Gesha or Geisha – A worrying misuse of coffee names

According to researchers, Gesha coffee was discovered by British colonists in the 1930s in the Gori Gesha forest of Ethiopia. The British consul collected their seeds and planted them in Tanzania, then shipped them to Costa Rica. After arriving in Costa Rica, this coffee variety continued to be introduced to Panama and many other areas thanks to coffee producer Don Pachi purchasing them from the agricultural organization CATIE. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that Gesha Coffee became famous when the Peterson family of Boquete, Panama entered it into the Best of Panama competition and auction. It received an exceptionally high rating and broke the record for green coffee auction prices at that time.

But the strange thing is that in the Best of Panama auction, the coffee name is written as “Geisha” instead of “Gesha. Not only that, from the 1930s to the early 2000s, most people called this coffee variety “Geisha”. Gesha coffee mostly only appears in good documents from coffee research experts from Ethiopia. In the Daily Coffee News article, the reason for the name “Geisha” was mentioned when contacting Rachel Peterson of Hacienda La Esmeralda. According to Rachel Peterson, he used the name Geisha because it was a name recorded from Don Pachi Serracin – the person who brought coffee beans from CATIE to Panama. This Geisha name was introduced to CATIE in Costa Rica in 1953 with the accession number Geisha VC-496. Rachel Peterson also presented documents and said this spelling was taken from its origin – the “Geisha” mountain of Ethiopia.

Continuing to trace the historical footprint of the time when the British Consulate transferred the “Gesha” coffee variety to another area in the 1930s. In the letter about the variety he sent to the CATIE Organization, he clearly mentioned that coffee “Geisha coffee” is found from the “Geisha” mountains of Ethiopia. This proves that Rachel Peterson’s famous coffee and the coffee variety imported everywhere from the British Consulate are the same. And the name Geisha originates from from its growing area – Geisha Mountain.

However, historical researchers have searched for the name of this Geisha mountain on old Greek maps and current new maps. The results showed that there are no mountainous areas in Ethiopia named Geisha. But only Gesha mountain is located near Kaffa Ethiopia. So its exact name can only be Gesha and not Geisha as we often call it.

According to historians, the main reason for using the word Geisha instead of Gesha is probably a confusion while listening. Local Ethiopians will often speak in Kafa so Gesha has been romanized into the word Geisha. In addition, this may also be due to the subjective feelings of coffee researchers. They believe that using the word Geisha makes this unique coffee bean more evocative, attractive and impressive. But, this is just the hypothesis of historians and the topic “Geisha” is still an interesting mystery for those who love to discover its origin.

Nowadays, when you go to African regions, you will hear people call it Gesha coffee. And Latin American regions prefer the name Geisha coffee. However, whether it is Gesha or Geisha, it has nothing to do with the Japanese “Geisha” artist. The name Gesha coffee comes from the Ethiopian mountain where the coffee variety originates.

When Gesha coffee became globally famous, many people “played on words” and made people associate them with the grace and flexibility of Japanese girls. This confusion causes the value of coffee to gradually be misinterpreted as having another meaning. Furthermore, many merchants have used motifs related to Geisha artists to sell coffee at high prices. Some roasters also use the image of a Japanese Geisha to promote “Geisha” coffee as a tradition of theirs. This is clearly abusing and subverting the concept of speculation. It also causes consumers to misunderstand and not receive the true cultural values, traditions, and true feelings about Gesha coffee.

Therefore,  let’s use the correct name Gesha coffee to honor the culture and agriculture of the land that gave birth to this extremely attractive coffee plant. If you want to experience the unique taste of Gesha coffee, stop by XLIII Coffee to enjoy it!

Don’t forget to follow our journal channel to read interesting and interesting stories. From there, you can more accurately understand the historical origin of coffee beans to clearly feel the hidden values in each cup of Gesha coffee.

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