FAQs

Q. What time will the auction be held?

A. Please join us for this very special event on 28th June 2022 at 9am BST (London) which is also:

Los Angeles, CA, USA - 01:00am
New York, NY, USA - 04:00am
London, United Kingdom - 09:00am
Jakarta, Indonesia – 15:00pm
Shanghai, China – 16:00pm
Tokyo, Japan – 17:00pm
Sydney, Australia – 18:00pm

Q. Who can bid?

A. You must register with us and be approved prior to bidding in the auction. In theory, any approved company can participate:

Roasting Companies are encouraged to place bids individually or through our selected trading partners.
Individual Bidders are recommended to place bids through our trading partners. Group Bidding is encouraged and this is how your group of micro-roasters can get access to our world class and unique coffee lots.
Importing Companies are specifically invited to participate in the Pride of Gesha. Send us an email to inquire about our international program for trading partners.

Q. How does the auction work?

A. Online Auction Bidding Coffee auctions, like other online auctions usually see prices going up steadily in the first hour of the auction and very often there is increased bidding activity during the last minutes of the auction. Some bidders wait until the last minute of the auction to place their (winning) bids. This is risky though. The online auction platform updates automatically in real time, but if your internet network is slow then there is a chance that it may not register your last minute bid. For more information, please refer to our How to Bid section.

Q. What is the Opening Bid?

A. The auction organizers will start the auction at an Opening Bid price, which is a price per lb/pound. Each lot will show the quantity within the lot (in both number of bags and pounds) and the total price on the lot listing before the auction will reflect the opening price per pound multiplied by the number of pounds for that given lot. If the auction doesn't exceed this level, then the organizers maintain the right to withdraw that lot from the auction. The reserved prices for the Pride of Gesha 2020 auction (the 4th edition of the Gesha Village Estate auction) are US$20 per pound.

Q. What is the size of the Auction Lots?

A. The auction lots of the 2022 Pride of Gesha auction have a minimum lot size of 45 kgs and a maximum size of 120 kgs. For more information about the lots and samples, please log in and visit the Auction Overview information.

Q. How is the coffee packaged?

A. All coffee is packaged in hermetically sealed vacuum bags. We package 2 bags of 15 kgs of green beans per carton. Each carton has 30 kgs of green beans net. Over the past year, we have made a lot of progress with the selection of our packaging material. If you want to know more, please send us an email

Q. How is the coffee processed and stored?

A. All coffee lots have been processed at Gesha Village Estate and prepared for this auction in collaboration with our processing partners in Ethiopia. All auction lots are stored in GrainPro and vacuum bags in optimum warehouse conditions.

Q. Where do you ship from and to?

A. All coffee will be shipped from Addis Ababa, via air or sea freight. The cost for shipping is not included. The shipping terms are FOB Addis Ababa airport (air) or FOB our warehouse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We have negotiated favorable rates with DHL and various airlines.

Q. How do I pay?

A. Payment must be made via bank wire transfer within 10 days after the auction. If payment is not received on time, then the coffee will be sold to other bidders.

Q. What is your Quality Control & Arbitration?

A. The conditions and regulations of the Specialty Coffee Association (formerly known as SCAA) prevail for this auction. We follow the strictest possible protocols for the preparation and classification of our coffee to prepare the coffee to a "Zero Defect" standard. In case of disputes, we refer to the arbitration rules of the SCA.

Q. What is the Harvest Timeline?

A. All coffee lots of the 2022 Pride of Gesha auction were harvested and processed between November 2021 and March 2022. Please review our Auction Lot Report for more details.

The owners and founders of Gesha Village Estate are Rachel Samuel & Adam Overton and Willem Boot. For the planning and development of the farm, we thank the valuable assistance by the Ethiopian government and by individuals like our Farm Manager Akalu Woubshet, Quality Control Manager Bahailu Tamirat, Aberra Tesfaye, Rahel Tsegaye and Tewodros Abate.

Q. What is the export process from Ethiopia?

A. Ethiopia utilizes very strict export formalities for the trading and logistics of coffee lots. Gesha Village Estate has a permit that allows us, like other Ethiopian coffee estates, to sell and export our coffee directly to international importers and roasters. We have been using the services of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) for the quality inspection of all our coffee lots. We honor and salute the professionalism and integrity of the ECX quality technicians!

Q. Can you ship to China?

A. The export of Gesha Village Estate coffee to China is possible but it requires an extra set of formalities. Two of our international trading partners can assist you in this process. Please email us for information.

More about Gesha Village

Sustainability

At Gesha Village Estate we embrace the best possible standards for environmental practices and social sustainability. We invite you to view our video reports, farm and harvest reports about our practices. Due to the challenging Ethiopian laws we are currently not officially certified under international standards. Nevertheless, at Gesha Village Estate we have implemented the best possible standards to warrant our stewardship of the beautiful environment around Gesha and of its wonderful people.

Boot Coffee

Boot Coffee Consulting has been assisting Gesha Village Estate with the selection of lots, the quality inspection and cupping protocols and the preparation and classification of lots. In addition, Boot Coffee has been providing ongoing technical assistance and expertise since 2009 during the planning, development and startup of Gesha Village Estate.

Varieties at Gesha Village Estate

At Gesha Village Estate, we have named the varieties after the expeditions that were originally organized to select these coffee types. From our genetic research we know that the two Gesha strains currently cultivated at Gesha Village Estate are genetically similar to the Geisha types grown in Panama.

Gesha 1931: resembles in bean and plant morphology most closely the Geisha types that are currently cultivated in Panama and Colombia.
Gore Gesha: discovered and selected during our initial research to discover the "mother-source" of Geisha coffee.
Illubabor: selected during the 1970s as a result of the successes of the Ethiopian Coffee & Tea Authorities to find CBD-fungus resistant varieties.