Gesha Village Coffee Estate Background Story_How Much Does a Cup of Gesha Village Coffee Cost

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Cafe Style (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

The Finest and Most Original Coffee - The Background Story of Gesha Village Coffee Estate

The journey to Gesha Village began in 2007 when Mr. Adam Overton and Ms. Rachel Samuel were producing a documentary about Ethiopian coffee for the Ethiopian government. During this work, they were first introduced to Dr. Girma, following guides through the KAFA coffee forests near Djimma. Dr. Girma is a coffee researcher specializing in coffee agronomy and farm management. While producing this documentary, Rachel Samuel was brought back to her birth country of Ethiopia, and Adam Overton became fascinated by the rich coffee history of coffee's birthplace.

After this coffee expedition, the couple deeply felt compelled to start their own coffee farm. They saw too much unexplored potential and opportunity in Ethiopia's wild coffee forests. Although the country's coffee trade was already mature, Ethiopia's coffee industry lagged far behind new coffee sources in terms of agricultural and processing innovation and terroir distinction—these being the two most important differences between specialty and commercial beans. Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel fully utilized Ethiopia's specialty market to establish Gesha Village, creating a distinction from traditional practices.

From 2007 to 2010, the couple searched the country for the perfect location to establish their village. Initial criteria included proximity to the capital Addis Ababa for practical transportation considerations. More importantly, other factors included:

• Altitude: 1800-2100 meters
• Large land area: Over 100 hectares
• Abundant old trees/pristine forest
• Rich tree shade
• Accessibility
• Adequate labor force
• Stable labor resources without displacing residents

As they investigated locations, they found themselves moving further away from Addis Ababa. Finally, in the southwestern region of the country, they discovered Gesha town, very close to Ethiopia's border with Sudan. During their reconnaissance, they found wild coffee growing within pristine forest. This coffee paradise, combined with meeting some inhabitants from the Meanit community indigenous to the area, also drew the couple in. This was a place and people where something completely cutting-edge could happen.

In autumn of 2011, the lease for the 471 hectares that now make up Gesha Village Estate was signed, and soon after, Akalu, Gesha Village's (GV) Farm Manager, was hired. He, together with the newly established GV team, began conducting forest exploration where they collected wild seeds from the nearby Gori Gesha forest.

After a year in the nursery, these seeds were planted on 30 hectares, and at the same time, the team began acquainting themselves with the Meanit neighbors living around them. This initial 30 hectares made up GV's first "test plot"—the team wanted to ensure the cup quality was good before planting more coffee. The first 1kg sample was sent to Adam and Rachel's friend Willem Boot in spring 2012, even before they themselves had a chance to cup it.

Willem in turn organized a Cupping Caravan in Ethiopia where cuppers were blown away by the coffee. At this point, the GV team knew they were onto something special.

Before getting too far ahead of themselves, the team decided to visit their neighbors' coffee farms to both study the morphology of more established trees (which also came from forest seeds) and to cup their neighbors' coffees to further understand what they were working with at GV.

As exciting as cultivating forest coffee was, the team understood that planting only one variety was risky. On the advice of Akalu and Dr. Girma, they decided to plant a good portion of GV with tried and tested Ethiopian heirloom varieties released from the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC). These released varieties come from various seed collection expeditions that JARC has conducted. During research expeditions, researchers look for the following characteristics when determining which are "good plants":

• a) Obvious disease resistance
• b) Excellent cup quality
• c) Good yield

Plants showing these characteristics are selected for release, and GV chose to plant a variety that originated in the highland coffee forests of Illubabor. This particular variety showed both disease resistance and excellent cup quality.

We can say that over the course of cupping the different varieties produced at GV, these research varieties have some of the most exciting cup profiles that Gesha Village has produced. With varieties playing such an important role in quality and cup profile, it makes perfect sense that the GV team found research partners to carry out a methodical genetic study on the Gesha forest varieties. Part of that study concerns the possible connection between Panamanian geisha and coffee from the Gori Gesha Forest.

Recommended Gesha Village Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Gesha Village coffee beans - Gesha Village Natural Gesha Coffee offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value for money. A half-pound (100g) package costs only 150 yuan. Calculating at 15g per single-origin coffee serving, one package can make 6 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 25 yuan. Compared to café prices that often exceed 100 yuan per cup, this represents extremely high value.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online shop services: https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473