Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/491377
The Quest Boot reasoned that the scruffy rust-resistant wanderer that luck brought to Panama could have regal parentage. "My theory is that we could go back and possibly find even better trees with even better resistance and flavor," said Boot. There are five genes in coffee that can provide resistance and 49 different adapta- tions of coffee leaf rust discovered so far, the latest capable of attacking hybrids such as Timor, a coffee variety famous for its rust resistant properties. The plants that eventually ended up in Panama had been selected from those bred in Costa Rica, which in turn, were planted in Tanganyika and Kenya in the 1930's. The cycles of multiplication invite genetic drift and genetic introgression. Boot's exploits pursuing the parent trees of the Panama geisha easily fill a book. In November 2006 he spent weeks on a diffi- cult journey into western Ethiopia, travelling from the provincial capital of Jimma. "One of our explorations led to a vast, virgin forest southwest of Bonga. Our hike was grueling. The rains of the previous day had turned the narrow trail into a quagmire of red clay. We eventually reached a higher part of the forest. Thousands of proud, wild coffee trees greeted us defiantly. We felt like we were chosen to arrive at this sacred spot. I plucked some ripe, red berries of a mature, elongated coffee tree and tasted the lively sweetness of honey and papaya," he recalled in a 2013 article in Roast Magazine. "I silently pondered the thought that this could be a wild geisha, and then I realized the miniscule, less than 1-in-50,000 chance of such a miracle," said Boot. "I came to the conclu- sion these were maybe cousins or second-cousins but not the trees that found their way to Panama." His attention next turned to a heavily forested area north of Gesha in the Maji region. "My curiosity only grew stronger," he said. In 2009 he met Adam Overton, an American documentary filmmaker and Rachel Samu- el, his Ethiopian born wife and an acclaimed photographer. The two traveled from their home in Addis Ababa to Panama to visit Finca La Mula and hired Boot to help them start a coffee farm on 1,000 acres (400 hectares) near Gesha in western Ethiopia. In 2011 Boot traveled to the site of Gesha Village Estate, near the town of Gesha in the province of Bench Maji and his hunch grew stronger. At the time the "estate" was no more than a campsite with a satellite phone. Mindful of malaria, dengue and yellow fever, Boot mentions that tribespeople fled in panic at the sight of "white people in this noisy white Land Rover." Overton had erected a primitive watchtower to sight marauding lions and bandits before it was too late. Everything was hand carried to the site which was guarded by AK47 wielding local tribes fearful of cattle rustlers. On his forays into the forest he was joined by spear- carrying locals. Boot at Gesha Village Estate Gesha Village • Estate Boot inspecting coffee cherries harvested in the Gesha forest in Ethiopia. Photos above and at left by Adam Overton