LAOS - BAI'S HONEY JAVA

Filter Roast

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A BIT ABOUT THIS COFFEE

This Honey Java microlot comes from Mr Bai in Nong Kali, a quiet village on Laos’s Bolaven Plateau. 

While he usually processes this variety together with others he grows—such as Typica and Catuai—this year he separated his Java and used the honey method, capturing a lovely sweetness that’s signature to Nong Kali. 

Grown organically under forest shade, his trees thrive in red volcanic soil, cool temperatures, with abundant rainfall.

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WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT

This is a delicious coffee with a softly vibrant yet comforting character. It has a syrupy sweetness, with gentle notes of ripe berries, honey and coffee blossom. 

Mr Bai’s Java carries the signature Laos sweetness we love—lush, rounded, and beautifully drinkable.

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HOW TO BREW

V60

20g Dose

300g Yield 

2.45 Brew time 

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THE STORY

Mr Bai is one of a handful of smallholder farmers we work with in Nong Kali. He cultivates Java, Catuai, Typica, and SJ133 in small plots, managing his land with dedication throughout the year—not just during harvest, but through careful maintenance and preparation between seasons. His coffee trees are healthy, his soil is fertile and productive, and the quality of his work is evident in every cup.

Coffee has been farmed here for more than 60 years, with the majority of farms in the area being small, family-managed coffee gardens which are most often shade-grown and organic. It's a slow pace of life here and a scenically beautiful one at that.

We’ve been sourcing coffee from Nong Kali since 2020. As with all of our Lao coffees, we purchase dried parchment directly from individual families enabling them to focus on what they do best; farming and processing the best coffee they can. 

This way farmers don’t have to worry about dry-milling, sorting, bagging, transport or the complexities related to export.

They also set their own price and can better account for their total costs. It’s substantially more involvement and effort for us, but it’s a model that we are proud to say is the most mutually beneficial here. 

Coffee was first brought to the Bolaven Plateau a little over a century ago by the French. They introduced Bourbon and Typica varieties (some of these heirlooms can still be found in a handful of villages).

The departure of the French, and the subsequent Vietnam War, completely decimated the industry and it has slowly recovered over the past couple of decades.

Today the Plateau is home to a growing industry, including some smaller specialty-focused operations, as the conditions for producing arabica here are perfect.

A cooler stable climate with good rainfall, fertile volcanic soil and lots of natural forest cover are some of the conditions in favour of arabica production here.

The coffee varieties that are mainly grown today are Catimor, Catuai, Caturra, Java, and Typica. Demand for Lao coffee is now at an all-time high.