Gesha Village Coffee Estate

The story

Gesha Village Coffee Estate was founded by Adam Overton and Rachel Samuel, who began developing the 471-hectare farm in 2011. The estate was built from the ground up in the Bench Maji region of western Ethiopia, near the Gori Gesha forest. The project was established with the goal of producing high-quality coffee by sourcing seeds directly from the nearby wild forests where the Gesha variety originated.

Challenges

The farm is located in a remote, ancient forest area near the Sudanese border, which presents logistical difficulties for development and operations. The estate was established on a blank slate, requiring significant infrastructure investment to modernize production in a wild, undeveloped landscape.

Innovations

The estate utilizes genetic research and expeditions to identify and cultivate indigenous coffee varieties, including the original Gori Gesha. They have implemented a block-based management system across the farm to track production and experiment with diverse processing and fermentation techniques.