How Did Panamanian Geisha Get Traced Back to Ethiopia?

Adam Overton, a documentary director, and his wife Rachel Samuel, a photographer, set out to grow Geisha in Ethiopia. After filming a coffee documentary there in 2007, they resolved to buy a farm. They learned from Geisha authority Willem Boot, who had bought La Mula estate in Panama, and traveled there to consult him before heading into the Bench-Maji region.

Near the Gori Gesha wild forest they found plants genetically close to Panamanian geisha, and established Gesha Village Coffee Estate. Ethiopia is widely regarded as Geisha's birthplace; seeds left its forests last century, reached Panama, and rose to prominence in the early 2000s. The article covers the flavors and variety future Front Street Coffee is watching.

Geisha is now a star variety in the specialty coffee world, but where exactly is its original homeland? Documentary director Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel, after filming a coffee documentary in Ethiopia, conceived the dream of establishing a Geisha estate. They learned from Geisha authority Willem Boot, ventured deep into the Bench-Maji region on Ethiopia's southwestern border, and ultimately found near the Gori Gesha wild forest a variety genetically highly similar to Panamanian Geisha, and established Gesha Village Coffee Estate. This article tells the story of this Geisha root-seeking journey spanning two continents, as well as the flavors and variety future that Front Street Coffee is watching.

Before meeting Willem Boot, Adam Overton had only one unformed wish in his heart: to go to Ethiopia, buy a piece of land, and grow the world's finest Geisha. Many coffee enthusiasts, like Front Street Coffee, probably have the same first reaction: why Ethiopia of all places?

The reason is that Ethiopia is widely regarded as the birthplace of Geisha. In the last century, Geisha seeds were brought out from deep within local primeval forests, then made their way to Panama, and only rose to the world stage in the early 2000s with astonishing flavor. Another key factor is that Adam's wife, Rachel Samuel, is herself Ethiopian. Adam had no coffee-growing experience at all; his original profession was documentary director, and Rachel was a professional photographer. In 2007, they were commissioned to go to Ethiopia to film a coffee documentary, and from then on developed a deep interest in coffee and resolved to buy a coffee farm.

In 2009, they met Willem Boot. Three years before that, Willem Boot had just bought La Mula estate in Panama and begun growing Geisha. To learn from him, the couple flew from Ethiopia's capital to Panama and made a special trip to La Mula estate to consult Willem Boot. At the time, no one expected that La Mula, a modest-sized estate, would shine brilliantly five years later in the Best of Panama competition.

By then, however, Willem Boot was already known for pursuing Geisha's Ethiopian origins. Ever since Geisha emerged at Best of Panama in 2004, he had always hoped to find Geisha's origins in Ethiopia's vast primeval forests, and had organized multiple exploration trips deep into rarely visited areas. Although results were limited, he kept trying and never gave up.

Why is it so important to return to Ethiopia to find the source of Geisha ?

For Willem Boot, if coffee with flavor as outstanding as Panamanian Geisha could be found, it would mean the opportunity to find coffee varieties with both disease resistance and exceptional flavor amid the growing threat of global warming. This has incalculable significance for the future survival of the coffee industry.

Learning from Willem Boot became an important turning point in Adam and Rachel's dream, and their determination to establish their own Geisha estate grew even stronger. Because they lived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, they initially wanted to find a place closer to the city, both to make it easier to hire workers and for relatively convenient transportation. But to satisfy the conditions for growing Geisha, they had to consider altitude, microclimate, and various other factors, and before they knew it they were searching farther and farther away, finally arriving in Ethiopia's most remote southwest, near the Sudanese border.

This region is called Bench-Maji, and it takes two days of driving from Addis to reach it. Several villages named "Gesha" are scattered nearby, and it is also the legendary most likely birthplace of Geisha. Bench-Maji was isolated for a long time, with few outsiders entering, and conditions improved only slightly after roads opened a few years ago. The Meanit indigenous people living there have their own language, and they collectively call all outsiders China!

Accompanied by locals, Adam and Rachel climbed among the mountains, and as soon as they saw that land they fell in love with it—elevation as high as 1900 to 2100 meters, abundant rainfall, suitable temperature patterns, soil from rich and undeveloped primeval forest, an ancient coffee-growing ecology already present all around, and coffee trees that had weathered the years. After three years of searching, they finally settled in this land of dreams and gave it a plain name: Gesha Village Coffee Estate.

In October 2011, the farm broke ground. Willem Boot flew to the estate as their consultant, and what he saw before him was less a vibrant farm than a camping grassland. To guard against lions, watchtowers were built on the farm so warnings could be issued in advance. To enter the forest for exploration, one had to be equipped with AK 47 rifles to guard against fierce wild animals, and accompanied by indigenous people carrying spears.

Almost at the same time, a breakthrough also occurred in the search for Geisha varieties suitable for planting. Willem Boot and Adam found wild Geisha in a primeval forest not far from the estate whose morphology was very close to Panamanian Geisha. Both the coffee cherries and the growth shape of the branches were quite similar. Those coffee trees grew beneath dense shade trees, with thousands of coffee shrubs clustered together, coffee flowers in full bloom, and the air filled with an incredibly intense jasmine fragrance. Recalling that time, Willem Boot said it was as if he were "in paradise"!

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

For Willem Boot, however, mere morphological similarity was not enough; he needed more precise scientific evidence: genetics. He brought in Dr. Sarada Krishnan of the Denver Botanic Gardens in the United States, and had coffee beans found in the Geisha forest compared genetically with Panamanian Geisha after extraction. Krishnan spent 9 months comparing the two Geishas, and the conclusion was: the two are genetically highly similar.

Today, Adam's Gesha Village Coffee Estate covers three hundred hectares, and next year another 50 hectares will be added. What is planted is Geisha obtained from nearby forests and other places, with planting density maintained at only 2000 trees per hectare. In the first three years of establishing the estate, they planted thirty thousand shade trees, which not only allowed the coffee trees to grow better but also maintained rich biodiversity, letting native Geisha grow freely among them. Processing methods include washed and natural, and the washed stage uses environmentally friendly Penagos washing machines.

In 2015, Gesha Village in Ethiopia had its first harvest. With uneasy feelings, they took 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, bloomed and bore fruit in a foreign land, and became world-famous. Eighty-five years later, a documentary director with a dream rediscovered the original homeland of this Geisha. The world will have the chance to know the Geisha that has returned to Ethiopia.

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