diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/DbEnumType.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/DbEnumType.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88d7b8f6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/DbEnumType.java
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package com.avaje.ebean.annotation;
+
+/**
+ * Specify the DB storage type used to with <code>@DbEnumValue</code>.
+ */
+public enum DbEnumType {
+
+  /**
+   * Store values as database INTEGER.
+   */
+  INTEGER,
+
+  /**
+   * Store values as database VARCHAR.
+   */
+  VARCHAR
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/DbEnumValue.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/DbEnumValue.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b4c1a1679
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/DbEnumValue.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package com.avaje.ebean.annotation;
+
+import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+import java.lang.annotation.Target;
+
+/**
+ * Specify a method on an Enum that returns the value that should be stored in the DB.
+ * <p>
+ * This is the preferred option for mapping Enum's to DB values (preferred over the JPA
+ * standard @Enumerated and Ebean's @EnumValue annotations).
+ * </p>
+ * <h3>Example:</h3>
+ * <pre>{@code
+ *
+ *   public enum Status {
+ *     NEW("N"),
+ *     ACTIVE("A"),
+ *     INACTIVE("I");
+ *
+ *     String dbValue;
+ *     Status(String dbValue) {
+ *       this.dbValue = dbValue;
+ *     }
+ *
+ *     @DbEnumValue
+ *     public String getValue() {
+ *       return dbValue;
+ *     }
+ *   }
+ *
+ * }</pre>
+ */
+@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
+public @interface DbEnumValue {
+
+  /**
+   * Specify the database type used to store the values (VARCHAR or INTEGER).
+   */
+  DbEnumType storage() default DbEnumType.VARCHAR;
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/EnumValue.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/EnumValue.java
index d617088d9..8dce61fdc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/EnumValue.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebean/annotation/EnumValue.java
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import java.lang.annotation.Target;
  * }</pre>
  * <p>
  * This is an alternative to using the JPA standard approach or Ebean's
- * {@link EnumMapping} annotation.
+ * {@link DbEnumValue} annotation.
  * </p>
  * <p>
  * Note that if all the EnumValue values are parsable as Integers then Ebean
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/parse/DeployUtil.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/parse/DeployUtil.java
index 272c644fb..01b89783a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/parse/DeployUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/parse/DeployUtil.java
@@ -111,8 +111,8 @@ public class DeployUtil {
     }
     ScalarType<?> scalarType = typeManager.getScalarType(enumType);
     if (scalarType == null) {
-      // see if it has a Mapping in avaje.properties
-      scalarType = typeManager.createEnumScalarType(enumType);
+      // look for @DbEnumValue or @EnumValue annotations etc
+      scalarType = typeManager.createEnumScalarType((Class<? extends Enum<?>>)enumType);
       if (scalarType == null) {
         // use JPA normal Enum type (without mapping)
         EnumType type = enumerated != null ? enumerated.value() : null;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/DefaultTypeManager.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/DefaultTypeManager.java
index 149be0069..0a81879f1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/DefaultTypeManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/DefaultTypeManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package com.avaje.ebeaninternal.server.type;
 
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.DbEnumType;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.DbEnumValue;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.EnumMapping;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.EnumValue;
 import com.avaje.ebean.config.*;
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.math.BigInteger;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
@@ -478,7 +481,16 @@ public final class DefaultTypeManager implements TypeManager, KnownImmutable {
    * much shorter codes used in the DB.
    * </p>
    */
-  public ScalarType<?> createEnumScalarType(Class<?> enumType) {
+  public ScalarType<?> createEnumScalarType(Class<? extends Enum<?>> enumType) {
+
+    Method[] methods = enumType.getMethods();
+    for (int i = 0; i <methods.length; i++) {
+      DbEnumValue dbValue = methods[i].getAnnotation(DbEnumValue.class);
+      if (dbValue != null) {
+        boolean integerValues = DbEnumType.INTEGER == dbValue.storage();
+        return createEnumScalarTypeDbValue(enumType, methods[i], integerValues);
+      }
+    }
 
