Introduction to Ethiopian Coffee - Bench Maji Natural Gesha Coffee from Bench Maji Coffee Region

FrontStreet Coffee: Ethiopia Gesha Village Coffee Estate Gold Label Coffee Beans

Region: Bench Maji Region

Estate/Processing Station: Gesha Village Coffee Estate

Altitude: 1931-2040 meters

Variety: Gesha 1931

Processing Method: Natural

Flavor: Citrus, Berries, Chamomile, Melon, Tea-like

Ethiopia: The Birthplace of Coffee

For coffee enthusiasts, Ethiopia is a sacred destination. This country is the birthplace of coffee and currently Africa's largest Arabica coffee producer. It boasts the world's largest coffee gene bank, with numerous coffee varieties, including the renowned Gesha variety that originated from its original forests.

Coffee connoisseurs are likely familiar with the origin story of Gesha and know Panama's famous estates well. However, when it comes to Ethiopian Gesha coffee, many have only heard of "Gesha Village" and its location in a place called Bench Maji, but lack more specific information. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will explore this region with you and discover what makes Ethiopian Gesha so special.

Ethiopia's Geography

Ethiopia is located in northeastern Africa, bordering Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Eritrea. The country is dominated by mountainous plateaus, mostly belonging to the Ethiopian Plateau, with the central and western regions forming the plateau's main body, accounting for two-thirds of the country. The Great Rift Valley runs through the entire territory, with mountains averaging nearly 3,000 meters in altitude.

Due to the high altitude, the climate here is pleasant, with an average annual temperature of 16°C. The plateau features a tropical savanna climate, while the mountains have a highland mountain climate, and the eastern and northern lowlands experience a tropical desert climate. The year is roughly divided into dry and rainy seasons, with annual rainfall of 1,237 millimeters. The country is rich in water resources, with numerous lakes and rivers, earning it the reputation "Water Tower of East Africa." With nearly 50 volcanoes, abundant water resources, diverse climates, and high-altitude mountainous areas, it is an ideal coffee-growing region.

Ethiopia's Coffee Regions

In Ethiopia, coffee regions can be roughly divided into three main parts: eastern, southern, and western. FrontStreet Coffee's research shows that the eastern region, centered around Harar, primarily exports coffee to Middle Eastern countries. The southern region includes more of Ethiopia's specialty representatives, such as Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, and Guji, making it widely recognized as the main source of high-quality coffee. The western region mainly covers the relatively lower-altitude areas of Jimma, Limmu, and Kaffa and Bench Maji, which primarily use forest cultivation methods.

Bench Maji Region

Administratively, Bench Maji is a zone belonging to the Southwest Ethiopia Region, located in the country's western border near South Sudan. The area is named after the Bench people, the largest ethnic group in the region, known for their advanced agricultural techniques, particularly growing local staple crops like teff.

The Bench Maji producing region, also known as the Bebeka region (named after its capital city), is located in southwestern Ethiopia and is a zone under the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, just a few kilometers from South Sudan. Here lies the renowned Gesha Village Coffee Estate, where the Gesha variety trees were found in the wild forests of Bench Maji.

Unlike the central and southern regions famous for specialty coffee, the western highlands are vast original forests. Bench Maji was originally protected as a biodiversity forest, so few people cultivated coffee here in earlier years. However, in recent years, with the growing fame of Gesha Village and Bench Maji, more and more farmers have begun to switch to coffee cultivation.

Compared to other western regions, Bench Maji borders Kaffa, the birthplace of coffee, and its greatest characteristic is the extremely high forest coverage. Coffee production in Bench Maji is supervised by farmers who, out of respect for the natural ecosystem, take measures to minimize intervention in this forest, such as occasionally removing old coffee trees or poorly growing plants and replacing them with new seedlings from the same wild forest.

As the region where Gesha originated, Bench Maji also has its own coffee smallholder alliance - the Bench Maji Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union, which is a large coffee production organization composed of 65 cooperatives, serving 130,000 small farmers. Coffee trees here are typically intercropped with other crops among the tall plants of the original forest. To ensure more stable economic income, farmers sometimes plant spices like ginger. This semi-forest cultivation mode allows coffee trees to maintain good growth conditions through the shade and natural soil and water nutrients of the original forest, without the need for additional pesticides and fertilizers, thus achieving mutual promotion of ecological environment and economic benefits.

Gesha Village Coffee Estate

Gesha Village Coffee Estate is located in the Bench Maji region and spans 471 hectares. It was founded by documentary filmmaker Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel.

In 2007, while filming a documentary about Ethiopian coffee for the Ethiopian government, documentary filmmaker Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel encountered 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 fortune to meet the renowned La Esmeralda estate owner and BOP judge Willem Boot, whose ideas provided an opportunity for the Overton couple: return to Ethiopia and find the birthplace of Gesha. Finally, they arrived in Bench Maji, the region in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan, where many places are called Gesha Village and is the most likely area to find original Gesha.

Adam followed Willem Boot on "expeditions" in the forests around the estate and discovered multiple wild tree species in a jungle magically wrapped by dense forest. Their greatest surprise was finding wild Gesha. Later they learned that this was the Gori Gesha forest, the place where Gesha 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.

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.

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

Gesha 1931 (G31): A combination of varieties from different forests, very similar to Panama Gesha, selected by observing plant morphology, bean appearance, screen size, and cupping flavor.

Illubabor Forest 1974 (IF): Discovered during a 1974 expedition to the Illubabor forest, later developed into a resistant variety by the Ethiopian Research Center.

Originally, Ethiopia did not have estates and estate grading systems. After Willem Boot and Adam discovered the Gesha forest, they decided to bring Panama's coffee estate management model to this area, making Gesha Village Coffee Estate the only coffee estate in Ethiopia. Their approach is that each batch, with each label, can be traced back to detailed information about the beans. Gesha Village has a strict internal grading system: Auction, Gold Label, Red Label, Green Label, and Chaka batches. FrontStreet Coffee's most popular Gesha Village Gesha coffee is the Red Label Gesha.

Red Label Batch

A batch with complete traceability, featuring typical Gesha Village flavors, with slightly less flavor intensity and complexity than Gold Label batches, making it a very cost-effective single-origin batch.

FrontStreet Coffee: Gesha Village Red Label Coffee Beans

Gesha Village Coffee Estate Grower's Reserve

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Bench Maji

Altitude: 1909-2069m

Variety: Gori Gesha

Processing Method: Natural Process

Gesha Village Natural Processing

First, floating debris and 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 underripe green coffee beans. Total drying time is 18-30 days. FrontStreet Coffee believes that naturally processed coffee has noticeable sweetness, soft acidity, and produces complex fruit-like flavor notes.

Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that Gesha Village's Gesha coffee is not very similar to the well-known Panama Gesha. Panama-grown Gesha coffee beans have charming floral aromas in both dry and wet fragrance and when tasting, while Gesha Village-grown Gesha features stone fruit characteristics in dry fragrance, wet fragrance, and taste, with floral notes being slightly less prominent compared to Panama Gesha.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips

Filter: V60

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:16

Grind: Fine sugar size (80% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)

Temperature: 91°C

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method: First wet the filter paper and preheat the filter cup and coffee pot. Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour with a small circular motion to 125g and segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 240g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time is 1'55" to 2'05".

Gesha Village Brewing Flavor: At high temperature, it shows citrus acidity without losing body. As the temperature slightly drops, the acidity becomes softer, with flavors leaning toward yellow stone fruits, creamy sweetness, light floral notes, and slight dark cocoa aftertaste. At low temperature, it reveals maple syrup and berry notes.

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