Laos and coffee have a 100 year history in common, starting during the French Protectorate period when French introduced high-quality washed arabica from Bourbon and Typica varieties. The difficult local conditions during the 50-70’s pushed the producers to change to the Robusta variety for a time, but the last 20 years saw the come back of Arabica varieties, especially from Brazil. In 2014, Laos produced 5.000 tons of Arabica, and 15.000 tons of Robusta.
Following this movement, Saffron developed new plantations in Northern-Laos and a new way of doing based on a cooperation & social idea. Coffee is cultivated, planted, organically shade-grown, hand-picked, processed, hulled, graded, hand-sorted, and roasted close to Luang Prabang, directly traded and sustainably sourced from the micro coffee plots of Khmu, Hmong, Mien, and Gasak hill tribe families. On top of that, Saffron Coffee is a social business: profits are reinvested for the benefit of Lao people.
We propose a Coffee & Gastronomy tour organized around the visit of the local Saffron factory to see coffee roasting and some specialty brewing options. You will learn about Saffron Coffee’s sustainable coffee farming approach and results, before having a tasting of the best products of the house.
Our journey will start at 7am, when your guide will be meeting you at your hotel. We need to start early to arrive at the local morning market centralizing all the fresh products coming from the jungle around.
After this visit, we will enjoy the “Café Thong” (or coffee sock) in an emblematic café located on bank of the Mekong for its typical taste.
And then will drive to the Saffron factory for the 1 hour tour finishing with espresso served coffee with fresh baked goods.
We can continue this tour with the visit of the centre-town of Luang Prabang, or go for a drive to Kuang Si waterfall for lunch and swimming in turquoise pure water.
Monday to Friday
Included:
– Minivan (a/c), privatized, with chauffeur
– Local speaking guide (EN, FR, DE, IT, SP, etc.)
– Coffee visit & tasting at Saffron factory with the manager
– Tasting local coffee
– 2 refreshing towels & 2 mineral bottles / day / pers.
Options:
- Continue the day tour with the centre-town visit of the emblematic highlights
- Drive to Kuang Si and have an afternoon swimming in turquoise water
- Begin your day with a cooking class, and afternoon coffee visit & tasting
