How Does Panama Geisha Differ From Ethiopia's Gesha Village?

Panama Geisha and Ethiopia's Gesha Village share the same botanical lineage, but they differ in flavor and story. Geisha seeds left Ethiopia's forests and reached Panama, where the variety drew attention in the early 2000s. Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel, a documentary filmmaker and photographer, later returned the variety to Ethiopia by founding Gesha Village Coffee Estate in the Bench-Maji region.

Gesha Village was established with guidance from Willem Boot, owner of Panama's La Mula estate, who had long searched for Geisha's Ethiopian origins. The estate grades its lots as Auction, Gold, Red, Green, and Chaka, giving buyers a clear reference. Tasting notes and brewing parameters from Front Street Coffee round out the comparison between the two origins.

Geisha traveled from the primordial forests of Ethiopia to Panama, and was then brought back to its homeland by a husband-and-wife team of documentary filmmakers. Under the guidance of Willem Boot, Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel established Gesha Village Coffee Estate in Ethiopia's Bench-Maji region, rediscovering the Gori Gesha wild forest. This article sorts out the origins and characteristic differences between Ethiopia's Gesha Village and Panama Geisha, explains in detail the grading system of Gesha Village's Auction, Gold, Red, Green, and Chaka lots, and preserves the brewing parameters and flavor descriptions of Front Street Coffee, providing a complete reference for coffee lovers.

Adam Overton had always harbored a rather unclear wish: to go to Ethiopia, buy a piece of land, and grow the best-tasting Geisha in the world. This idea was still only a rough sketch before he met Willem Boot, the owner of Panama's La Mula estate.

Why Ethiopia of all places? Because it is generally believed that Geisha's place of origin is there. In the last century, Geisha seeds were brought out from deep within the local primordial forests, and after passing through many hands they reached Panama, where they did not astonish the world until the early 2000s. Another personal reason was that his wife, Rachel Samuel, is Ethiopian.

Adam had no experience whatsoever in coffee cultivation. He was originally a documentary director, and Rachel was a professional photographer. In 2007, the two were commissioned to go to Ethiopia to film a coffee documentary, and from then on they became obsessed with coffee, wanting nothing more than to buy a coffee farm.

In 2009, they got to know Willem Boot. Yet Willem Boot had only bought Panama's La Mula estate three years earlier for planting Geisha. To learn from him, the couple flew from Ethiopia's capital to Panama and went to La Mula estate to consult Willem Boot. At the time, no one expected that this small estate, La Mula, would shine brilliantly five years later in the Best of Panama competition.

However, Willem Boot was already famous at the time for pursuing Geisha's Ethiopian origins. Ever since Geisha appeared at Best of Panama in 2004, he had longed to find Geisha's origins in Ethiopia's vast primordial forests, and had organized multiple exploration trips deep into places no one had trodden. Although the gains were limited, he still persisted.

Why is returning to Ethiopia to seek Geisha's origins so important?

For Willem Boot, if a coffee with a flavor comparable to Panama Geisha could be found, it would mean that under the threat of global warming, there was hope of obtaining varieties that combine disease resistance with excellent flavor, which has an indescribable significance for the future continuity of the coffee industry.

Learning from Willem Boot became an important turning point in the couple's dream, and their determination to establish their own Geisha estate grew ever firmer. Because they lived in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, they initially wanted to find a place nearby, making it easier to recruit labor and convenient for transportation. But to satisfy the conditions for growing Geisha—altitude, microclimate, and various other requirements—they unknowingly searched farther and farther, and finally arrived in Ethiopia's most remote southwest, right next to the Sudanese border.

This region is called Bench-Maji, and it takes two days of driving from Addis to reach it. Nearby are several villages named "Gesha," also the most likely legendary birthplace of Geisha. Bench-Maji is isolated from the world, with outsiders rarely entering, and conditions only improved after roads opened a few years ago. The indigenous Meanit people who live there have their own language, and they call all outsiders without exception "China!"

Accompanied by locals, Adam and his wife climbed up into the mountains, and as soon as they saw that land they fell in love with it immediately—altitudes as high as 1,900 to 2,100 meters, abundant rainfall, suitable temperature patterns, soil that is rich and undeveloped primordial forest soil, and a setting already within an existing coffee-growing ecology, with ancient coffee trees as well. After three years of searching, they finally settled on this dream land and gave it a plain name: "Gesha Village Coffee Estate."

In October 2011, the farm broke ground, with Willem Boot serving as consultant. When he flew to the estate, what he saw was less a thriving farm than something more like a camping savanna. To guard against lions, watchtowers were built on the farm for early warning. Entering the forest to investigate required being equipped with AK-47 rifles to guard against dangerous wild animals, along with spear-carrying indigenous people accompanying them.

