Finca Bella Vista - Eudis Orosco SL9 Washed

Origin: Peru - Incahuasi Valley - Cusco

Farm:  Bella Vista

Producer: Eudis Orosco 

Altitude: 2230 m

Variety: SL9

Process: Washed

Variety 

SL9 is one of the most intriguing varieties currently emerging from the Peruvian Andes. For years, it was cultivated under the name Inca Gesha due to its intensely floral profile, remarkable clarity, and elegant structure in the cup. Naturally, many assumed it was related to Gesha. But over time, producers, buyers, and roasters working closely with these coffees began noticing that the variety behaved differently both agronomically and sensorially.

That curiosity eventually led to deeper research. Several people within the industry, including Lance from Sey Coffee helped push for genetic analysis to better understand the variety’s true identity. Leaf samples from Peruvian trees were analyzed by Dr. Christophe Montagnon at RD2 Vision in France, alongside additional research conducted through producers and specialty coffee partners working directly with these lots. The results changed the conversation entirely, SL9 showed no meaningful genetic relation to Gesha.

Instead, the analyses revealed a strong connection to an extremely rare Kenyan selection known as SL-09, originally developed by the Scott Agricultural Laboratories during the 1930s. While varieties such as SL28 and SL34 became foundational to Kenyan coffee production, SL-09 remained almost completely absent from commercial cultivation due to low yields and high susceptibility to diseases such as Coffee Berry Disease. Over time, the variety largely disappeared from modern coffee production and documentation.

What remains unclear, and particularly fascinating, is how this genetic lineage ultimately arrived in Peru. Coffee writer Christopher Feran has documented several possible explanations, including historical seed exchanges, agricultural research programs, undocumented introductions through experimental stations, and the loss of research archives following the destruction of Peru’s Tingo María agricultural station in the late 1980s. While no single theory fully explains the story, the strongest evidence suggests that seeds descended from older Kenyan selections were likely introduced into Peru decades ago before being cultivated locally in the Andes for generations under the name Inca Gesha.

Today, SL9 has become the accepted modern name used throughout specialty coffee. The variety remains exceptionally rare, produced in very limited volumes, and primarily cultivated at extreme elevations throughout the Inkawasi Valley and surrounding regions of Cusco, often between 1,900 and 2,400 meters above sea level. These elevations contribute to slow cherry maturation, high aromatic intensity, and exceptional cup clarity.

Although the name SL9 is now widely used across the industry, its genetic relationship to the historic Kenyan SL-09 selection remains one of the most compelling discoveries surrounding the variety. Rather than being a Peruvian Gesha mutation, SL9 appears to represent the rediscovery, and evolution of an almost-lost East African lineage that quietly survived for decades in the Peruvian Andes. 

Process

Fully ripened cherries are picked and then floated in water before pulping to remove any unripe or insect damaged cherries. The whole cherries are first pre-fermented in GrainPro bags under cool conditions for 48 hours, then they are depulped and placed into clean fermentation tanks, where they are left to ferment without water in their own mucilage.

The cool climate keeps this process stable with shortened fermentation times of 24-36 hours. Dry fermentation also reduces the impact of waste water on the surrounding environment. After the fermentation process the coffee is fully washed and laid to rest on raised drying beds. The coffee parchment is evenly turned 5-6 times a day in the cool climate approximately 2200 meters above sea level. Drying in this altitude takes from 10 to 12 days to reach a stable moisture level of 10-11.5 percent.