Cooperative Coffees, our roasters' cooperative, was the first North American importer to introduce coffee from this terroir to our part of the world beginning in 2015. At the workshop, we chose a light roast but make no mistake, these Lao beans have character! With its vegetal aromas of tobacco leaf, walnut, brown sugar, and its delicate body, this specialty coffee surprises and gives a complex result in cup, which we love.
Located in a slightly hilly and high altitude region of southern Laos, the Bolaven Plateau Coffee Producers Cooperative (CPC) was created in 2007 with the support of the French Development Agency. Its main objective was to improve market access for these small-scale coffee farmers who were previously dependent on local traders and therefore did not sell their high-quality beans at a fair value.
The fertile plateau (with an average altitude of one thousand meters) is located about fifty kilometers from the city of Pakxe, between the Mekong River and the western foothills of the Annamite Mountains.
This Asian terroir is normally known for the botanical species of coffee Coffea Canephora, better known as Robusta, but our Lao beans come from the second major botanical species, Arabica. Arabica contains less caffeine than Robusta, and a higher concentration of sugar, which contributes to its aromatic richness. This is also why all our coffees at Bivouac are from the Arabica species.
