Just fascinated with Geshas now available from a variety of countries. Just intrigued with the history. Read a great article in Barista Magazine this morning in which Willem Boot figured prominantly. A study was being conducted:

"The research was conducted by comparing the DNA from Panama Geisha beans with beans from a forest near the town of Gesha, Ethiopia"

Gersha's found their way to South America and exploded on the scene from there a dozen years ago.

Just bought five pounds from David at Bodka Coffee at a great price and was hoping someone else had already roasted some. Since this is where Gesha's originated surely someone has some ideas?

genecounts wrote:Just fascinated with Geshas now available from a variety of countries. Just intrigued with the history...

Gene, more on it here. https://bootcampcoffee.com/geisha/ Videos as well as each of the reports from Dr Krishnan and Boot. Good stuff.

Krishnan discusses the narrow lineage of arabica coffee and the need to preserve varieties in the wild. She would be in agreement with one of our cuppers who is a PhD horticulturist at the ag school here. Arabica is self-pollinating which further narrows the genetic line.

It is selfcompatible and mostly reproduces by self-fertilization, which occurs in about 90% of the flowers (Fazuoli et al. 2000), one of the reasons for its low genetic diversity. Additionally, the spread of coffee to other countries originated from very few plants and from selffertilized seeds leading to intense reduction in genetic diversity of cultivated varieties

.

She states that Gesha is 1,000s of years old, yet we 'discover' it in the '30s. Ethiopians have been drinking it for years, some estimate from the 10th century, but who knows.

Now you have me craving some from Ethiopia...

The Gesha's I've tasted from Ethiopia have been underwhelming. They don't have the same characteristics as Latin Geisha coffees. I've only had a couple, but they tasted just like a run of the mill Ethiopian coffee.