For me, Ethiopian coffee has forever been spectacular, like a bag of candy - but I was always eager for more information about variety, fermentation and process. Gesha Village has been on the forefront of this, bringing variety-specific lots, amazing documentation on fermentation and information about processing. They started this movement in Ethiopia, and now more producers are exploring this more information-driven process.
This is the 5th season in a row that we have the privilege to buy coffee from Gesha Village coffee in Ethiopia, and I love it! - Alexander
Coffee: Gesha 1931 variety 2022 harvest.
Process/Variety: It is a process of fermenting a freshly harvested coffee cherry in an airtight plastic barrels for 82 hours. Before fermentation, the coffee cherry has been floated and washed properly
Taste description: Jasmin & orange blossom florals, honey melon, pineapple, dried apricot, pomegranate, sparkling acidity of ripe strawberry and an elegant finish.
Always fresh: This item contains 100 grams divided into 2 x 50 grams of whole beans roasted, packed and shipped on demand for maximum freshness.
The process: This is a one-step operation where the coffee bean is dried inside as the whole coffee fruit to 11% moisture. The harvested cherry should be sorted before coming to the drying beds. Sorting removes the immature, diseased, pest infested and over ripe cherry as well as leaves, pieces of stone, twigs, food grains and other foreign matter. After the coffee is sorted, the processing manager will approve the quality of the cherry. The following are the quality control points to be considered on Drying Natural Coffees:
• The harvested coffee is placed in 30 meters raised African beds which contains a metal bar, at a thickness of 1 to 2 cm for 3 days and untouched to minimize the breakage of the cherry
• On the 4th day, the coffee cherry shrinks, the thickness has been increased to 3 cm and turned 4 to 6 times per day.
• Drying depends on surrounding environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, rain fall and on the variety of coffee itself.
• Gradually increasing the thickness of the coffee to 4 to 5 cm starting from day 10 onwards, the coffee has been turned 8 times per day.
• The moisture content of the coffee has been checked on daily bases starting from day 15 onwards, since drying depends on the above listed factors.
• When the coffee moisture reads 11%, the coffee has been sent to a warehouse for storage.
Story: Gesha Village was established 10 years ago in Bench Maji Ethiopia close to the South Sudan border. Rachel Samuel and Adam Overton got the seedlings from the Gori Gesha coffee forest that is believed to be the place where Panamanian Gesha seedlings were collected.
At Gesha Village, they have two types of Gesha; Gesha 1931 which resembles genetically the Panamanian Gesha, and Gori Gesha heirloom which represents the genetic variety of Gori forest.
Gesha Village is separated into eight different "blocks" - based on micro-climate. The total farm size is 471 hectares. The elevation is btw 19-2100msl. Coffee cherries are hand-picked and sorted, then placed on 30 meter long African raised beds with bed thickness that increases as the days pass. After the 12th or 13th day, the coffee is moved to shade drying. The total drying time depends on the environmental conditions, and for these lots the total number of days was btw 15-30.
