Ethiopia Gesha Village Coffee - Introduction to Ethiopia Gesha Village Chaka Natural Processing

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Ethiopia - Gesha Village Chaka Introduction

Gesha Village Chaka Natural

Estate: Gesha Village Estate

Region: Bench Maji

Altitude: 1900-2100m

Varieties: Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, Illubabor

Processing Method: Natural Processing

Gesha Village Coffee Estate

The story began in 2007 when Adam Overton, a documentary director and photographer, and his wife Rachel Samuel first came to the Gera coffee forest in the Bench-Maji region while filming a documentary about Ethiopian coffee for the Ethiopian government. During their filming days, they not only rediscovered this great land of Ethiopia but also developed the idea of establishing their own coffee estate and brand.

In 2009, they had the opportunity to meet Willem Boot, the renowned owner of La Mula Estate and BOP judge. Willem Boot's ideas provided an opportunity for the Overton couple: to return to Ethiopia and search persistently for the birthplace of Gesha.

Eventually, they arrived in Bench Maji, a region in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan. Many areas in this region are called Gesha Village, making it the most likely area to find native Gesha varieties. However, when they visited in 2011, there was nothing there.

Following Willem Boot, Adam began "adventuring" in the forests surrounding the estate. In a jungle magically enveloped by dense forest, they discovered multiple wild tree species, with wild Gesha being their most exciting find.

They later learned that this was actually the Gori Gesha Forest, where the Gesha variety was first discovered. So they collected seeds from the native Gesha trees, screened them, and 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.

Gesha Village Coffee Estate is completely different from most Ethiopian farms. It's not a small farm but a large 500-hectare estate with its own washing station and laboratory, located in the southwest near the Sudanese border. What's particularly special is that the entire farm only grows Gesha varieties, rather than the typical Ethiopian native varieties that cannot be definitively identified.

Gesha Village divides the farm into 8 blocks with 3 main Gesha varieties. All Gesha seeds are collected from nearby forests, not from Panama.

Construction of the farm began in October 2011, with the first harvest in 2015. Due to enthusiastic responses from all parties, with the assistance of Panamanian coffee estate owner Willem Boot, they held their first international auction on May 31, 2017, offering 21 micro-lots, with 19 lots of 120 kilograms each and several smaller batches. Bidders from Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia responded with unexpected enthusiasm. The winning bid price was $85 USD per pound, breaking all previous African coffee auction prices!

Chaka

What is CHAKA?

The coffee grading system at Gesha Village includes: Auction, Gold Label, Red Label, Green Label, and CHAKA.

CHAKA is a Gesha blend produced by Gesha Village Estate, composed of Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, and Illubabor (an Ethiopian native disease-resistant variety).

Varieties

Gori Gesha (GG) This variety replicates the genetic diversity found within the Gori Gesha coffee forest.

Gesha 1931 (G31) This variety combines various forest varieties and is very similar to Panamanian Gesha. It was selected by observing its plant morphology, bean appearance, screen size, and cupping profile.

Illubabor Forest 1974 (IF) This variety was discovered during a 1974 expedition to the Illubabor Forest and later developed by the Ethiopian Research Center into a disease-resistant variety.

Processing Method

This Gesha Village CHAKA uses natural processing.

First, floating impurities are removed, then the beans are dried in thin layers on African raised beds covered with plastic sheets. During drying on the beds, additional screening is performed to select out insect-damaged beans and immature green coffee beans. The total drying time is 18-30 days.

END

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473