Plan del Guayabo SL28 Natural

Benjamin Donado and his family have operated Plan del Guayabo since 1990. When the Donados purchased the land, it was predominately forest. The many Guava trees growing across the property was what inspired the farm’s name, which means “fields of guava.”

Volcan de Suchitan is a remote region and farmers typically sell to collectors who sell to regional processing facilities. By working more closely with farmers, we are able to maintain greater traceability, bring higher returns to farmers and continue to work them year after to year to improve coffee quality.

The estate’s terrain is steep, but the Donados were sure that the high altitude and rich soil was the ideal place to grow coffee. More than 3 decades since purchasing the farm, the Donados cultivate 72 hectares, including SL28 variety trees.

SL28 is a popular variety in Kenya, but is much less common in Guatemala. The high altitudes, rich soil and temperate weather at Plan del Guayabo Estate are perfect for cultivating the coveted, complex flavors of the SL28 variety.

For the first 8 years, the Donados sold their harvest as cherry but, in 1999, the family built their own wet mill and drying patios to enable them to sell their harvest as parchment. As their production grew, so too did the wet mill. Today, they can handle over 750 bags of cherry each day.

Selling as parchment enables the Donados to capture the value addition from processing and receive higher prices. It also helps them maintain traceability back to their farm and grow their name recognition.

It is evident in the cup that the Donados place the utmost care into processing their coffee. This coffee in this lot was processing using traditional Natural processing techniques. The Donados call the processing method they used ‘winey’ process in order to differentiate their small-scale processing from the larger-scale Natural processing that is common throughout Brazil.

SL28 and SL34 were just two of the cultivars released by Scott Agricultural Laboratories (SAL) during the height of SAL’s research in Kenya in the 1930s and 1940s. They soon became the cultivars of choice for most growers due to their deep root structure that allows them to maximize scarce water resources and flourish even without irrigation. SL varieties also had higher yields than the French Bourbon rootstock that they replaced and were known to be somewhat more disease resistant.

While SL varieties are still highly sought after today, they’ve become less widely cultivated in Kenya due to their relatively low resistance to coffee leaf rust (CLR). Compared to more recent varieties, SL varieties are more susceptible to diseases and pests and require very specific altitudes and climates to flourish. However, that hasn’t stopped specialty-focused farmers, who, inspired by the flavors and popularity of SL varieties, have have spread the cultivation of SL varieties worldwide.