     // get the mapping information from EnumMapping
     EnumMapping enumMapping = enumType.getAnnotation(EnumMapping.class);
@@ -496,6 +508,33 @@ public final class DefaultTypeManager implements TypeManager, KnownImmutable {
     return createEnumScalarType(enumType, nameValueMap, integerType, dbColumnLength);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Create the Mapping of Enum fields to DB values using EnumValue annotations.
+   * <p>
+   * Return null if the EnumValue annotations are not present/used.
+   * </p>
+   */
+  private ScalarType<?> createEnumScalarTypeDbValue(Class<? extends Enum<?>> enumType, Method method, boolean integerType) {
+
+    Map<String, String> nameValueMap = new HashMap<String, String>();
+
+    Enum<?>[] enumConstants = enumType.getEnumConstants();
+    for (int i = 0; i < enumConstants.length; i++) {
+      try {
+        Object value = method.invoke(enumConstants[i]);
+        nameValueMap.put(enumConstants[i].name(), value.toString());
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error trying to invoke DbEnumValue method on "+enumConstants[i], e);
+      }
+    }
+    if (nameValueMap.isEmpty()) {
+      // Not using EnumValue here
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    return createEnumScalarType(enumType, nameValueMap, integerType, 0);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Given the name value mapping and integer/string type and explicit DB column
    * length create the ScalarType for the Enum.
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/TypeManager.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/TypeManager.java
index 71cd5db12..7ed5fa261 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/TypeManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/type/TypeManager.java
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public interface TypeManager {
    * Create a ScalarType for an Enum using a mapping (rather than JPA Ordinal
    * or String which has limitations).
    */
-  ScalarType<?> createEnumScalarType(Class<?> enumType);
+  ScalarType<?> createEnumScalarType(Class<? extends Enum<?>> enumType);
 
   /**
    * Return the ScalarType used to handle JSON content.
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/basic/type/TestEnumValueAnnotation.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/basic/type/TestEnumValueAnnotation.java
index 1a93a0871..4e065707b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/basic/type/TestEnumValueAnnotation.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/basic/type/TestEnumValueAnnotation.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.avaje.tests.basic.type;
 
+import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.EBasicEnumInt;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -11,6 +12,9 @@ import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.EBasic;
 import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.EBasic.Status;
 import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.EBasicEnumId;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+
 public class TestEnumValueAnnotation extends BaseTestCase {
 
   @Test
@@ -28,7 +32,7 @@ public class TestEnumValueAnnotation extends BaseTestCase {
     SqlRow sqlRow = q.findUnique();
     String strStatus = sqlRow.getString("status");
 
-    Assert.assertEquals("N", strStatus);
+    assertEquals("N", strStatus);
 
     EBasic b2 = new EBasic();
     b2.setName("Apple");
@@ -40,9 +44,9 @@ public class TestEnumValueAnnotation extends BaseTestCase {
     b3.setName("Orange");
 
     Ebean.save(b3);
-
   }
 
+  @Test
   public void testAsId() {
     EBasicEnumId b = new EBasicEnumId();
     b.setName("Banana");
@@ -56,7 +60,7 @@ public class TestEnumValueAnnotation extends BaseTestCase {
     SqlRow sqlRow = q.findUnique();
     String strStatus = sqlRow.getString("status");
 
-    Assert.assertEquals("N", strStatus);
+    assertEquals("N", strStatus);
 
     try {
       b = Ebean.find(EBasicEnumId.class, b.getStatus());
@@ -64,7 +68,32 @@ public class TestEnumValueAnnotation extends BaseTestCase {
       Assert.fail("The use of an enum as id should work : " + iae.getLocalizedMessage());
     }
 
-    Assert.assertEquals(EBasicEnumId.Status.NEW, b.getStatus());
+    assertEquals(EBasicEnumId.Status.NEW, b.getStatus());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testDbEnumValueInt() {
+
+    EBasicEnumInt b = new EBasicEnumInt();
+    b.setName("Banana");
+    b.setStatus(EBasicEnumInt.Status.NEW);
+
+    Ebean.save(b);
+
+    SqlQuery q = Ebean.createSqlQuery("select * from e_basic_eni where id = :id");
+    q.setParameter("id", b.getId());
+
+    SqlRow sqlRow = q.findUnique();
+    Integer intStatus = sqlRow.getInteger("status");
+
+    assertEquals(Integer.valueOf(1), intStatus);
+
+
+    EBasicEnumInt b2 = Ebean.find(EBasicEnumInt.class)
+        .where().eq("id", b.getId())
+        .eq("status", EBasicEnumInt.Status.NEW)
+        .findUnique();
+
+    assertNotNull(b2);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/Customer.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/Customer.java
index b3bfaa918..1314fa6d2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/Customer.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/Customer.java
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package com.avaje.tests.model.basic;
 
