SL 34 does so much of the heavy lifting in the specialty coffee world in Kenya, and understandably so– the distinctive blackcurrant and winey acidity is practically synonymous with Kenyan coffee. Its origin story is so interesting that it deserves its own blog post (coming soon), but the tagline basically boils down to this: colonial missions sowed the seeds of capitalist exploitation more than truth? Shocking, surprising, and dare I say, scandalous? To be continued. Anyways. The enduring legacy of SL 34 is one that we should be deeply grateful for, and appreciative of each and every time we get to drink it. Compared to more modern varieties it is far more susceptible to disease and has a substantively lower yield, but the gulf in quality is astonishing. So while it makes sense to want to buy and drink this brilliant variety, it makes increasingly less sense to grow it from a labor and risk perspective. While many larger estates have moved on to higher yielding and more disease resistant varieties, we’re grateful for every producer carrying the flame of SL 34.

SL 34 does so much of the heavy lifting in the specialty coffee world in Kenya, and understandably so– the distinctive blackcurrant and winey acidity is practically synonymous with Kenyan coffee. Its origin story is so interesting that it deserves its own blog post (coming soon), but the tagline basically boils down to this: colonial missions sowed the seeds of capitalist exploitation more than truth? Shocking, surprising, and dare I say, scandalous? To be continued. Anyways. The enduring legacy of SL 34 is one that we should be deeply grateful for, and appreciative of each and every time we get to drink it. Compared to more modern varieties it is far more susceptible to disease and has a substantively lower yield, but the gulf in quality is astonishing. So while it makes sense to want to buy and drink this brilliant variety, it makes increasingly less sense to grow it from a labor and risk perspective. While many larger estates have moved on to higher yielding and more disease resistant varieties, we’re grateful for every producer carrying the flame of SL 34.