The Origin of Ethiopia's Gesha Village Estate: Did Gesha Coffee Truly Originate from Gesha Village?

The Origin of Ethiopia's Gesha Village Coffee Estate: Did Gesha Geisha Really Originate from Gesha Village?

The Origin and Development of Gesha Village Estate

The owner of Gesha Village is Adam Overton, a genuine American who wasn't originally a coffee shop owner but rather a documentary filmmaker.

His wife, Rachel Samuel, is Ethiopian and works as a photographer. In 2007, the couple was commissioned to Ethiopia to shoot a documentary about coffee. As filming progressed and they had deeper contact with Ethiopia's land and people, their dream of establishing their own estate began to sprout.

In 2009, they met Willem Boot.

Who is he? Willem Boot is Dutch and his family runs a coffee shop. He later immigrated to America and worked at coffee roaster company Probat. In 2004, he served as a judge at BOP, which was the first time the Geisha variety appeared in competition. After taking one sip, he was astonished by how heavenly it tasted - so good it could make you fly. So in 2006, he bought La Mula estate, which was then a little-known small estate, and planted 6,000 Geisha trees.

In the 2014 BOP competition, La Mula estate participated for the first time and won first place and eleventh place in the natural Gesha category. Other famous estates like Esmeralda, Kotowa, Elida, etc., were defeated by this mere 8-year-old estate.

And what Willem Boot most wanted to do was return to Ethiopia to find the original land where Geisha was born.

Yes, the Geisha variety was also found in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.

In 1931, the Geisha coffee variety was found in a forest called Geisha Mountain in Ethiopia.

Later, it was brought back to Costa Rica for cultivation by Don Pachi and then distributed to other estates.

Initially, it was a very low-yielding variety, but with strong mold resistance and tall trees, so many estates planted it on the edges as windbreaks.

Until 2004, Esmeralda estate separated it out, entered it in competition, and it became famous overnight.

After meeting Willem Boot, Adam and his wife deepened their idea of establishing a Geisha estate in Ethiopia.

So they flew to Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Initially, they hoped to build the estate in a relatively close location to the capital.

But considering the microclimate, soil, and other natural environments they observed in Panama, they finally settled in the Bench-Maji region, in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan. Many places in this area are called Geisha villages, and it's the most likely area to find original Geisha.

So they decided to establish their estate here and named it "Gesha Village Coffee Estate."

In 2011, Willem Boot came to the estate's groundbreaking ceremony and served as consultant for the estate.

Something magical happened - not far from this estate, in a primary forest locally called Gori Geisha, they discovered native coffee varieties very similar to those at La Mula estate.

The entire forest was filled with the fragrance of coffee flowers. They deeply believed this was the place where Geisha was originally found, and this variety was the original native species. Subsequent variety identification also confirmed this idea.

So the estate planted two types of Geisha: one is Gori Geisha from this forest, and the other is the Geisha 1931 variety that was originally discovered.

2017 Gesha Village Coffee Estate Independent Auction Data Overview

(The following data source: Grand Cru)

Gesha Village Coffee Estate's first global public auction began at 9 AM on May 31, 2017 (BST time), with nearly 3 hours of intense bidding. Buyers from multiple countries and regions including Hong Kong, Japan, and Greece participated in the auction, successfully winning 21 auction lots.

Gesha Village owners Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel participated in an expedition to collect seedlings from the forest; they now cultivate several Gesha versions from this expedition to achieve the highest quality goals. Rachel says: "Gesha is renowned in the industry for its high quality, but Ethiopia has not become an important part of its story, even though Gesha originally comes from here. We are excited to help develop the specialty coffee market in the Gesha region so this amazing coffee can finally be offered in its birthplace."

Only a few estates in the world can hold their own auctions, the most famous being Panama's Esmeralda, Guatemala's Injerto, Brazil's Daterra, Nicaragua's Mierisch, and Ethiopia's Gesha Village Estate.

Gesha Village Coffee Estate is completely different from most Ethiopian farms. It's not a small farm but a large 500-hectare farm with its own washing station and laboratory, located in the southwest near the Sudan border. Most special is that the entire farm only grows Geisha varieties, not typical Ethiopian native varieties whose exact breed cannot be determined. Gesha Village divides the farm into 8 blocks with 3 main Geisha varieties. All Geisha seeds are collected from nearby forests, not from Panama.

FrontStreet Coffee's Analysis of Gesha Village Gesha Green Beans

The green beans are smaller than Panama's. Washed Gesha coffee green beans have a very beautiful blue-green color, while natural Gesha coffee green beans have a beautiful green with slight yellow tones, jade-like warm texture. They smell like fresh grass, peaches, berries, and have the unique milky sweet aroma of oolong tea that most coffee beans don't possess. It seems aroma and flavor require associative thinking, but the faint tea aroma is something we can clearly feel.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cupping Report:

Dry aroma is wine-like, apricot; wet aroma has sweet orange juice feeling, jasmine flower fragrance, sweet peach, wine aroma, pineapple, bright and rich. Slurping reveals citrus, tropical fruit aroma, ripe fruit fragrance, berry notes, citrus, light fermented wine aroma. The acidity is clear and bright, texture is smooth, with grape, maple, wild ginger, delicate fruit acidity. The mouthfeel is clean and balanced, with a long, lively fruity sweet aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Parameters for Gesha Village Gesha:

Recommended brewing methods: Siphon, pour-over

Grind size: 3.5 (Japan Fuji R440)

Water temperature: 89°C

V60 dripper, 15g coffee, water temperature 91-92°C, grind 3.5, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15

35g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

Pouring stages: pour water to 100ml, stop water, then slowly pour to 225ml

That is: 30-100-95

Other Drip Extraction Recommendations:

French press: recommend 3.5-4 grind size / water temperature 92°C

AeroPress: recommend 2.5 grind size, water temperature 88°C

Pour-over: 3.5 grind size, water temperature 89°C

3.5 grind - 90°C water temperature

Important Notice :

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