Finca Malacara A – Tablón 5

José Guillermo Alvarez and María de Los Angeles Alvarez first planted the SL28 varietal in 2015 with seeds from Kenya gifted to them. The SL28 cultivar was originally bred by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in Kenya during the 1950s using the Bourbon varietal. Its flavour profile became very popular with buyers around the world and has more recently been planted in Central America. José Guillermo and María de Los Angeles were very excited to try SL28 on their own farm and set up a small seedling bed with their seeds. Not all the seeds germinated but some did grow well and reached field planting size. They were left to grow to a first crop and then harvested for more seedlings which were developed at the Malacara nursery. In just under a decade, these seedlings have grown to established trees with a stable crop coming from 4500 plants. The trees were planted out on plot (tablón) five which is at the highest altitude (1650m) on the farm. We have been looking forward to this shipment since we first learned about the project in 2015, and we are delighted to have the coffee on our counter. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to taste the impact of varietal on coffee flavour as it sits alongside the Red Bourbon from Malacara.