Almost at the same time, there was also a breakthrough in finding Geisha varieties suitable for cultivation. In a patch of primordial forest not far from the estate, Willem Boot and Adam discovered wild Geisha very close in morphology to Panama Geisha; both the cherries and the growth shape of the branches were quite similar. Those coffee trees were deeply concealed by shade trees, with thousands of shrubs growing in clusters, coffee flowers in full bloom, and an incredibly intense jasmine fragrance filling the air. Willem Boot recalled feeling as if he were "in heaven"!

The forest they discovered is called the Gori Gesha wild coffee forest, only 20 kilometers from the estate. Adam believes that this forest is the same source from which the famous Panama Geisha was collected in 1930. Willem Boot also believes that these tree types are very similar to the Geisha he planted at La Mula; Geisha has two colors of young leaves, green and bronze. In February 2012, Willem Boot returned to the estate again, and the estate's Geisha variety was finally determined.

However, for Willem Boot, morphological similarity alone was not enough; he needed more precise scientific evidence: genetics. He invited Dr. Sarada Krishnan of the Denver Botanic Gardens in the United States to extract coffee beans found in the Geisha forest and Panama Geisha and conduct a genetic comparison. Krishnan spent nine months comparing the two Geishas, and the conclusion was: the two are extremely highly similar genetically.

Today, Adam's "Gesha Village Coffee Estate" covers 300 hectares, and another 50 hectares will be added next year. What is planted is Geisha found in nearby forests and other places, with planting density kept at only 2,000 trees per hectare. In the first three years of establishing the estate, they planted 30,000 shade trees, which not only allowed the coffee trees to grow better but also maintained rich biodiversity, allowing the native Geisha to grow freely. Processing methods include washed and natural; the washed process uses environmentally friendly Penagos washing machines.

In 2015, Ethiopia's Gesha Village harvested for the first time. With uneasy feelings, they brought the first batch of processed green beans to Willem Boot for cupping. The cupping result turned out to be the best cup Willem Boot had tasted all year!

In 1931, a Geisha was taken out of Ethiopia, blossomed and bore fruit in a foreign land, and became world-famous. Eighty-five years later, a documentary director with a dream rediscovered the homeland of this Geisha, and the world will have the chance to know the Geisha that has returned to Ethiopia.

Gesha Village's internal grading: Auction, Gold, Red, Green, and Chaka lots of Geisha—so how should these be distinguished?

Even for the very top estates, the coffee produced varies in quality. In order not to betray Gesha Village's "reputation for flavor," a strict internal grading system is implemented on the estate.

>Auction Lot

Accounting for only 3.7% of Gesha Village's annual output, this is the estate's top-tier lot after rigorous selection, and can only be obtained through the 2018 Gesha Village Coffee Estate global auction. The cupping scores of the 2018 auction lots were 88.15-92.67 points, and within them they are further divided into Champion's Reserve and Farm Reserve.

For example, Gesha Village 2018 Auction Lot RSV.6 belongs to the auction lot.

>Gold Lot

Accounting for only 5% of Gesha Village's annual output, this is the lot usually chosen by competition contestants around the world, and roasters with high quality requirements also purchase it. It has complete traceability, and each lot has prominent flavor and high complexity, making it the estate's finest lot after the auction;

>Red Lot

A lot with complete traceability, possessing typical Gesha Village flavor. Its flavor intensity and complexity are slightly weaker than the Gold Lot, making it a single-origin lot with very high value for money;

>Green Lot

A lot from a single plot and a single variety, possessing typical Gesha Village flavor. Its flavor intensity and complexity are slightly weaker than the Red Lot;

>Chaka Lot

A Geisha coffee blend produced by Gesha Village, including three varieties: Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, and Illubabor (a native Ethiopian disease-resistant variety).

How should Gesha Village coffee be brewed? Front Street Coffee shares Gesha Village brewing parameters.

Front Street Coffee recommends a brewing method: pour-over

Dripper: Hario V60

Water temperature: 88℃

Grind size: BG 5R (58% passing rate on China standard No. 20 sieve)

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

[Brewing method] Staged extraction. Bloom with 27 grams of water for 30 seconds, pour with a small stream until 122 grams for the stage break, and when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until 226 grams to finish; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Start timing at the beginning of blooming.) Extraction time: 2 minutes.

[Flavor] Coconut, licorice, cream, chocolate, toffee, citrus, almond, strawberry, with a fermented aroma when smelled. The overall flavor is relatively balanced, the mouthfeel is full-bodied, and the nutty flavor is quite prominent.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.