What are the Flavor Characteristics of Geisha and Gesha? Which Tastes Better: Caturra or Gesha Coffee?

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What's the Difference Between Geisha and Gesha?

They are the same thing, with the pronunciation derived from the Japanese word "Geisha."

What Variety is Gesha?

La Esmeralda in Panama typically divides their Gesha into three grade levels—Red Label, Green Label, Blue Label, and Purple Label.

Some of the Red Label batches are competition lots from La Esmeralda, while others are directly sold by La Esmeralda, including lots that appear in auctions such as natural and washed processing.

At La Esmeralda, quality control is first reflected in careful guidance to the farmers who pick the fresh cherries. They also pay higher fees to pickers, requiring them to harvest only fully ripe, bright red coffee cherries.

During the preparation phase, harvested coffee cherries undergo careful inspection for any rotten beans or unripe cherries. Significant time is spent handling details and researching how to present good texture, which makes La Esmeralda stand out and easily distinguishable from other coffee producers worldwide.

FrontStreet Coffee's latest offering, FrontStreet Coffee Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Gesha, is the Esmeralda Special Selection from La Esmeralda Estate, also called Competition Geisha. The competition lots (Special-Geisha) represent the premium batches from La Esmeralda Estate, all grown at elevations above 1550 meters (some even above 1900 meters), with cupping scores consistently above 90 points.

La Esmeralda is an estate with an extremely experimental spirit. By comparing 400 coffee varieties and conducting sample processing and cupping annually, they select varieties with excellent cupping performance (this is how they discovered Gesha). These batches with innovative experimental processing methods cannot be found even in auctions.

La Esmeralda Red Label has three major characteristics:

1. Strong traceability: Each batch can be traced back to harvest date, specific plot, tree age of the plot, etc.

2. Elevation: All batches are at elevations above 1600 meters, with some above 1900 meters.

3. Cupping scores: Cupping scores must reach 90 points (SCAA standard) or above to be called Red Label.

In 1931, a group of botanists conducted an expedition in southern Ethiopia and discovered the Gesha variety near the village of Gesha. The trees were quite tall, with seeds larger than typical Ethiopian beans. They brought the seeds to Kenya, where they were grown in nurseries. After five years of growth, they selected fruits from the healthiest samples and brought them to Uganda and Tanzania. In 1953, CATIE, a Costa Rican research institution, obtained some seeds from Tanzania for research purposes.

The first to bring Gesha from Costa Rica to Panama was actually the former owner of Don Pachi Estate, Pachi Serracin, in 1963. However, Gesha was initially not popular in Panama due to its low yield and poor economic performance, so it was mixed with other coffee varieties for sale. Various estates could find some Gesha trees, some even used as windbreaks in coffee plantations. It wasn't until after 2000 that Price Peterson of La Esmeralda discovered that Gesha's flavor was extremely charming, so unique that they were unsure if consumers would accept it.

In 2003, at Best of Panama, La Esmeralda won first place with Gesha, shocking all judges with its intense, complex flavors. Over the following decade, Gesha was unbeatable in all green bean competitions. Coffee farmers from various countries in Central and South America rushed to plant Gesha, including Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Colombia. Although there were still flavor gaps compared to Panama, Gesha had clearly become the golden bean among coffee varieties that no one wanted to miss.

Some people hoped to trace back to the origins of Gesha, organizing multiple expeditions deep into the pristine forests of southwestern Ethiopia. However, everyone eventually recognized that Panama still seemed to be the best Gesha producing region in the world. Different processing methods also bring different flavors to Gesha, from the initial washed processing to later natural, honey processing, becoming increasingly detailed and complex.

What exactly is the difference between Gesha Village and typical Ethiopian estates? What do OMA, SURMA in batch numbers refer to? What do the series of numbers 51, 72, 59 mean? And what's the difference between Gesha1931 and Gori Gesha?

Estate Background

Adam Overton and Samuel Rachel began planting Ethiopian Gesha on nearly 500 hectares in Gesha Village starting in 2011. Their sole goal was to produce the world's best coffee. Beginning in 2008, after three years of searching, they finally found a suitable environmental system for coffee growth at 1900-2100 meters elevation, featuring tropical rainforests, suitable climate, fertile forest soil, and historic trees.

Gesha Village Coffee Estate covers a total area of 471 hectares. By 2015, Gesha Village Coffee Estate had completed 300 hectares of coffee planting and continued to add 50 hectares in 2016. The Gesha selection comes from the native coffee forest Gori Gesha, located 20 kilometers from the estate, which is also the origin source of Panama's Gesha variety. Under the guidance and assistance of Willem Boot, known as the "Godfather of Gesha," Gesha Village's coffee has repeatedly achieved outstanding results in world competitions.

Extremely Strong Traceability and High-Quality Control

Unlike most Ethiopian coffee that needs to be exported through ECX (Ethiopian Commodity Exchange) or cooperatives, Gesha Village Coffee Estate, with its scale of nearly 500 hectares, can operate as a single estate with independent processing and export capabilities. Therefore, it has traceability unmatched by other Ethiopian green beans.

Each batch of green beans can be traced back to specific details including plot, variety, tree age, harvest date, duration of natural (washed) processing, and every other step, effectively ensuring transparency and quality control at every stage.

What's the Difference Between Gori Gesha and Gesha1931?

