Gesha Village GeshaCoffee Bean Intro:

In recent years, there has been renewed attention on the production of Gesha in Ethiopia’s indigenous regions. To talk about the recently skyrocketing green coffee brand Gesha Village, we must start with its founders, the Overton couple. In 2007, documentary director Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel were filming a documentary about Ethiopian coffee for the Ethiopian government when they encountered the Gera Coffee Forest in the Bench-Maji region. During this time, they not only reacquainted themselves with this great land of Ethiopia but also conceived the idea of establishing their own coffee farm and brand.

In 2009, they had the fortune to meet the renowned mule farm owner and BOP judge Willem Boot, whose idea also provided an opportunity for the Overton couple: to return to Ethiopia and search for the birthplace of Gesha.

Eventually, they arrived in Bench-Maji, a region in southwestern Ethiopia near South Sudan, where many places are called Gesha Village and which is the most likely area to find the original Gesha. When they went there in 2011, there was nothing on the farm.

Adam, following Willem Boot, began “exploring” the forests around the farm. In a jungle magically enveloped by dense forests, they discovered various wild tree species, and the most surprising to them was 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 wild Gesha trees, selected among them, and planted them at Gesha Village. They decided to establish the farm here and named it Gesha Village Coffee Estate, a 475-hectare coffee farm located about 12 miles from the Gori Gesha forest.

Gesha Village covers a total area of 475 hectares. Since 2011, the planting area has gradually expanded. By 2017, the planting area was about 320 hectares.

Later, Willem Boot came to the Gesha farm as their technical advisor. Near the farm, in a virgin forest known locally as Gori Gesha, they discovered samples very similar to the original Gesha variety being grown at the Mule Farm.

Both the Overton couple and Willem Boot believed they had found the origin of Gesha, and subsequent breeding and planting work gradually confirmed this hypothesis.

At the 2017 World Brewers Cup in Japan, Takayuki Ishitani used beans from Gesha Village and won the championship. Not to mention the excellent performance of Gesha Village green beans on various auction cupping tables.

Region | Bench-Maji

Elevation | 1900-2100m

Variety | Gesha Gori (original variety)

Processing Method | Natural

With the support and cooperation of local residents, they successfully trained a group of highly skilled pickers and processing plant workers. “Only pick the ripest coffee cherries,” “Do not pick any that have fallen to the ground or are damaged”—these are the requirements every worker is taught, and the picking mentors tell the workers how to identify the ripest coffee and which cherries are damaged. When drying the coffee using raised beds, further sorting is also carried out to remove insect-damaged beans and those with greenish coloration. Additionally, all drying is done in the shade first to avoid rapid sun drying that can make the coffee husk too brittle and prone to cracking.

The green bean size is smaller than Panamanian beans. Washed Gesha green beans have a very beautiful bluish-green color, while natural Gesha green beans have a beautiful light yellowish-green hue with a jade-like warm texture. They smell of fresh grass, peach, berries, and the unique creamy sweetness of oolong tea—a scent most coffee beans do not possess. It seems that aroma and flavor are very much tied to association, but the subtle tea note is something we can clearly perceive.