Ethiopian Coffee | Gesha Village Coffee Farm 1931 Gold Label Lot #44 & #94

Rarity Label - Ethiopia Gesha Village Coffee Farm Lot #44 & #94

Country: Ethiopia

Region: SNNPR, Bench Maji Zone, Gori Gesha Forest

Estate: Gesha Village Coffee Farm

Estate Owners: Adam Overton & Rachel Samuel

GPS: E35.487 N6.538

Altitude: 1,900 - 2,100 meters

Varieties: Gori Gesha Forest, Gesha 1931

Annual Rainfall: approximately 1,500 - 2,000 mm

Processing Method: 100% red-cherry African raised-bed natural

Gesha Village Coffee Farm, which conjures up something new every harvest, belongs to Adam Overton, an American documentary filmmaker, and his wife Rachel Samuel, an Ethiopian-born photographer. In 2007 the couple was commissioned to Ethiopia to shoot a documentary about coffee, and as filming deepened their bond with the land and its people, the dream of their own estate began to sprout. Everything accelerated after they met Willem Boot: even the site selection, variety choice, and processing methods trace back to him, and he still visits the estate annually to oversee post-harvest processing.

Three varieties grow on the farm. The first is Gori Gesha, collected from the Gori original forest, covering 43.7% of the planted area. The second is Illubabor from the Illubabor forest, about 20%. The last is the celebrated Gesha 1931 - the closest match, in plant morphology and flavor, to the Gesha now grown in Panama - at roughly 37.3%.

For the 2018 harvest season the farm rolled out a new grading system, dividing all lots into four internal grades to push quality control further.

1. Auction Grade (Highest Level)

Only 3.7% of annual production. In 2018 the farm again co-hosted a Taiwan cupping tour with owner Rachel Samuel and consultant Willem Boot, and the June auction saw the top lot set a record of $105 per pound. The GVA 05 lot - secured jointly with roasters from Taiwan and Hong Kong - sold out before the air-freighted beans even arrived.

2. Rarity Label (Second Grade)

Also air-freighted in this round, the Rarity Label is just 5% of production and sits nearly at auction-lot level. Given the differences between Eastern and Western palates - and the independent personalities beans reveal as they rest - Rarity Label lots often outperform the auction lots in the cup. They are a treasure trove for discovery and the first choice of competition contestants: at the 2018 WBC World Championship in the Netherlands, both the Australian and Japanese champions chose Rarity Label lots for their routines.

The Red Label (Grower's Reserve) and Green Label (Single Terroir) tiers will be covered another time. The two Rarity Label lots on this price list both have outstanding flavors:

Lot #44 - Gori Gesha variety, Shewa-Jibabu block

Natural process.

The dry aroma opens straight onto blueberry, florals, and peach. In the mouth it blossoms into sweet frangipani, rose, and blueberry, backed by wine-like aromatics and grape juice, then peach, mango, and strawberry, finishing on orange peel and orange blossom. The flavor is powerful yet delicate and elegant, with a long-lasting aftertaste.

Lot #94 - Gesha 1931 variety, Surma block

Natural process.

On grinding it releases delicate blueberry, orange blossom, and lemon peel. In the sip: fresh bergamot, lemon, refined orange blossom, and apricot, followed by jasmine and blueberry with rose undertones, all carried on a smooth, yogurt-like texture.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia, coffee's birthplace, has an estate answer to Panama's famous Esmeralda: Gesha Village, founded by a couple just 12 miles from the Gesha forest on 475 hectares. Its grading runs more intricate than Esmeralda's Red/Green tiers - Gold Label RARITIES, Red Label GROWERS RESERVE, Green Label SINGLE-TERROIR, and Chaka lots - layered over three planted varieties: Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, and Illubabor Forest.

The Gold Label, a Gesha 1931 lot accounting for just 10% of the farm's output, is its top coffee outside the auctions - the kind of lot international competitors reach for. FrontStreet's Gold Label batch is a meticulous natural of complex, layered flavor: distinctive dry fragrance, a vivid slurping profile, and a finish that lingers on the palate. The Red Label, a Gori Gesha making up 15% of production, scores 88 or higher on the SCA 100-point scale and belongs to the single-terroir series, so every lot number carries full traceability - farm block, variety, and processing date. Green Label lots blend batches across plots for the estate's signature high-altitude Gesha profile at a friendlier price.

For a gentler entry into Ethiopian Gesha, FrontStreet recommends the Genlana Gesha: the Genlana washing station - founded in 2014 and run by Israel Degefa at the border of Kochere and Genji Abaya - sits among 700 hectares of mostly untilled, fertile, shade-covered land. Hand-picked ripe cherries dry on raised beds for 14-20 days depending on the weather; at a medium-light roast the cup shows bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger-flower aromatics, the full sweetness of ripe fruit, and the fine, silky finish that is Gesha's signature.