SL28 is the flagship of Kenyan coffee varieties. Buyers flock to Nyeri because of the exceptional cup quality and high yield of the SL28.Scott Agricultural Laboratories selected the SL28 from the Tanganyika Drought Resistant variety in 1931 – a cultivar you can lead back to the Bourbon variety. The SL prefix is an acronym for Scott Agricultural Laboratories, and the 28 is the serial number.

The SL28 coffee variety Plantation

Botany and characteristics of the SL28

The SL28 is water stress tolerant because it stems from the Tanganyika drought-resistant variety. It can go without water for a long time and still bear fruit. This is because the roots of the SL28 go deep. You can even leave an SL28 tree unattended for years and revive it to full production. That is a very unique quality.

The SL28 is a tall statured variety with green, but occasionally bronze, shoot tips. The beans are large, the yield is high, and after two years the tree bears fruit. The SL28 flourishes at medium to high altitudes ranging from 1500 to 1700 m.a.s.l. or above. Agronomists recommend a plant density of 1330 trees per hectare to ensure high quality.

But besides the high cup quality, the SL28 has some downsides as well. The SL28 variety is susceptible (sensitive) towards all major coffee diseases; Coffee Berry Disease (CBD), Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR), and Bacterial Blight of Coffee (BBC). The diseases are a constant threat to Kenya’s most beloved cultivar.