How Does Ethiopian Gesha Village Green Label Gesha Taste? Characteristics of Gesha Village Estate Gesha Coffee Beans

Where is the home of Gesha coffee? Many people might immediately answer Panama. In fact, Gesha coffee was discovered in 1931 from the Gesha forest in Ethiopia. After several decades of being passed from one country to another, it reached Panama. Later, in 2004, the owner of Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda discovered this "treasure" with rich floral aromas and entered it into competitions, which brought it to the forefront of today's specialty coffee market. So, are there still coffee beans in the Gesha forest? Yes! FrontStreet Coffee recently acquired green label coffee beans from Ethiopia's Gesha Village Estate for cupping. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss the flavor characteristics of this natural processed Gesha Village green label coffee bean.

FrontStreet Coffee — Ethiopia Gesha Village Estate Green Label Gesha Coffee Beans

Region: Bench Maji Zone, Ethiopia

Estate: Gesha Village Estate

Altitude: 1,911-2,001 meters

Variety: Gori Gesha

Processing Method: Natural processing

The Legend 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, came into contact with the Gera coffee forest in the Bench Maji region. During this process, they conceived the idea of establishing their own coffee estate and brand.

In 2009, they had the privilege of meeting 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 Gesha. Finally, they arrived at Bench Maji, an area in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan, where many places are called Gesha Village, making it the most likely area to find the original Gesha.

Adam followed Willem Boot to explore the forests around the estate. In a jungle magically enveloped by dense forest, they discovered multiple wild tree species. To their greatest surprise, they found wild Gesha. Later they learned that this was the Gori Gesha forest, the place where the Gesha variety was first discovered. So they collected seeds from the original Gesha 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 farm with its own washing station and laboratory. The entire farm only grows Gesha varieties, rather than the typical Ethiopian indigenous varieties where specific varieties cannot be determined.

Gesha Village Coffee Varieties

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, size, and its cupping profile—it is the closest to the parent variety of Panamanian Gesha. The Gori Gesha variety was collected by the Gesha Village Estate owner through their own exploration in 2011 from the wild Gori Gesha coffee forest, 20 kilometers from the current Gesha Village farm, and no duplicate samples have been found elsewhere.

Gesha Village Green Label Gesha Coffee

Gesha Village Estate 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.

Like the Gold Label, Red Label, and Chaka batches, FrontStreet Coffee has previously tested the Gold Label, Red Label, and Chaka, all of which left a good impression. The official name of this Green Label Gesha is SINGLE-TERROIR (single terroir/block), and this coffee bean comes from a single farm in Gesha Village. Complete traceability information for each batch number can be found in the Single-Terroir series, including farm name, coffee variety, and processing date. Gesha Village Estate has strict block divisions, with different coffee varieties planted in each area. This Green Label Gesha is produced in Bangi, located in the northwest of Gesha Village, and the planted variety is Gori Gesha.

Estate Refined Natural Processing

FrontStreet Coffee's Gesha Village coffee uses natural processing. First, floaters and impurities are removed, then they are dried in thin layers on African raised beds covered with plastic tarps. During drying on African beds, further screening is conducted to select out insect-damaged beans and coffee beans with greenish color. The total drying time is 18-30 days. FrontStreet Coffee believes that naturally processed coffee has noticeable sweetness, soft acidity, and produces complex fruit-toned flavors in its profile.

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 to highlight the fruit sweetness.

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

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

Flavor Characteristics of Gesha Village Natural Green Label

Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that the similarity between Gesha Village green label Gesha coffee and the Panamanian green label Gesha we are familiar with is not very high. Panamanian Gesha coffee beans have charming floral aromas in both dry fragrance, wet fragrance, and in the cup, while Gesha Village Gesha is characterized by berry juice notes in dry fragrance, wet fragrance, and in the cup, inheriting the berry juice characteristics of Ethiopian coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Guide

Coffee Amount: 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 degrees Celsius

FrontStreet Coffee brewing method: First wet the filter paper and preheat the dripper and coffee pot. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. When the water level drops to about to expose the coffee bed, continue circular pouring to 125g, then segment. When the water level drops to about to expose the coffee bed again, continue circular pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops to about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of bloom) Extraction time is exactly 2 minutes.

Brewing Flavor of Gesha Village Green Label Coffee Beans: Sweet and fragrant aroma of berries, full and rich mouthfeel, with some cherry, raspberry, and honey flavors. The aftertaste has fermented aroma notes.

Important Notice :

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