Gesha
Also Geisha, Panama Geisha, T2722, Geisha 1931
Gesha is an Ethiopian landrace collected around 1936 in the Gesha forest area of western Ethiopia, moved through Kenya to the Lyamungu station in Tanzania and in 1953 to CATIE in Costa Rica as accession T.02722. Planted in Boquete, Panama, in the mid-1960s, it was long treated as a tolerant but low-yielding tree until Hacienda La Esmeralda's 2005 competition entry revealed its floral cup; it now commands the highest prices in specialty coffee. The tree is tall with open branching and elongated internodes. The arabica rust gene SH1 was first characterised from 'Geisha'. Genome analysis finds the modern Panamanian line admixed between wild Ethiopian and cultivated populations.
Arabica Ethiopian landrace Rust tolerant
- Parents
- 0
- Descendants
- 0
- Countries grown
- 9
- Traits published
- 6of 14
Lineage
No parent or descendant is recorded for Gesha in this atlas: it is treated as a root of its own line.
Ethiopian landrace; Panamanian Geisha reference accession T.02722 at CATIE; many plants sold as Gesha are genetically distinct Ethiopian material.
Traits
This atlas's own table- Species
- Arabica
- Genetic group
- Ethiopian landrace
- Stature
- Tall
- Leaf tip
- not published
- Bean size
- not published
- Yield
- not published
- Leaf rust
- Tolerant
- Coffee berry disease
- not published
- Nematodes
- not published
- Best altitude
- not published
- Cup quality
- exceptional; highest auction prices in specialty coffee
- Released
- not published
- Breeder or selector
- not published
- Origin
- Ethiopia