What Sets Gesha Village Gori Natural Apart?
Gesha Village Coffee Estate sits in Bench Maji, southwestern Ethiopia, at 1900 to 2100 meters, and grows the Gori Gesha landrace. The naturally processed Gori Gesha is known for floral and fruity aromas with a delicate mouthfeel. The estate was founded by documentary director Adam Overton and photographer Rachel Samuel, who encountered the Gera coffee forest there while filming for the Ethiopian government.
In 2009 the couple met Mule estate owner and BOP judge Willem Boot, whose advice sent them searching for the birthplace of gesha; they arrived at Bench Maji in 2011. That history connects this lot to Panama gesha, the name the variety carried after it spread abroad. Roast light and brew carefully to keep the layered aromatics intact in the cup.
Located in the Bench Maji region of Ethiopia, Gesha Village Coffee Estate has become a highly acclaimed green bean brand in the specialty coffee world in recent years. Its naturally processed Gori Gesha landrace has become highly sought after by many coffee enthusiasts thanks to its distinctive floral and fruity aromas and delicate mouthfeel. This article will introduce the founding background of Gesha Village Coffee Estate, the discovery of the Gori Gesha forest, the estate's strict quality control system and processing methods, and provide an in-depth analysis of this bean's green bean characteristics, roasting curve, and cupping flavor performance. At the same time, Front Street Coffee will also share brewing suggestions and parameters for this Gesha to help you better present its multi-layered flavor charm at home.
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Ethiopia Gesha Village Gesha Gori Natural
Ethiopia Gesha Village Gesha landrace natural
Region | Bench Maji
Altitude | 1900-2100m
Variety | Gesha landrace Gesha Gori
Processing method | Natural
01 | Region Introduction
In recent years, the industry has once again turned its attention to those native regions of Ethiopia that originally produced Gesha. To talk about the rapidly rising green bean brand Gesha Village, we must first start with its founders, the Overton couple. In 2007, documentary director Adam Overton and his photographer wife Rachel Samuel came into contact with the Gera coffee forest located in the Bench-Maji region while filming a coffee-themed documentary for the Ethiopian government. This experience not only gave them a completely new understanding of the land of Ethiopia, but also prompted them to develop the idea of establishing their own coffee estate and brand.
In 2009, they were fortunate to meet the famous Mule Estate owner and BOP judge Willem Boot. Willem Boot's philosophy happened to open a door for the Overton couple: return to Ethiopia and search for the birthplace of Gesha.
Eventually, they came to Bench Maji—a region in southwestern Ethiopia bordering South Sudan. Many places there are named after Gesha Village, and it is also considered the area most likely to be the home of original Gesha. When they first arrived in 2011, the site of the estate was still a blank slate.
Adam followed Willem Boot in "adventuring" through the forest around the estate. In a jungle magically enveloped by dense forest, they discovered many wild tree species, and what surprised them most was wild Gesha. Only later did they learn that this was the Gori Gesha forest—the place where the Gesha variety was first discovered. So they collected seeds from the native Gesha trees, selected them, and planted them at Gesha Village. They decided to build the estate there and named it Gesha Village Coffee Estate, located about 12 miles from the Gori Gesha forest and covering 475 hectares.
Gesha Village covers a total area of 475 hectares. Since 2011, the planting area has gradually expanded, and by 2017, the planted area was about 320 hectares.
After that, Willem Boot was invited to become a technical advisor to Gesha Estate. In a primeval forest near the estate that locals call Gori Gesha, they found samples extremely similar to the Gesha landrace planted at Mule Estate.
Both the Overton couple and Willem Boot firmly believed that they had found the birthplace of Gesha. Subsequent breeding and planting work also gradually verified this inference.
At the 2017 Japan Barista Championship, Takayuki Ishitani won first place using beans from Gesha Village, not to mention the outstanding performance of Gesha Village green beans in major auction cupping events.
2017 Gesha Village Coffee Estate
Overview of independent auction data
(Source below: Grand Cru)
The first global public auction of Gesha Village Coffee Estate started at 9:00 a.m. BST on May 31, 2017 and lasted nearly three hours of fierce bidding. Buyers from Hong Kong, China, Japan, Greece, and other countries and regions participated in the auction, successfully bidding on 21 auction lots.
-Average bidding price of Gesha Village auction lots
The owners of Gesha Village, Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel, once participated in an expedition to collect seedlings from the forest; today they have cultivated multiple Gesha versions from that survey, aiming for the highest quality. Rachel said: "Gesha is renowned in the industry for its high quality, but Ethiopia does not occupy an important place in its story, even though Gesha originally came from here. We are delighted to help develop a specialty coffee market in the Gesha region, so that this amazing coffee can finally be supplied in its birthplace."
