SL28

For those of you familiar with Kenyan coffee you’ll almost certainly have encountered a coffee selectively propagated by Scott Agricultural Laboratories. In fact any coffee varietal starting with the letters SL is a product of the aforementioned coffee breeder. These include the resilient but mildly flavoured SL14 commonly grown in east Uganda, SL34 with its exceptional cup quality but high susceptibility to coffee berry disease, and our favourite – SL28. Originally bred in the 1930’s, SL28 draws its lineage from Bourbon-Typica genetic stock and when grown at high altitude exhibits the complexity, acidity and sweetness it has become famous for. With such a celebrated cup profile it’s no surprise that SL28 became highly sought after by astute coffee farmers all over the world. One such pioneer of specialty coffee was our Colombian partner farm – Finca Tamana run by husband and wife Elias Roa and Bellani Sanchez. Over the past decade they have been allocating small parcels of their farm to more unique and exotic varietals of coffee. Each lot is assessed for cup quality and cost of production – and every year SL28 would sit safely among the best of the bunch. This particular lot ticks all the Commonfolk boxes. Naturally processed, this coffee underwent an oxygen deprived pre-fermentation in sealed bags before being allowed to slowly ferment in cherry on specially designed patios and raised beds inside parabolic driers. We first tasted this coffee in Finca Tamana’s onsite cupping lab when we travelled to Colombia in May 2022. Its exceptional clarity and depth of flavour stood out to everyone in the room. It displayed just enough funky Pet Nat vibes to catch our attention but remained elegant and clean with distinct pink lemonade acidity, flavours of strawberry and watermelon, and a sparkling rośe finish. We sourced this coffee directly from our partners Elias and Bellani and imported it to Australia with the help of InterAmerica.