FRIEDHATS - Karimikui | Kenya - Washed - SL28, SL34, Batian

Some of you may be clued in by now that there are generally a handful of varieties that show up in most Kenyan coffees. Mixed varieties are very common because there are usually many hundreds of smallholders delivering cherry to a factory for processing. Want to get in the weeds just a little bit about these common Kenyan varieties? I don’t know why I framed that as a question, it’s happening, you just don’t have to read it I guess. 

SL28 & SL34 are both “Scott Lab” varieties, varieties selected for study by the British Colonial Scott Agricultural Laboratories during the 1930s. Both are notable for their exceptional cup quality, low yields, and risk for CBD and rust. Beyond tasting stellar, SL28 is remarkable for its rusticity, meaning it can be left untended for years or even decades before returning to successful production. Because of this there are many documented SL28 trees that are 80 years old and still productive. SL34 is one of these contested origin stories that sometime we may have to dive more deeply into. Collected from a single tree on Loresho Estate in Kabete, it was called “French Mission” with the understanding that it was a bourbon by way of, you guessed it, French missionaries. Modern genetic testing has shown this to be untrue, with all signs pointing to it being related to the Typica genetic. Makes you wonder about what else these missionaries are lying about. Last but not least (or as the missionaries would say, the least will be last or something like that), Batian. A composite variety bred by the Coffee Research Foundation in Kenya, it’s composed of SL28, SL34, Sudan Rume, N39, K7, SL4, and Timor Hybrid. This genetic cocktail greatly increased its disease resistances along with a significant boost to its yield potential without sacrificing much in the way of cup quality, making it an excellent variety for smallholders to cultivate.