Gesha, SNNPR
The forest in southwest Ethiopia the Gesha variety was collected from, and still one of the least-exported coffee areas in the country.
- Country
- Ethiopia
- Typical elevation
- 1,900 to 2,200 masl
- Harvest
- November to January
Gesha is a woreda in Keffa Zone in southwest Ethiopia, and the forest around it is where the Gesha variety was collected in the 1930s before travelling through Kenya, Tanzania and Costa Rica on its way to Panama.
A note on the name, because paperwork disagrees with itself. This area sat inside the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region for decades, which is where the SNNPR label on older lot sheets comes from. Keffa Zone moved to the newly formed South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in November 2021 after a referendum, so a current document and an older one can name two different regions for the same farm.
Keffa is wet, forested and high, and a meaningful share of the coffee here still grows semi-wild under forest canopy rather than in planted rows. That's close to the opposite of how most Ethiopian coffee reaches export, which runs through washing stations in Yirgacheffe, Guji and Sidama.
Gesha exports very little by comparison, largely because the export trade settled on other names. Exceptional material and difficult logistics, which is a familiar pairing.
A note on the name, because paperwork disagrees with itself. This area sat inside the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region for decades, which is where the SNNPR label on older lot sheets comes from. Keffa Zone moved to the newly formed South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in November 2021 after a referendum, so a current document and an older one can name two different regions for the same farm.
Keffa is wet, forested and high, and a meaningful share of the coffee here still grows semi-wild under forest canopy rather than in planted rows. That's close to the opposite of how most Ethiopian coffee reaches export, which runs through washing stations in Yirgacheffe, Guji and Sidama.
Gesha exports very little by comparison, largely because the export trade settled on other names. Exceptional material and difficult logistics, which is a familiar pairing.