-Gesha Village workers sorting coffee cherries
Strict quality control in three major stages:
Creating super specialty
(Source below: Grand Cru)
>Quality control stage one, Variety selection
In order to fulfill the mission of growing the world's best coffee, Gesha Village has exercised strict control from the seed selection stage. They sent coffee seeds collected from the Gori Gesha forest more than 20 kilometers away from Gesha Village Coffee Estate to professional institutions for genetic testing, confirming that this is the original collection site of the Panama Gesha variety; subsequently, by studying the plant morphology of the coffee trees, the appearance and size of the coffee beans, and cupping results, they selected the Gesha variety closest to today's Panama Gesha and began raising seedlings. The coffee varieties currently planted at Gesha Village are shown in the figure below:
-Existing coffee varieties at Gesha Village
Because the estate is very large, in order to manage and distinguish products more effectively, the owner divided Gesha Village into 8 major blocks and then numbered each lot internally to distinguish batches. It is worth mentioning that some Gesha estates in certain production areas may not show significant differences between batches because of their small scale, but for a large estate like Gesha Village, the differences between different plots are equivalent to the differences between estates in Panama, and must be taken seriously.
-Processing duration of beans from different plots at Gesha Village in 2017
02 | Processing Methods
Harvesting and processing.
With the support and cooperation of local residents, they successfully trained a group of high-level pickers and processing station workers. "Pick only the ripest coffee cherries" and "none that have fallen on the ground or are damaged can be used" were the requirements every worker was told, while picking instructors would tell the workers what kind of coffee was ripest and what kind of cherries were damaged. When the coffee was placed on raised drying beds for natural processing, another sorting was also carried out to remove insect-damaged beans and greenish coffee beans. In addition, all drying environments first took place in the shade to avoid rapid drying in sunlight, which could make the coffee parchment too brittle and cause it to crack.
-Gesha Village drying beds
There are mainly two processing methods for the mass production of Gesha Village green coffee beans, as shown in the table below:
At the same time, Gesha Village is also testing a variety of processing methods, including dry fermentation and wet fermentation, various honey processes, etc.
03 | Green Bean Analysis
The green beans are smaller than Panama's. Washed Gesha green coffee beans have a very beautiful blue-green color, while natural Gesha green coffee beans show a beautiful green with a slight yellow band, with a warm, jade-like texture. They smell of fresh grass, peach, berries, and the unique milky sweetness of oolong tea that most coffee beans do not have. It seems that aroma and flavor really require association, but the faint tea note is something we can clearly perceive.
| Distinctive floral and fruity aroma
Among many coffees, floral aromas and the intense sweetness of tropical fruit are the consistent characteristics of Geisha.
04 | Roasting Analysis
This coffee's beans are relatively small and dense, absorb a relatively large amount of heat during roasting, and the Maillard reaction process is also relatively fast. In the first roast batch, I dropped the beans at a relatively high temperature of 210°C. Before the coffee beans dehydrated and turned yellow, I continuously applied heat to ensure there was enough heat to sustain through the end of roasting.
The bean drop temperature was 200°C, and the heat was also relatively reduced, then gradually increased during roasting as needed. Under this approach, the coffee's dehydration time was relatively longer than in the first batch, with the temperature rising at 6-8°C every thirty seconds.
|
Gesha, roasting
In order to highlight this bean's characteristics and aroma, a light roast is used, as this roast level can better bring out the bean's own characteristics, while too dark a roast will diminish the floral aroma and fruit acidity. Of course, this should also be adjusted according to the characteristics of the coffee beans and the roaster's understanding of the beans themselves.
During the roasting stage, a relatively low starting heat of 140°C and a slower roasting rhythm were used to express this coffee's multi-layered flavors.
Roaster Yangjia 600g semi-direct fire
Charge when the drum temperature reaches 200°C, set the damper to 3.5, adjust the heat to 140°C after 30 seconds, keep the damper unchanged, turning point at 1'35'', adjust heat once when the drum temperature is 152°C. At this point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, and dehydration is complete. Adjust heat to 120°C and damper to 4;
At 8'45'', ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, you need to listen clearly to the sound of the first crack. First crack begins at 7'43'', reduce heat to 80°C, open the damper fully to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), develop 1'20" after first crack , drop at 193°C.
Cupping:
The dry aroma is vinous, apricot, the wet aroma has a sweet orange juice quality, jasmine, sweet peach, vinous notes, pineapple, bright and rich, sipping gives citrus, tropical fruit aroma, ripe fruit, berry notes, citrus, light fermented vinous aroma, clear and bright acidity, smooth texture, grape, maple syrup, wild ginger flower, delicate fruit acidity, a clean and balanced mouthfeel, and a lingering, lively fruity sweet finish.
05 | Brewing Analysis
Front Street recommended brewing methods: siphon, pour-over
Grind size: 3.5 (Japan Fuji R440)
Water temperature: 89°C
V60 dripper, 15g coffee, water temperature 91-92°C, grind 3.5, water-to-coffee ratio close to 1:15
Bloom with 35g water, bloom time 30s
Stages: pour to 100ml and pause, then slowly pour to 225ml,
That is 30-100-95
Other drip extraction suggestions:
French press, recommended grind 3.5-4 / water temperature 92°C
AeroPress, recommended grind 2.5, water temperature 88°C
Pour-over: grind 3.5, water temperature 89°C
3.5 grind - 90°C water temperature
Sweetness: ☆☆☆ ☆
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
