Who Are Ethiopia's Coffee Giants? What's the Difference Between Geisha, Yirgacheffe, and Guji?

Ethiopia is not only the birthplace of Arabica but also a vast natural genetic treasure trove. It has cultivated countless delicious coffees, and because they are reasonably priced it has become the preferred producing region for most coffee enthusiasts.

Among Ethiopian coffees, three have gained such prominence that they are together known as the "Three Giants of Ethiopian Coffee": Gesha, Yirgacheffe, and Buku.

Even newcomers become familiar with these three through the word-of-mouth of more experienced drinkers. Yet when it comes to describing what makes each one unique and how they differ, many struggle, since most people haven't explored them deeply. So today FrontStreet Coffee shares what unique characteristics these "Three Giants of Ethiopian Coffee" each possess.

Yirgacheffe

If you ask which coffee best represents Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe will certainly be among the answers. Yirgacheffe is not the name of a variety but of a producing region. Before the concept of specialty coffee became popular, coffees were typically named after their place of origin, so beans produced in Yirgacheffe can all be called Yirgacheffe coffee.

From the map we can see that the Yirgacheffe producing region lies on the eastern edge of the East African Rift Valley. The area enjoys cool, foggy, spring-like weather year-round and an average altitude of 1,700-2,100 meters, making it one of the highest-altitude coffee regions in Ethiopia. Before 1995 the name Yirgacheffe referred only to a small town in the Sidamo administrative region. But Yirgacheffe's excellent topography and unique cultivation system provided ideal conditions, letting coffee grown there absorb more nutrients and develop more outstanding flavors. Gradually people discovered that the coffee from the Yirgacheffe region differed from other Sidamo coffees. After the province-to-federation reform and several adjustments to the ECX (Ethiopia Commodity Exchange) coffee classification table, Yirgacheffe became independent from Sidamo and established its own identity. The flavor that sets Yirgacheffe apart from other regions came to be known as "Yirgacheffe flavor."

"Rich jasmine fragrance, fresh lemon acidity, and a clean green-tea aftertaste"—this is what people mean by "Yirgacheffe flavor." To experience it, washed beans from the Yirgacheffe region are definitely the best choice. Part of the reason for Yirgacheffe's fame is that it was one of the first regions to adopt washed processing. The washed process doesn't let the beans undergo excessive fermentation, allowing their inherent flavor to be fully expressed and resulting in a cleaner overall cup. FrontStreet Coffee's frequently shared FrontStreet Coffee washed Gedeb, for example, is a representative FrontStreet selected to emphasize the regional flavor of Yirgacheffe.

We'll pause the Yirgacheffe story here; FrontStreet Coffee will share more in a new article. Next, FrontStreet Coffee turns to the coffee that has been popular since 2004—Gesha.

Gesha

Regarding Gesha, FrontStreet Coffee believes everyone is already quite familiar with it. "Gesha" is the name of a coffee variety. Since Hacienda La Esmeralda used it to shine at the BOP in 2004, outshining all others, Gesha has become the "new hegemon" of the coffee world. "Rich citrus acidity, elegant white floral notes, and complex, changing fruit aromas" are the sensations Gesha brought when it first revealed its fragrance, and this became what people call "Gesha flavor." But don't be fooled by Gesha's current glory; the road to its fame was not simple.

Although Gesha became famous in Panama in 2004, it was actually discovered over 70 years earlier. Through sample comparisons, people traced Gesha back to its Ethiopian origins. In the 1930s, because leaf rust disease caused serious damage to the coffee industry, growers needed disease-resistant varieties to develop improved cultivars against the disaster. As a natural genetic treasure trove, Ethiopia was the obvious place to look, so the British traveled there to collect coffee varieties with disease-resistant genes.

The team went to the Gesha area southwest of the Kaffa Forest to collect varieties, naming this batch after the local name. The beans then traveled through Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda for research and were later cataloged by CATIE in Costa Rica as a fungal-resistant variety. "Geisha T2722" is the code for the Gesha variety that eventually reached Panama and was brought to prominence.