Gori Gesha and Gesha 1931 both refer to cultivated variety names.

Gesha Village cultivates three varieties: Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, and Illubabor Forest. The first two are both Gesha varieties, while Illubabor Forest is a disease-resistant variety provided by the Ethiopian research institute.

Gori Gesha is a Gesha variety from the wild coffee forest Gori Gesha near the estate, encompassing the genetic diversity of Gesha, hence named after the forest.

Meanwhile, Gesha 1931 was selected from multiple Gesha varieties in the Gori Gesha forest as the variety closest to Panama Gesha. Variety selection depends on the coffee plant's morphology, bean appearance, and cupping results. The name Gesha 1931 was chosen because 1931 was also the year when people discovered the Gesha variety in Ethiopia.

What Do OMA, SURMA, etc. Represent?

The estate divides its nearly 500 hectares into plots based on different varieties and microclimates (as shown in the figure below):

Therefore, the variety distribution is as follows:

Planting Gori Gesha: Shewa-Jibabu; Shaya, Bangi;

Planting Gesha 1931: Surma; Oma; Narsha;

Planting Illubabor Forest: Dimma; Gaylee

What Do the Numbers in Batch Names Mean?

This is where we need to specifically discuss the traceability of Gesha Village.

2016-2017 partial batch harvest date data from Gesha Village (Image: Gesha Village auction materials)

Take the natural processed batch from the OMA plot of Japanese champion Takayuki Ishiya's competition bean as an example (see above). This plot grows the Gesha 1931 variety, and the plot is internally divided into 5 natural batches: 51, 72, 77, 86, and 90. The closer the areas, the more similar their maturity and harvest periods. Additionally, OMA#27 is a washed batch from this plot (limited space, not shown in the above image). Takayuki Ishiya's competition bean is OMA#51 auction batch, and Grand Cru Coffee ordered one batch from the same batch as OMA#72.

After multiple cuppings and screenings, Grand Cru Coffee selected three distinctive natural processed batches with separate purchases. The first batch Surma#85 and Shewa-Jibabu#59 have been sold out; the second replenishment includes Shewa-Jibabu#59 same batch and Oma#72 same batch, currently in stock.

Specific cupping flavors are as follows:

1 Shewa-Jibabu#59 same batch (Gori Gesha)

This batch has prominent sweetness, with distinct flavors of strawberry, honey peach, and papaya, plus delicate floral notes and a thick, creamy mouthfeel;

2 Oma#72 same batch (Gesha 1931)

This batch features candied fruit; intense floral notes, high complexity;

Both of these Gesha batches use natural processing. First, floating impurities are removed, then dried on African raised beds covered with thin film and plastic sheeting, with total drying time of 18-30 days.

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Gesha Village Natural Gesha

(Gesha Village Coffee Estate Gesha Natural)

Variety: Gesha (Gori Gesha)

Processing Method: Natural

Season: 2017 New Season

Flavor Description: Strawberry, honey peach, papaya, floral, creamy, thick

FrontStreet Coffee · 2017 Season Panama La Esmeralda Red Label Geisha Competition Geisha Washed Processing

Panama Geisha Hacienda La Esmeralda

Country: Panama

Grade: Red Label

Region: Boquete

Roast Level: Light Roast

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: Gesha

Estate: La Esmeralda

Flavor: Lychee, peach, sweet potato

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Diosa Geisha

Located in the Dota region within Costa Rica's most renowned Tarrazu area, Dota is specifically known for producing micro-lot Geisha varieties! As early as 1865, the Dota region enjoyed a reputation for fine Costa Rican coffee. Because the highway construction from the capital to Dota valley had to pass through the Tarrazu region, Costa Rica's coffee authorities habitually label the production area as "Dota Tarrazu." This region features typical highland terrain, with both soil and temperature-humidity conditions being optimal choices for coffee cultivation.

Diosa Estate was established in the 1960s. Diosa Estate grows coffee using organic methods, utilizing local native trees and fruit trees as shade for coffee. The fertilizer used is made from coffee cherry pulp mixed with molasses, combined with nutrient-rich soil from nearby mountains containing minerals and microbial fermentation to create organic fertilizer that enhances coffee trees' disease resistance. They also habitually use California earthworms to cultivate soil, directly serving as the main nutrient source for coffee trees during fertilization periods while planting multiple coffee varieties. They uniformly purchase and select fully ripe red-purple berries and closely control the soaking fermentation process, developing a very unique constant-temperature processing method. The precise degree of fermentation achieves an excellent balance between clarity and complexity, making the flavor expression more stable and bringing out Geisha's unique flavors layer by layer, truly intoxicating.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Tarrazu Diosa Estate Gesha Dota E1 Diosa Geisha

Origin: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazu

Variety: Geisha

Elevation: 1800 meters

Soil: Volcanic soil

Grade: SHB

Processing: Washed

Harvest: Hand-picked

Flavor:

[Dry Aroma] Tea aroma, orange, plum fruit, cranberry, floral, vanilla, almond

[Wet Aroma] Floral, chocolate, vanilla, bright malic acid, cranberry

Flavor characteristics: Lemon and citrus aromas, gentle grapefruit acidity and fruity sweetness, medium body, clean and smooth mouthfeel

Taobao link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.5-c.w4002-15673140460.41.23e7a496Br02sy&id=541755048209

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