SL28 (variety, Kenya)
SL28 is an Arabica variety selected by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in Kenya in 1931 from a drought-resistant Tanganyika Bourbon (now Tanzania). It produces large, elongated beans at high altitude (1,500-2,100 m) and is responsible for Kenya's signature blackcurrant, grapefruit, and tomato acidity. SL28 is highly susceptible to coffee leaf rust and CBD (coffee berry disease), making it economically risky but sensorially exceptional. It commands the highest premiums at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.
Background & Context
SL28 variété Kenya is the French-language designation for the SL28 variety as sourced from Kenya — one of specialty coffee's most celebrated cultivars, selected by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in 1935. The variety's profile — intense blackcurrant and cassis acidity, full body, sometimes tomato-like savouriness — is inseparable from Kenya's terroir: the volcanic red clay soils of Nyeri, Kirinyaga, and Kiambu county, combined with altitudes of 1,600–2,100m and the dual rainfall seasons, produce the density and acid intensity that define SL28's signature character. In French-language specialty coffee communication, "SL28 variété Kenya" appears in cupping notes, import certificates, and consumer-facing bag copy — providing the specific variety information that allows consumers to anticipate and recognise the distinctive Kenyan blackcurrant profile.
Practical Use
For French-speaking Belgian and French roasters sourcing Kenyan SL28, the practical challenge is lot verification: Kenya's cooperative system pools cherries from multiple farms, making single-variety lot certification difficult without DNA verification or a cooperative that restricts planting to a single variety. The Kenyan AA designation (screen 18+ beans) is more commonly certified than specific variety designation. Roasters who publish "SL28" on French-market bags should have import documentation confirming the variety from the exporter or cooperative level — not merely assuming that a Nyeri AA cooperative lot is SL28-dominant. In menu and bag copy: "Kenya Nyeri, SL28, lavé, 89 SCA" provides the complete specialty vocabulary that French specialty consumers increasingly expect.
Related Terms
Related terms: SL28 Kenya variety (EN), SL28/SL34, Kenya coffee, Washed/Lavé, Acidity.