So in a broad sense, the Gesha people refer to is the "Geisha T2722" from Panama. This variety has slender, elongated, oval beans with pointed ends and a full center. The Gesha listed among the Three Giants of Ethiopian Coffee, however, does not refer to this one. As we've seen, the naming of the Gesha variety comes from the local Gesha area in Ethiopia—the name of its collection site. That means beans from that area can use this naming convention and be called "Gesha." So when the Gesha wave became hugely popular, many "Gesha" varieties appeared in Ethiopia. They are not T2722, but rather native varieties from the Gesha mountain area that share the same naming convention. Among them, the most famous are Gorie Gesha and Gesha 1931 from the Gesha Village Estate.

After 2004, many people amazed by Panamanian Gesha traveled to Gesha's birthplace—the Kaffa Forest—hoping to find the same variety locally. Among them was Adam, the current owner of Gesha Village Estate. Under the guidance of Willem Boot, owner of Finca Sophia, Adam went to the place where Gesha was originally discovered to select varieties. Because genetic comparison technology was lacking at the time, they could only identify similar beans by referring to the plant appearance, bean shape, and flavor profile of Panamanian Gesha. Eventually they found Gorie Gesha and Gesha 1931. FrontStreet Coffee's Gesha Village Red Label uses the Gorie Gesha variety, and its appearance differs somewhat from Panamanian Gesha. The natural process of this variety brings out more of the Ethiopian region's terroir when brewed, with bright, full juicy notes and citrus, pineapple, and mango flavors.

Meanwhile, FrontStreet Coffee's Gesha Village Gold Label uses the Gesha 1931 variety. Compared with FrontStreet Coffee's Gesha Village Red Label, its appearance and flavor profile are closer to Panamanian Gesha: delicate chamomile floral notes, sweet-and-sour berries, citrus, and melon, with a more obvious tea-like aftertaste.

Buku

The last of the Three Giants is Buku. In terms of Ethiopian bean recognition, Buku's reputation may be even higher than the previous two. Buku introduced "version numbers" (2.0, 3.0, 4.0...), and everyone eagerly anticipates what surprises the new FrontStreet Coffee Buku will bring each year. Last year's FrontStreet Coffee Buku reached version 8.0, meaning Buku has been known to the world for eight years.

Buku is neither a variety name nor the name of a producing region in Ethiopia; it is a commercial name. In early 2017, a natural process bean from Guji won the COE championship that year. The bean was then imported by domestic green bean merchants, who gave it the name "Buku" in a Chinese context, meaning "first among hundreds of flowers." The Buku bean is a native variety from the Guji region, but because the name collided with the Chinese translation of Gesha, many people developed the misconception that "Buku is Gesha." In reality the two are completely different concepts. The earliest Buku amazed everyone with its rich strawberry cream aroma, and the latest FrontStreet Coffee Buku 8.0 still retains this major characteristic. Besides strawberry and cream aromas, FrontStreet Coffee Buku 8.0 also reveals high-sweetness flavors like guava, citrus, and melon, as well as distinct rose notes, with a sweet, rich fragrance.

What are the differences between the Three Giants of Ethiopia?

In summary, the characteristics and differences of the "Three Giants" are very clear. From their respective producing regions, to the meanings their names represent, to their individual flavor characteristics, they are completely different. Finally, FrontStreet Coffee's question is: among these three giants, which one is your favorite?

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste the Yirgacheffe giant for yourself, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe lineup is the ideal place to begin. FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe daily-drinker is the most classic introduction to the region—known for white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, it is affordable enough to be the first specialty bean many people buy. FrontStreet's washed Gudingding Cooperative, in the Woka area at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge, follows the most traditional washed processing and is known as Yirgacheffe's last pure land; it has none of the traditional bitterness, carrying clean, bright citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine fragrance. And FrontStreet's natural Red Cherry uses only fully ripe, sound fruit, dried on raised beds for three to five weeks with turning every two to three hours in the first days to avoid uneven heating and over-fermentation; drying the fruit with its pulp gives it both the typical Yirgacheffe character and tropical fruit from the natural process, with citrus-like acidity, berry-juice body, honey sweetness, and creamy smoothness. Brew any of them with a V60 at 90-91°C, 15 g of coffee, and a 1:15 ratio, and the delicate white florals and lemon-citrus acidity that define Yirgacheffe flavor come through clearly.