Inca Gesha Was Never Gesha: The SL9 Story

Spotted: a coffee that has worn three identities across three countries, and still refuses to tell anyone how it got there.

Short answer: "Inca Gesha" is the name producers in Peru gave to an intensely floral coffee everyone assumed was Gesha. Genetic testing later showed it is not Gesha at all, but a close match to SL9, a selection made in Kenya in the 1930s and never released. The SL9 name points to Kenya, its genetics point to Ethiopia, and its address is in Peru.

What SL9 is

The "SL" stands for Scott Agricultural Laboratories, the research station in Kenya, set up under British colonial rule, that gave coffee its most famous initials. In the 1930s, SL9 was selected there from a single tree in what the records describe as a block of unknown origin. Its siblings SL28 and SL34 went on to define Kenyan coffee. SL9 cropped well, but it had no resistance to leaf rust or coffee berry disease, so it was never released to farmers. It was supposed to have disappeared.

How it became "Inca Gesha"

Decades later, producers in Peru were growing a variety with a floral, tea-like, very Gesha-like cup. They called it Inca Gesha, and for years nobody had a reason to argue. It looked the part and it tasted the part.

What the testing showed

Then came the genetic test, and the reveal: not Gesha at all, but a close match to SL9. A lineage that was written off in East Africa had been quietly surviving in the Andes the whole time.

How did it cross hemispheres? Nobody can say for certain. The main theories are research seedlings sent to Peru in the 1960s, or seeds that arrived without records. The full story of the journey may be lost for good, which is exactly the kind of gossip we live for.

Where it grows and what it tastes like

Today SL9 is exceptionally rare and grown at very high elevations in Peru's Inkawasi Valley. In the cup it leans floral and delicate, which is how it passed as Gesha for so long. If that profile is your thing, read what Gesha coffee is or go straight to our Gesha collection. To taste the famous siblings, Kenya Malaki Estate is washed SL28 and SL34.

Quick answers

Is Inca Gesha a real Gesha?

No. Genetic testing showed it is not Gesha; it is a close match to SL9.

Is SL9 related to SL28 and SL34?

They share a birthplace. All three were selections made at Scott Agricultural Laboratories in Kenya. More on that in coffee varieties explained.

Why was SL9 abandoned in Kenya?

It was never released. It cropped well, but it had no resistance to leaf rust or coffee berry disease, and either one can wipe out a harvest.

Why does it taste like Gesha?

Its genetics trace back to Ethiopia, the home of Gesha and of Arabica itself, and it shares that floral, tea-like character.

Read next: What Is Gesha Coffee? · Coffee Varieties, Explained: Bourbon, Caturra, Gesha and More · Colombia Gesha Buesaco V60 Recipe

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xoxo, The Angry Roaster