Roasting April 21st ONLY (8oz Bags)

White Label Colombia SL-28 Juliana Guevara & Wbeimar Lasso

Tasting Notes: hibiscus flower, apricot nectar, caramel mouthfeel

Many variables factor into a coffee’s ultimate character, but two primary contributors are the variety/cultivar planted and the terroir in which it is grown.  Some varieties and cultivars are associated with a particular country or region historically, and among the most famous are two cultivars developed in Kenya in the 1930’s, SL-28 and SL-34. Though originally designed to withstand drought, these seeds quickly became prized for their intense and unmistakable flavor profiles—bright fruit, sharp, winey acidity, often with a distinctive savory quality sometimes described as cooked tomato or tomato soup. 

This month’s White Label provides an opportunity to experience SL-28 cultivated with extreme skill and care outside of its usual environment in Kenya in the unfamiliar soil and climate of the  Huila region of Colombia, where coffees are renowned for their delicacy, balance and nuance. Relative to the Kenyan coffees the flavors are generally lighter, more floral, with softer sweet fruit notes, medium body, and less astringent acidity. 

This microlot of SL-28 was skillfully grown on Finca La Terraza under the accomplished care of third-generation coffee producers Juliana Guevara & Wbeimar Lasso. Although Wbeimar Lasso is famous in the coffee industry for his innovative processing methods, for this lot their goal was to keep processing as out of the way as they could and so chose the traditional washed method to provide the most transparent window possible into flavors inherent in the bean. Once handpicked, the cherries are depulped and allowed to ferment submerged in concrete tanks for 2-3 days before being washed clean and patio and awning dried for 2 to 3 weeks in the sun. 

The flavors are multiple, vast and delicious yet retain a transparency associated with clean, washed coffees. A smooth silkiness is apparent in the mouthfeel, reminiscent of caramel candy-apple, carrying big soft apricot nectar aromatics along and subtle cherry. Not the tart cherry not sometimes found in Kenya, but more sweet maraschino in the background. Similarly, the acidity is of a lighter, citric quality (think pink grapefruit) containing a pomegranate-like vibrancy rather than the often bracingly astringent and winey acidity of a Kenya. Some degree of a savory umami is also present, but more supportive of other aromatics rather than a dominant flavor of its own. Finally, an unmistakable and pronounced floral quality most redolent of hibiscus mixes with the underlying stone fruit flavor throughout the cup. 

This is a delicious cup with bold but refreshing floral and fruit flavors and a fun coffee for cuppers attempting to parse out which flavors and other characteristics are functions of the seed and which of the soil, climate, and terrain of the Terraza farm and Huila growing region.  

Cultivars: SL-29

Region: La Argentina municipality, Huila

Farm/Farmer: Finca La Terraza

Elevation: over 6,000 feet

Variety: Castillo

Processing: fully washed, sundried on patio and awning