How to Identify Gesha Village Gesha Coffee Beans_ What Variety Are Gesha Village's Gesha Coffee Beans

Gesha Village Coffee Estate

In recent years, drinkers have turned their attention back to Gesha grown in its Ethiopian homeland. Any discussion of Gesha Village, the green bean brand that rose to fame so quickly, has to begin with its founders, the Overton couple. In 2007, documentary director Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel were filming a documentary about Ethiopian coffee for the Ethiopian government when they came into contact with the Gera coffee forest in the Bench-Maji region. In the process they not only rediscovered Ethiopia's great potential but also conceived the idea of building their own coffee estate and brand.

In 2009 they had the good fortune to meet Willem Boot, the well-known owner of La Mula estate and a BOP judge. His thinking gave the Overtons a direction: go back to Ethiopia and find where Gesha was born.

They eventually reached Bench-Maji, the region in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan, where many places are called Gesha Village and which is the most likely place to find the original Gesha. When they arrived in 2011 there was nothing on the land.

Adam joined Willem Boot on "expeditions" through the forests surrounding the estate. In jungle thickly veiled by dense forest they found several wild tree species, and the most exciting discovery was wild Gesha. They later learned that this was the Gori Gesha forest, where the Gesha variety was first discovered. They collected seeds from the original Gesha trees, screened them, and planted them at Gesha Village. They decided to establish the estate on the spot and named it Gesha Village Coffee Estate, a 475-hectare coffee farm located about 12 miles from the Gori Gesha forest.

Gesha Village covers a total area of 475 hectares. From 2011 onward the couple gradually expanded the planted area, and by 2017 the planted area reached roughly 320 hectares.

Willem Boot later came to Gesha Village as its technical advisor. In a pristine forest near the estate, known locally as Gori Gesha, they found samples very similar to the original Gesha variety being cultivated at La Mula.

Both the Overtons and Willem Boot became convinced they had found the origin of Gesha, and subsequent breeding and cultivation work gradually confirmed the hypothesis.

At the 2017 Japan Barista Championship, Takayuki Ishitani used beans from Gesha Village to win the title, to say nothing of how well Gesha Village's green beans performed on the major auction cupping tables.

2017 Gesha Village Coffee Estate Independent Auction Data Overview

Gesha Village Coffee Estate's first global public auction opened at 9:00 AM on May 31, 2017 (BST time) and ran for nearly 3 hours of intense bidding. Buyers from a number of countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Japan, and Greece, took part and successfully won 21 auction lots.

Gesha Village owners Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel took part in an expedition to collect seedlings from the forest; they are now cultivating several Gesha versions from that expedition in pursuit of the highest quality. Rachel said: "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 a professional coffee market in the Gesha region so that this amazing coffee is finally available in its birthplace."

Region | Bench-Maji

Altitude | 1900-2100m

Variety | Gesha Gori (Original Gesha)

Processing | Natural

Three Major Quality Control Steps: Creating Super Premium Coffee

Quality Control Step 1: Variety Selection

To fulfill their mission of growing the world's best coffee, Gesha Village strictly controls variety selection. They sent coffee seeds collected from the Gori Gesha forest, located 20 kilometers from Gesha Village Estate, to professional institutions for genetic testing to confirm the area as the original collection site of the Panama Gesha variety. Then, by studying tree morphology, bean appearance and size, and cupping results, they selected the Gesha varieties most similar to today's Panama Gesha and began raising seedlings.

Because the estate is so large, the owners divided Gesha Village into 8 major zones for better management and product differentiation, then numbered each batch internally to keep lots distinct. While some small Gesha estates may show little difference between batches, on a large estate like Gesha Village the differences between plots are equivalent to the differences between estates in Panama, and they have to be taken seriously.

How to Identify Gesha Village Gesha Coffee Beans - Analysis of Gesha Village Gesha Green Beans

The green beans are smaller than those from Panama. Washed Gesha green beans have a beautiful blue-green color, while natural Gesha green beans are green with a slight yellow cast and a jade-like warmth. They smell of fresh grass, peach, and berries, along with the milky sweetness of oolong tea that most coffee beans lack. Aroma and flavor often require associative thinking, but the faint tea essence is something anyone can clearly perceive.

Gesha Village Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

Gesha Village coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee, Gesha Village Natural Gesha Coffee, carry full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value: a 100-gram package costs only 150 yuan. At 15 grams per single-origin coffee, one package makes 6 cups, so each cup costs about 25 yuan. Against cafe prices that often exceed 100 yuan per cup, that is exceptional value.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

What makes Gesha Village remarkable is that it grows nothing but Gesha, and it traces every tree back to the Gori Gesha forest rather than to Panama. FrontStreet Coffee carries two lots from that estate that show the range the grading system is designed to capture. FrontStreet Gesha Village Gold Label belongs to the Gesha 1931 variety and represents about 10% of the estate's total output, the top tier it produces outside of auction and a frequent choice of competition baristas. It is given a refined natural process, and cupping it reveals layers of complexity across the dry aroma, the sip, and the long finish. FrontStreet Gesha Village Red Label is the Gori Gesha variety, roughly 15% of production, scoring 88 points or above on the SCA 100-point scale, and it comes as a single-terroir series with fully traceable lot information, including farm block, variety, and processing date.

Gesha is a hard bean and can sink and clog the dripper, so FrontStreet suggests grinding to a medium-fine size, roughly that of fine caster sugar, and brewing at 91°C. A familiar recipe is 15 g of coffee in a small Hario V60 at a 1:16 ratio, poured in three stages: 30 g for a 30-second bloom, then a slow circling pour to 125 g, pausing until the bed drains halfway, then a final slow pour to 225 g, with total extraction finishing in about 2:10 to 2:20.