ABOUT REYNALDO LUQUE

Amaybamba is one of the most remote places we source coffee from, requiring nearly a three-day journey to reach. It is home to some of the highest-elevation coffee farms in the world and is planted almost exclusively with SL9*. This is our first year working with Reynaldo’s coffee, and despite the challenges of access, it remains one of the most exciting projects we are developing. This is only the beginning.

ABOUT SL9

*While this variety’s exact genetic fingerprint is not currently in the global database, its similarity to SL09 supports the use of SL9 as a provisional working name. For now, we refer to it as SL9, as it contains no Gesha in its genetic composition. However, we are continuing conversations with geneticists, as well as with communities in the Inkawasi Valley, about how this variety should be referred to and represented going forward.

Colloquially known as “Gesha Inca,” we had this variety genetically tested last year and found that it closely resembles SL09—a rare cultivar belonging to the Ethiopian Legacy group. “SL” refers to single-tree selections made by Scott Agricultural Laboratories in the 1930s. While SL28, SL34, and Mibirizi are the most widely grown SL selections, SL09—and by extension SL9—remains uncommon in cultivation today. Local names like “Gesha Inca” often reflect history and terroir as much as genetics—capturing a conversation between lineage, cultivation, and the way producers and communities have always understood their coffees.