Laos

French colonists planted the first coffee in Laos in the early 20th century, choosing the fertile volcanic soils of the Bolaven Plateau in the south of the country as its natural home. The plateau's elevation and rich red earth made it one of the more promising coffee zones in mainland South-East Asia, though decades of war and isolation slowed the industry's development through much of the 20th century.

Both robusta and arabica are grown, generally split by altitude: robusta in the lower-lying areas, and arabica, mostly Typica and Catimor varieties, on the higher reaches of the Bolaven Plateau. The district of Paksong, at real elevation on the plateau, has become the centre of Laos's small but increasingly serious specialty arabica production.

Cup quality from the Bolaven Plateau can be genuinely sweet and full-bodied with mild acidity when carefully processed, and a growing number of producers are investing in washing stations and drying beds aimed at export markets. Even so, the bulk of Laotian coffee remains robusta, and a significant share still leaves the country in unprocessed or only partially processed form bound for neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand.