Arrived July 10th, 2022 to Calgary Warehouse in Calgary, AB

Forward has purchased 2 x 30kg boxes of Gesha Village Surma lot 22/E-29 Natural Cold Aerobic Gesha 1931

Gesha Village is one of the most cherished coffee producers on the planet with 471-hectares in the Bench Maji zone of Ethiopia, nearby the town of Gesha and the Gori Gesha forest, the birthplace of the Gesha variety.

Owned and operated by Adam Overton, Rachel Samuel and Willem Boot, this project was started in 2007 and has quickly developed to be an idolized producer in the specialty coffee world. With ~320 hectares planted of Gesha 1931, Gori Gesha and Illubabor Forest varieties, throughout 8 different zones that correlate with unique terroir.

The 8 different zones, or sub-farms, are named after nearby villages and important sites. You'll find, Bangi, Dimma, Gaylee, Oma, Narsha, Surma, Shewa-Jibabu and Shaya featured amongst Gesha Village offerings. Forward is proud to offer a diverse offering list, with each terroir represented in the catalog. For a full list of Gesha Village offerings, please follow this link.

A mixed system of agroforesty practices are utilized, with mostly natural forests providing shade and introducing the coffee to a diverse wildlife and flora, which provide a symbiotic system of organisms. The soil is brown-red loamy and virgin forest.

This lot comes from the Surma block, which is named after the pastoralist ethnic group, the Surma, as a tribute to their cultural relevance in this area. This lot is Gesha 1931, fermented utilizing an open-air, cold temperature environment with whole cherry exposure for 60 hours. The coffee is then taken to dry for 26 days in raised beds under the sun.

The cup profile is explosive, with a refreshing and effervescent acidity which reminds us of Sprite. It's complex in it's florals, citrus and other fruit layers. We noted grapefruit, lime, strawberry, rhubarb, rosehip, watermelon, peach, a juicy texture and a very sweet, long finish. This was one of our highest scoring coffees for 2022, with 92.5 points.