nuts (a seed) and white rice, coffee beans consist mostly of
endosperm.