What are the Flavor Characteristics of Geisha Coffee from Ethiopia's Geisha Village Estate? What is Gold Label Geisha Coffee?

Geisha coffee is most famous from Panama, while Costa Rica's Geisha, right next to Panama, also retains its unique charm. In fact, the Geisha coffee variety can be traced across the ocean to Ethiopia, the birthplace of ancient Arabica coffee. FrontStreet Coffee has also tested the Geisha coffee from Ethiopia's Gesha Village. How does this African Geisha differ from its American counterparts?

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Gesha Village Gold Label Geisha

Region: Banchi Maji Zone, Ethiopia
Estate: Gesha Village Coffee Estate, Oma Block
Altitude: 1,900-2,040 meters
Variety: Gesha 1931
Processing: Natural Process

The Legendary Story of Gesha Village

In 2007, documentary director Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel, while filming a documentary about Ethiopian coffee for the Ethiopian government, encountered the Gera coffee forest in the Banchi Maji region. During this process, they conceived the idea of establishing their own coffee estate and brand.

In 2009, they had the good fortune to meet the renowned mule estate owner and BOP judge Willem Boot. Willem Boot's ideas provided an opportunity for the Overton couple: return to Ethiopia to find the birthplace of Geisha.

Finally, they arrived in Banchi Maji, an area in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan, where many places are called Gesha village, and it's the most likely region to find the original Geisha.

Adam followed Willem Boot on an "adventure" in the forests surrounding the estate. In a jungle magically wrapped by dense forest, they discovered multiple wild tree species. To their greatest surprise, they found wild Geisha.

Later they learned that this was the Gori Gesha forest, the place where the Geisha variety was first discovered. So they collected seeds from the native Geisha trees, screened them, and then planted them in Gesha Village. They decided to establish the estate here and named it Gesha Village Coffee Estate, a 475-hectare coffee farm located about 12 miles from the Gori Gesha forest.

Unlike most Ethiopian farms, Gesha Village is not a small farm but a large 500-hectare estate with its own washing station and laboratory. The entire farm only grows Geisha varieties, rather than the typical Ethiopian native varieties where specific varieties cannot be determined.

Coffee Varieties at Gesha Village

Gesha Village has three varieties, named after the expedition teams that discovered the coffee: Gesha1931, Gori Gesha, and Illubabor (provided by the Ethiopian Coffee Research Center).

Gesha1931 was confirmed by observing plant morphology, bean shape and size, as well as cupping. It is the closest to the mother plant of Panama Geisha. The Gori Gesha variety was collected by the Gesha Village owner in 2011 through their own expedition from the Gori Gesha wild coffee forest, 20 kilometers from the current Gesha Village farm, and no duplicate samples have been found elsewhere.

Gold Label Geisha Coffee

Gesha Village uses a product line configuration similar to Hacienda La Esmeralda, divided into RARITIES (Gold Label), GROWERS RESERVE (Red Label), SINGLE-TERROIR (Green Label), and CHAKA.

The official name of Gold Label Geisha is RARITIES. The Gold Label accounts for only 10% of Gesha Village's annual production and can almost be considered at the same level as competition batches. Competition participants from around the world typically choose these batches. For example, at the 2018 WBC World Championships held in the Netherlands, the Australian and Japanese champions selected Gold Label batches for their competitions. Roasters with high quality requirements also purchase them. They have complete traceability, with each batch having prominent flavors and high complexity, making them the second-best grade after competition batches at the estate.

Gesha Village has strict plot divisions, with different coffee varieties planted in each area. This Gold Label Geisha comes from the Oma block, located in the south-central part of Gesha Village. The planted variety is Gesha 1931, which is the coffee variety most genetically similar to Panama Geisha.

Estate's Meticulous Natural Processing

FrontStreet Coffee's Gesha Village coffee uses natural processing. First, floating matter and impurities are removed, then it's sun-dried on African raised beds with thin layers and covered with plastic sheets. During drying on African beds, further screening is performed to pick out insect-damaged beans and green-colored coffee beans. The total drying time is 18-30 days. FrontStreet Coffee believes that naturally processed coffee has obvious sweetness, soft acidity, and produces complex fruit flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

Since this batch is from the 2020 new harvest season with higher moisture content, the dehydration time will be extended during roasting. The final roast degree is determined to be medium-light roast to highlight the fruit sweetness.

Yangjia 800N, 500g batch size: Preheat the roaster to 175°C, heat at 130, damper at 3; Return temperature at 1'36", when the drum temperature reaches 92.8°C, at 3 minutes open the damper to 4, increase heat to 140; When the drum temperature reaches 152.6°C (6'26"), the bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration phase, reduce heat to 100; At 8'20", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack, which begins at 9'55", open damper to 5, develop for 1'30" after first crack, discharge at 193.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

Brewing Parameters:
Coffee Dose: 15 grams
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine grind for pour-over (78% pass-through rate with #20 standard sieve)
Water Temperature: 90°C

Frontsteet Brewing Method: First, wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour in small circular motions to 125g for分段. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring in circular motions to 225g and stop pouring. Wait until the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, then remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time is exactly 2 minutes.

Brewing Flavors: Rich jasmine flower aroma. Flavors of peach, apricot, candied fruit, melon, and honey citrus, combined with honey sweetness.

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