Where to Find Authentic Geisha Coffee? How to Drink Ethiopian Geisha Village Geisha Coffee?

Is Gesha Village Coffee Delicious? What's the Difference Between Gesha Village and Gesha? Gesha Village Estate Awards

Adam Overton, an American documentary filmmaker, was commissioned in 2007 to shoot a documentary about Ethiopian coffee. While filming in Ethiopia he met Rachel Samuel, an Ethiopian professional photographer who worked as his assistant. Working together every day, they fell in love and married. Through making the documentary they learned about Ethiopian coffee production and developed a passion for it, which planted the idea of buying a coffee plantation.

Especially as Geisha-variety coffee became wildly popular in the global market, Adam nurtured a vague dream of buying a farm in Ethiopia to grow the world's most expensive and delicious coffee — Geisha.

Adam Overton had no experience in coffee cultivation at all, but he was determined to learn and to seek out resources. In 2009, the couple met Willem Boot, an American they wanted to learn Geisha cultivation from. Willem had already bought La Mula hacienda in 2006, and five years later that small hacienda shone brightly at the "Best of Panama" competition. Since the Geisha variety appeared in Panama in 2004, Willem had been searching Ethiopia's vast primeval forests for ideal native Geisha varieties, venturing into unexplored territory. He organized several expeditions, collecting numerous varieties from different growing regions and planting them at his Panamanian hacienda, making him a devoted Geisha cultivation expert.

After learning from Willem Boot, Adam Overton and his wife reached a significant turning point in their Geisha dream — deciding to have a Geisha coffee plantation of their own. Living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, they naturally wanted a location closer to home for easy transport.

Finding a large area of land suited to Geisha, with the right altitude, microclimate and irrigation, proved genuinely difficult, though. They eventually decided to settle in Ethiopia's most remote southwestern region — the Bench Maji growing area bordering Sudan.

The region is a two-day drive from the capital, Addis Ababa. Several small villages nearby are called "Gesha," so the local Meanit indigenous people believe this is Geisha's birthplace. Adam Overton and his wife chose a piece of land at an average elevation of 1,900 to 2,100 meters, with abundant rainfall and fertile, undeveloped primeval forest. They named it Gesha Village Coffee Estate.

Planting began in 2011, and in February 2012 they consulted Willem Boot to confirm which Geisha varieties to plant. The first harvest came in 2015. The estate now covers 475 hectares, with 321 hectares planted to coffee. They currently grow three Geisha varieties: Gesha 1931, Gori Gesha and Illubabor Forest. With nervous anticipation, the couple took their first batch of processed Geisha green beans to meet Willem personally for cupping.

The cupping results revealed it was the best coffee Willem had tasted throughout 2015. The second harvest in 2016 had limited production. This year (2017), following modern trends, they opened online international bidding, similar to the way Panamanian Geisha coffee operates.

In 1931, the first native Geisha was taken from Ethiopia, then thrived in a foreign land (Panama) and gained worldwide fame. Today, 86 years later, an American documentary filmmaker with a Geisha dream has rediscovered the homeland of this variety. Coffee enthusiasts now have the chance to taste native Geisha varieties that are carefully tended, scientifically managed and strictly quality-controlled — an authentic Ethiopian Geisha.

Yirgacheffe: The Land Where We Settle

In the ancient Ethiopian language, "yirga" means "to settle down," while "cheffe" means "wetland." Yirgacheffe therefore means "let us settle and make a living in this wetland."

Yirgacheffe is one of Ethiopia's most renowned growing regions. It's a small, high-altitude area within Sidamo province at approximately 2,300 meters (comparable to Taiwan's Alishan mountain). Thanks to its geography of mountains beside lakes and its coffee processing methods, the coffee grown here has a unique flavor profile, which led to its separation from the Sidamo region to become one of Africa's specialty coffee growing areas.

Smallholder farmers deliver their harvested cherries to cooperative washing stations. Traditional Ethiopian washing methods ferment the depulped beans for 72 hours, followed by another washing. The washed beans are then placed on raised beds to dry, with constant manual inspection and turning throughout to maintain quality.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Methods

Siphon, Pour-over

Recommended Parameters:

Grind size: 3.5 (Fuji R440 Japan)
Water temperature: 90°C

V60 Brewing Method:

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

35g water for the bloom, bloom time 30s

Pour in stages: pour water to 100ml, pause, then slowly pour to 225ml

That is: 30-100-95

Other Drip Brewing Suggestions:

French Press: recommend grind size 3.5-4, water temperature 92°C

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

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

Flavor Profile

Oxalis, lemongrass, honey, blueberry, grapefruit, jasmine, lime, plum, a strong rose aroma, peach mixed with bergamot (what some call the "Geisha flavor"), toffee, vanilla, bright acidity, clean and light-bodied.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Gesha Village is the place to taste Geisha where it actually comes from. The estate sits beside the original Geisha forest about 12 miles away, and in selecting the varieties closest to Panamanian Geisha by plant form, bean shape and cupping performance, the growers brought native Geisha back out of the forest to cultivate — producing an even brighter, fruit-acid-leaning style than Panama's. For an entry point, FrontStreet suggests the Granada Estate Gesha, roasted light-medium so the coffee keeps its pleasant white floral note while highlighting sweet orange, guava and citrus, with a cleaner finish. To go estate-level, FrontStreet's Gesha Village Gold Label and Red Label come from one of the few large estates in Ethiopia, located next to the original Geisha forest, with strict quality control and standardized management that make the cup especially refined — a must-try single origin for more advanced drinkers.

The two labels speak to different characters. The Gold Label belongs to the Gesha 1931 variety, about 10% of Gesha Village's output, and is the estate's top coffee outside of auction, often chosen by competition baristas; FrontStreet's Gold Label is a refined natural-process lot with complex, layered flavor, distinctive in both dry aroma and cupping. The Red Label is the Gori Gesha variety, roughly 15% of production, scoring 88 or above on the SCA 100-point scale, and as a single-terroir series every lot is fully traceable, with farm block name, variety and processing date on the record.

Geisha is a light-medium roast, floral and fruit-forward, and relatively hard, so it can sink and clog the drain holes during brewing. FrontStreet suggests grinding to about 78% passing the China standard #20 sieve — roughly fine-sugar size — and brewing at around 91°C. Using 15g in a small Hario V60 at a 1:16 ratio, the three-stage pour runs: start the timer and pour to 30g for a 30-second bloom; a low-flow circular pour to 125g, waiting until the bed is half drained before continuing; then more low-flow circular pouring to 225g. Total extraction takes roughly 2 minutes 10 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds. You can also pull it as an SOE: Geisha's floral and fruit character and its bright Ethiopian white-floral and lemon acidity show up well at a medium roast, turning to dried apricot, caramel and nut in the cup. A suggested recipe is 20g of coffee, a 1:2 ratio, a 25-second extraction and 40g of espresso.