Peru — Alejandrina Maytan Kukipata SL9 (Washed)*

Tastes Like — 🍈 Yellow Tropical Fruit • 🍓 Strawberry

DETAILS

• Producer: Alejandrina Maytan
• Region: Amaybamba, Cusco, Peru
• Varietal: SL9*
• Process: Washed
• Elevation: 2,280 masl
• Harvest: November 2025
• Farm Gate: ~$25.26/kg | FOB: $31.92/kg | DDP: $35.18/kg

INTRO
The last Peru SL9* of the season — these coffees have completely redefined the global coffee landscape, emphatically putting Peru on the map as capable of producing some of the best coffees in the world. This lot leans more fruit-forward and jammy: yellow tropical fruit and strawberry, with a soft but lifting acidity. In the cup: yellow tropical fruit and strawberry.

THE PRODUCER
This is the second year exploring the SL9* variety as it's grown in the valley around the town of Amaybamba, and the first year purchasing from Alejandrina Maytan. The valley is extremely challenging to reach, yet produces some of the most distinctive expressions of terroir encountered anywhere — a relationship worth returning to.

While this variety's exact genetic fingerprint isn't currently in the global database, its similarity to SL09 supports the use of "SL9" as a provisional working name — it contains no Gesha in its genetic composition. Genetic testing has found it closely resembles SL09, a rare cultivar belonging to the Ethiopian Legacy group, referencing single-tree selections made by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s. Colloquially known as "Gesha Inca," conversations continue with geneticists and communities in the Inkawasi Valley about how the variety should ultimately be referred to and represented.

THE PROCESS
Cherries are hand-picked at peak ripeness, floated to further remove defects, then de-pulped the same day. The coffee wet-ferments for 32 hours, is washed, and dries on raised beds until moisture reaches 10.5%.

The 32-hour wet fermentation is the defining step — it's what builds the jammy, fruit-forward yellow tropical fruit and strawberry character that define this cup, softened by a lifting rather than sharp acidity.

THE CUP
Jammy and fruit-forward — yellow tropical fruit and strawberry sweetness throughout, carried by a soft, lifting acidity. A fitting close to a season that redefined expectations for Peruvian coffee.

Flavour Notes
🍈 Yellow Tropical Fruit 🍓 Strawberry