A small Farm in Laos and Its Coffee Shop Attracts Tourists with GI Coffee and Tea on the Bolaven Plateau
On the high Bolaven Plateau in Southern Laos, "Paksong Tea" and "Bolaven Coffee" are two geographical indications that benefit from the particular environment of the pristine area with high elevation, fertile red basaltic soil, and ample rainfalls.
The Sackda Farm sits 950 m above sea level on the Bolaven Plateau, Khamborisouth (South) Sackda is a tea and coffee farmer. The family farm produces organic "Paksong tea" and "Bolaven coffee." Famous with tourists, the farm works on specialty coffee and plans solid branding to raise interest in the local market.
South, born on the Bolaven Plateau, immigrated with some of her nine siblings and spent most of her life in France, where she worked for the private sector before becoming a public sector librarian.
However, she always intended to return to Laos and join the small family farm in a village named Ban Lak40, and she often traveled back and forth. She returned in 2008 and developed a shared vision among the family to support and grow the business.
The Birth of Catimor Coffee and Sackda Farm
South comes from a coffee grower family. Her Grandfather already grew coffee, and South's father started the family farm some 60 years ago, planting tea plants and coffee trees. "I was born one foot under the coffee trees," she said.
Coffee was introduced in the 1910s in Laos by French colonists. After a promising start, the production remained ill-fated for several decades, plagued by war, frost, and orange rust disease that decimated coffee trees.
However, some 20 years ago, a new hybrid Arabica variety (Catimor) came to the market with the promise of high returns and resistance to pests and rust disease. Most farmers opted for this new variety and dug out their Robusta variety. The coffee industry rapidly developed to become one of the country's top three agricultural crops with the highest export value. Some 95 % of the coffee production comes from the Bolaven Plateau in the Champassak Province.
Sackda Farm is a small family business. South works with her sister-in-law, two nephews, and two staff. She tends to various tasks, "a real handywoman," she said, from gardening to managing the farm and setting up a global vision.
Arabica Catimor and Robusta Specialty Coffee
The farm produces both Robusta and Arabica coffee, with two hectares of Robusta and two hectares of Arabica. The cherries are roasted at the farm, commercialized in the LAK40 coffee shop under the brand LAK40, and sold to other coffee shops and individual customers in the country. The farm also roasts green cherries for some customers. The GI "Bolaven Coffee" belongs to the Bolaven Coffee Promotion.
However, not all of the production goes to CPC, and South keeps some of her harvest to work on specialty coffee. For the last two years, she has been experimenting and participating in the annual Lao Green Coffee Competition organized by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) since 2021. She has been among the competition's winners in 2021 and 2022.
She competes with her Robusta variety. "I am a strong believer in the ancient variety, and I only work on Robusta," she said. The difference between the two varieties is the taste, she said. Arabica has less caffeine than Robusta and is milder. Robusta is fuller-bodied, she remarked.
The farm's production fluctuates with climatic conditions and labor. The farm can produce up to 10 tons of red coffee cherries, but the chronic lack of workers hampers the production. "Sometimes cherries are ripe on the trees, and there is no one to pick them up."
Reintroducing Tea to Sackda Farm
With the arrival of the Catimor variety and the hope of lucrative returns, many farmers dug out their tea plants to put Catimor coffee trees instead, leading to the partial disappearance of tea plants, South explained. However, when she returned to Laos to join the farm, she decided to reintroduce tea, install new plants, and restore the few remaining plants her father had planted. Tea plants from Laos, camellia sinensis, are endemic to the country.
Tea has regained attractiveness after a period of disinterest, and farmers are planting tea plants once more, she said.
The farm produces white, green, black, yellow, and red tea from the same plant. The tea trees are planted in front of the farm and around the property, among other trees.
LAK40 Paksong Tea Varieties
White tea is tea buds with very little processing, she said, explaining further that green tea leaves are harvested in the morning, and by the evening, the leaves are a finished product. South explained that green tea retains all the plant's properties, particularly antioxidants. Black tea is oxidized by rolling the withering leaves and packing them in a basket covered with banana leaves overnight, while red tea is oxidized in the open air, which gives it a reddish color. The GI covers all the declinations and is owned by the Paksong Tea Promotion Association.
The tea is sold loose to shops, hotels, and restaurants and packaged for trading on the farm. Sackda Farm is working with ten other families who sell them fresh tea leaves to be processed on the farm.
LAK40 - A Must-Visit Tea and Coffee House to Add to your Bucket List
The farm also features a coffee shop: LAK40 Tea and Coffee shop, where customers can savor a special cup of the farm's production, such as Arabica and fine Robusta, and an assortment of delicatessens. They can also purchase coffee from the farm, roasted on-site, and tea.
Many of the visitors to the coffee shop are tourists, and many of them are French, she said, adding that most of the production is sold there. She said local people are becoming aware of and interested in LAK40 tea.
Supported by WIPO, South is working on branding and registering a trademark for her coffee and tea. Designer work is underway on the future logo, and a website is expected to be launched soon.
In the next five years, South intends to keep working on the quality of the farm's production, riding on her two nephews' international recognition as a first Robusta Grader by the Coffee Quality Institute to boost the growing awareness of her products in the local market.
