Gesha Village Coffee Estate

A return to the source

Gesha is named for the Gori Gesha forest in western Ethiopia, yet the variety became famous in Panama. Gesha Village Coffee Estate is the attempt to grow it where it began. The farm sits in far western Ethiopia, in the Bench Maji Zone, about 20 kilometers from the wild forest.

It covers 471 hectares, of which 341 are planted with coffee, roughly 730,000 trees, and 27 percent is set aside as preservation area. Shade trees and native crops grow among the coffee.

The people

Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel (often written Rachel Overton) lease the land. Rachel was born in Ethiopia. In 2007 the couple was commissioned by the Ethiopian government to make a documentary about the country’s coffee industry, which led them toward farming. Willem Boot, a long-time Gesha enthusiast, taught them the basics.

They took the lease in 2011. The site had no electricity or infrastructure, and building the farm took years, with farm manager Akalu Woubishet central to the work. The Meanit people, described as the protectors of the Gesha forest, live on and around the land, and indigenous workers make up much of the staff. The owners have built a clinic and are building a school.

Altitude, varieties and processing

Intelligentsia, which has bought from the estate by direct trade since 2012, lists the farm at 1,950 to 2,000 meters. Trees grow under native forest canopy, and peak harvest runs from December to January.

The estate works with Gesha 1931, Gori Gesha and Illubabor Forest, all grown from seed gathered from wild trees nearby. The farm has a pulper, concrete fermentation tanks, raised beds for naturals and a section for experimental processing. Lots appear as washed, natural, and anaerobic honey. Oma, the highest plot, is named for the Meanit spiritual leader who asked the owners to care for the land and its people.

In the cup

Coffee Review gave a washed Gesha lot roasted by Dragonfly 95 points in 2017. The reviewer found star jasmine, tangerine, cacao nib, maple syrup and myrrh, with a satiny body and a floral finish.

A 2025 review of an anaerobic honey lot, roasted by Bear Lake, also scored 95. It was described as fruit-forward, gently spiced and floral, with cantaloupe, narcissus and nutmeg.

South African barista Winston Thomas, who used an Oma coffee at the 2017 World Barista Championship, remembered it as floral and stone-fruity with a touch of tropical fruit, sweet, soft and refined.

Reputation

The estate launched its own auction, now called Pride of Gesha, in 2017. At the 2018 sale, a Gori Gesha lot went to Brew92, a roastery in Saudi Arabia, at $105 per pound. Auction manager Willem Boot called it the highest price ever paid for an African coffee. The 31 lots earned $312,270 from 7,738 pounds, drawing 130 bidders.

That result, combined with the Gesha story and a steady run of high-scoring lots, is why roasters now treat the estate as the benchmark for Ethiopian Gesha.