Santa Felisa SL-28 Natural

Siblings Anabella and Antonio Meneses are the fourth generation of Meneses to own and manage Santa Felisa Estate. The estate was founded in 1902 and today, it’s the perfect blend of age-old know-how and modern coffee artisanship. While continually improving their typical processing methods, Anabella and Antonio are also constantly experimenting with new processing methods to find new flavors.

The conditions in the Acatenango Valley make coffee cultivation so fruitful. Breezes from the Sierra Madre Mountains that cool the mornings are followed by warm, sunny days. By the afternoon, fresh winds coming off the Pacific Ocean create the cool nights that cause cherry to concentrate sugars for dense, sweet beans.

Santa Felisa differentiates itself by planting new and exceptional coffee varieties (such as this very unusual - for the region - SL28), many of which are not common in Guatemala. In addition, Anabella has been implementing, over more than a decade, an innovative concept of 'Precise Agriculture', which takes a highly ecological emphasis and focuses on community and natural systems as a means to optimize plant productivity and growth.  All coffee is shade-grown and cultivated in a way that prioritizes biodiversity. 

Anabella and Antonio only harvest when cherries have reached 18 to 23 brix as an indicator of ripeness. After selective handpicking, ripe cherry is washed fully. After washing, for natural lots such as this one, they prefer to use raised beds for drying since the drying process provides a more gentle and constant flow of air that moves all around the cherries providing a uniform drying process. They also note that it is ergonomically better (and easier) for the people in charge of turning the cherries to dry them slowly.

While drying, beans are protected from direct sunlight. It is very important to control the temperature that will limit the ecological succession of the microorganisms responsible for the production of the secondary metabolites that we want. Most of the coffee produced at Santa Felisa were naturally inoculated with naturally existing microorganisms on the farm - the farm's 'microbiota', which helps provide unique and interesting results in the cup.

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.