SL-28: Ngorongoro, Tanzania

SL-28 has a long reputation for being a high quality cultivar, frequently found in Kenyan coffees, but there are some indictors that it actually originates from Tanzania.  

This SL-28 hails from the Fingaro farms of Ngorongoro,  the world’s largest unbroken caldera, and it looms over a rich landscape, the shell of an ancient, ruptured volcano. Inside its walls there is a wildlife conservation area that is cut off from much of the outside world, and is home to zebra, gazelles, wildebeests, lions, hyenas, hippopotami, and scores of local birds. Native forest corridors on the Fingaro farms allow freedom of movement for the animals as they migrate.  Fingaro has been run by the same family for three generations and is located on the caldera’s outer ridge, on the southern exterior slopes near the town of Karatu.   

Flavor

The flavor profile for this coffee is sweet, herbal, and slightly savory. At our cupping table, we tasted orange, grapefruit, lemongrass, and cherry.  We were surprised at the sweetness exhibited by these flavors, as they can often be more tart. 

We then brewed this coffee with various emersion, percolation methods, along with espresso,  experimenting with a variety of dosing levels and found this coffee to be smooth, with sweet citrus and fruit flavors. We found that slightly elevated dosing and slowed extraction enhanced the sweetness.  This is an outstandingly complex, yet sweet coffee that can be enjoyed hot and is full of delightful flavor surprises as it cools. 

Source

• Fingaro Farms
• Process:  Washed
• Region:  Karatu District, Arusha Region, Tanzania
• Cultivar:  SL-28
• Elevation:  5200-6000 ft (High Elevation)

Flavors

• Orange
• Grapefruit
• Lemongrass
• Cherry