Geisha Village Gold vs. Red Label: What’s the Difference in Flavor and Rarity?

 Apart from the Red and Green Labels from Finca Esmeralda, there’s another well-known pair of labeled Geishas on my coffee menu: the Gold Label and Red Label from Ethiopia’s Geisha Village.

I’ve previously shared Finca Esmeralda’s grading system and even done a side-by-side comparison of Geishas from two farms. But there hasn’t been much discussion about the Gold Label and Red Label from Geisha Village, which often leaves people lingering in front of my coffee board, wondering about the differences. Today, I’ll clarify exactly how these two of Geisha Village’s most popular offerings differ.

Before diving in, it’s important to note that aside from Gold and Red Labels, Geisha Village also produces Auction, Green, and Chaka grades. Much like many assume, the grading system shares similarities with Finca Esmeralda’s.

As I’ve explained before, these “labels” aren’t the original product names. Because the original names are often hard to pronounce, we’ve adopted a more conversational naming system in China—using the color of the product’s label and its variety. For example, the Gold Label Geisha is called that because its label background is gold, and the coffee variety is Geisha. The same logic applies to Red or Green Labels. However, it’s important to remember that not every labeled coffee in Geisha Village is necessarily Geisha variety.

Geography and Farm Division
Geisha Village is located in the Banchimaji region of Ethiopia, in an area called Geisha Village. The farm covers about 471 hectares, with roughly 320 hectares dedicated to coffee cultivation at a density of 7,000 trees per hectare. The farm owner, Adam Overton, has divided the property into eight distinct zones, each producing coffee with its own unique terroir.

Gold Label Geisha
Gold Label Geisha is the top-tier coffee from Geisha Village (aside from auction coffees). Its original name is Rarities, which translates to “rare treasures.” Gold Label accounts for only about 10% of the farm’s annual production, making it quite rare, and it is fully traceable. Thanks to its complex and outstanding flavor profile, many competition baristas choose Gold Label Geisha as their competition coffee.

It’s worth noting that while it’s called Geisha, the variety isn’t the Panamanian Geisha (T2722) we often think of—it’s Geisha 1931. Geisha 1931 was carefully selected by the farm owner from the original forest where Geisha was discovered. Its bean appearance and flavor closely resemble Panamanian Geisha (T2722), which is why it was named Geisha 1931 (1931 refers to the year the variety was first collected from the forest).

Red Label Geisha
The official name of Red Label Geisha is Growers Reserve, translating to “Growers’ Reserve.” Red Label accounts for about 15% of the farm’s annual production, slightly more than Gold Label, and it’s also fully traceable.

The farm requires Red Label coffees to score above 88 points in cupping. Any variety meeting this standard can be exported as Red Label. Compared to Gold Label, which is closer in character to Panamanian Geisha, Red Label tends to exhibit more Ethiopian local flavors. The Red Label batch I source is Gori Geisha, another variety carefully selected by the farm owner. Though it carries the Geisha name, its appearance and flavor don’t strongly resemble the Geisha we typically think of.

Processing and Brewing Notes
Both the Gold and Red Labels I sell on Taobao/Tmall are sun-dried, which allows for a more direct comparison. Here are my brewing parameters, which were kept consistent for both coffees:

  • Dose: 15g

  • Brew ratio: 1:15

  • Grind: EK43 set to 10, 75–80% passed through a #20 sieve (fine sugar texture)

  • Water temperature: 92°C

  • Brew time: ~2 minutes 10 seconds

Aroma (Dry)
Red Label has a bright citrusy aroma with a very fresh and inviting character. Gold Label builds on that citrus base with notes of honeysuckle and a subtle apricot sweetness. Compared to Red Label, Gold Label has a softer, more layered aroma.

Flavor
Red Label bursts with classic Ethiopian notes of citrus, strawberry, mango, and pineapple. It has a bright acidity, clean and smooth body, and a lingering finish reminiscent of green tangerine tea. Gold Label, on the other hand, features blueberry, honeydew, sweet cherry, and delicate white floral notes. Its acidity is gentle and refined, with a clean, elegant profile. On careful tasting, you can detect hints of citrus, mango, and a lingering oolong tea finish, which makes for an exceptionally pleasant cup.

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Guangxi Coffee Explained: China’s Emerging High-Altitude Coffee Origin Beyond Yunnan

图片
 Not long ago, while scrolling through Weibo, I came across a post saying that Guangxi has started growing its own coffee . That immediately caught my attention and genuinely surprised me. Curious, I decided to dig deeper and share what I found with you. From a coffee perspective, China is actually a rather unique country. It has a complete coffee supply chain —from cultivation and roasting to distribution and consumption. China is both a coffee-producing nation and a coffee-consuming one. When people talk about Chinese coffee, Yunnan naturally comes to mind as the most well-known producing region. Over the past few years, we’ve all witnessed the remarkable transformation of Yunnan coffee. It has moved from being primarily bulk-purchased for instant coffee to embracing a mature specialty coffee path. Today, even traditionally processed Yunnan Catimor can offer a clean and pleasant cup profile, and varieties like Yunnan Geisha have also emerged, bringing greater diversity. These...
阅读全文

Why Water Quality Matters in Pour-Over Coffee (Alkalinity, Hardness & Flavor Explained)

图片
 The coffee we drink is, at its core, water that has dissolved the flavorful compounds inside coffee grounds. In fact, more than 98% of a cup of pour-over coffee is water. We spend so much time chasing the best origins and growing regions, the most suitable processing methods, the perfect roast profiles, and the most precise brewing techniques—yet all of these efforts ultimately rely on water to carry the coffee’s flavor. If we overlook the foundational role of water, everything else can easily fall apart. **No.1 Water Plays Two Core Roles in Coffee Brewing: Extraction and Flavor** Water is responsible for extracting soluble flavor compounds from coffee grounds, and it also makes up the body of the final beverage itself. The chemical composition of the water directly influences what ends up in your cup. **No.2 The Soluble Compounds in Water: Alkalinity and Hardness** Water contains both negatively charged ions and positively charged ions. The concentration of negatively ...
阅读全文

Would You Drink Coffee Made from Food Waste? The Rise of Beanless Coffee Explained

图片
 Every single second, the world consumes about 26,000 cups of coffee . On Shanghai’s Huaihai Road alone—less than two kilometers long—you can find nearly 50 cafés , each with its own style. Coffee has long since become a nationwide obsession. Enthusiasts eagerly debate bean origins, processing methods, and flavor notes, yet few stop to ask a deeper question: What hidden burden does this beloved drink place on the planet? From a food-industry carbon-emissions perspective, coffee ranks just behind beef, lamb, cheese, and chocolate . Data shows that producing a single cup of coffee consumes roughly 140 liters of water , while growing and processing one kilogram of coffee beans generates about 17 kilograms of CO₂ . Viewed through the lens of Western environmental narratives, this kind of data practically screams: ban it . How could such an “unethical” product escape scrutiny in one of the world’s environmental flag-bearers—the UK? British research has already sounded the alarm: by 20...
阅读全文