A scene at the Gesha Village Coffee Estate in Western Ethiopia. Courtesy photo.
Showing how far today’s buyers are willing to go to obtain super-premium green coffees, more than half of the green coffees sold at the sixth Gesha Village Coffee Estate auction fetched more than $60 per pound, with a winning coffee earning $254 per pound.
The private Gesha Village Coffee Estate — a 400-hectare farm in Ethiopia’s West Omo Zone focused on cultivation and processing of the much-celebrated Gesha variety of arabica coffee — says it believes the $254 mark represents the highest price ever paid for a coffee from anywhere in Africa.
All of the 26 coffees made available through the auction were sold in single-bag, 60-kilo (132-pound) volumes. A bag of the top-scoring coffee, a honey-process Gesha, was purchased by a consortium of Japanese buyers for just over $33,000.
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“In this year’s auction, we’ve pushed the quality envelope and we specifically highlighted the hard work of the people behind the scenes; from the cherry pickers to the security guards, to the managers and everyone in between,” Rachel Samuel, a partner in Gesha Village Coffee Estate along with Adam Overton and Willem Boot, said in an announcement of the results. “Our people are an integral part of consistently maintaining high-quality standards; their unique personalities and intentions facilitate the success and evolution of our farm.”
Total auction revenue for the 26 bags auction reached $283,481.33. Buyers placing winning bids hailed from China, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Europe.
“The annual event helps us to strengthen the legacy of Gesha Village Estate and it enables us to expand our ongoing support of the local community,” said Overton. “It is encouraging to see how many more auctions are being held nowadays in Ethiopia and throughout the African continent.”
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