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.ChangeLog;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.ChangeLogInsertMode;
-import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.EnumValue;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.DbEnumValue;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.JsonIgnore;
 import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.Where;
 import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.finder.CustomerFinder;
@@ -36,14 +36,19 @@ public class Customer extends BasicDomain {
    * EnumValue is an Ebean specific mapping for enums.
    */
   public enum Status {
-    @EnumValue("N")
-    NEW,
+    NEW("N"),
+    ACTIVE("A"),
+    INACTIVE("I");
 
-    @EnumValue("A")
-    ACTIVE,
+    String dbValue;
+    Status(String dbValue) {
+      this.dbValue = dbValue;
+    }
 
-    @EnumValue("I")
-    INACTIVE
+    @DbEnumValue
+    public String getValue() {
+      return dbValue;
+    }
   }
 
   @Transient
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/EBasicEnumInt.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/EBasicEnumInt.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fc06c8b9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/basic/EBasicEnumInt.java
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+package com.avaje.tests.model.basic;
+
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.DbEnumType;
+import com.avaje.ebean.annotation.DbEnumValue;
+
+import javax.persistence.Entity;
+import javax.persistence.Id;
+import javax.persistence.Table;
+import java.sql.Timestamp;
+
+@Entity
+@Table(name = "e_basic_eni")
+public class EBasicEnumInt {
+
+  public enum Status {
+    NEW("1"),
+    ACTIVE("2"),
+    INACTIVE("3");
+
+    String value;
+    Status(String value) {
+      this.value = value;
+    }
+    @DbEnumValue(storage = DbEnumType.INTEGER)
+    public String getValue() {
+      return value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Id
+  Integer id;
+
+  Status status;
+
+  String name;
+
+  String description;
+
+  Timestamp someDate;
+
+  public Integer getId() {
+    return id;
+  }
+
+  public void setId(Integer id) {
+    this.id = id;
+  }
+
+  public Status getStatus() {
+    return status;
+  }
+
+  public void setStatus(Status status) {
+    this.status = status;
+  }
+
+  public String getName() {
+    return name;
+  }
+
+  public void setName(String name) {
+    this.name = name;
+  }
+
+  public String getDescription() {
+    return description;
+  }
+
+  public void setDescription(String description) {
+    this.description = description;
+  }
+
+  public Timestamp getSomeDate() {
+    return someDate;
+  }
+
+  public void setSomeDate(Timestamp someDate) {
+    this.someDate = someDate;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/update/TestUpdatePartial.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/update/TestUpdatePartial.java
index 9309de714..4d8b4749c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/update/TestUpdatePartial.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/update/TestUpdatePartial.java
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 package com.avaje.tests.update;
 
-import org.junit.Assert;
-import org.junit.Test;
-
 import com.avaje.ebean.BaseTestCase;
 import com.avaje.ebean.Ebean;
+import com.avaje.ebean.SqlQuery;
+import com.avaje.ebean.SqlRow;
 import com.avaje.tests.model.basic.Customer;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
 public class TestUpdatePartial extends BaseTestCase {
 
@@ -18,6 +20,7 @@ public class TestUpdatePartial extends BaseTestCase {
     c.setSmallnote("a note");
 
     Ebean.save(c);
+    checkDbStatusValue(c.getId(), "A");
 
     Customer c2 = Ebean.find(Customer.class)
         .select("status, smallnote")
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@ public class TestUpdatePartial extends BaseTestCase {
     c2.setSmallnote("2nd note");
 
     Ebean.save(c2);
+    checkDbStatusValue(c.getId(), "I");
 
     Customer c3 = Ebean.find(Customer.class)
         .select("status")
@@ -38,7 +42,15 @@ public class TestUpdatePartial extends BaseTestCase {
     c3.setSmallnote("3rd note");
 
     Ebean.save(c3);
+    checkDbStatusValue(c.getId(), "N");
+  }
 
+  private void checkDbStatusValue(Integer custId, String dbStatus) {
+    SqlQuery sqlQuery = Ebean.createSqlQuery("select id, status from o_customer where id = ?");
+    sqlQuery.setParameter(1, custId);
+    SqlRow sqlRow = sqlQuery.findUnique();
+    String status = sqlRow.getString("status");
+    assertEquals(dbStatus, status);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -57,6 +69,6 @@ public class TestUpdatePartial extends BaseTestCase {
     Ebean.save(customerWithoutChanges);
 
     // assert
-    Assert.assertEquals(customer.getUpdtime().getTime(), customerWithoutChanges.getUpdtime().getTime());
+    assertEquals(customer.getUpdtime().getTime(), customerWithoutChanges.getUpdtime().getTime());
   }
 }