Laos launches national green coffee competition to showcase top beans
Laos opened its national green coffee competition in Vientiane, putting the Green Coffee Beans contest at the center of a push to raise the country’s coffee profile.
Laos put its green coffee sector on display in Vientiane, where the Lao Green Coffee Competition 2026 ran from April 29 through May 4 at Vientiane Center with the Green Coffee Beans contest as its centerpiece. Producers, industry experts and enthusiasts gathered around tasting and exhibition activities as the country set out to identify its highest-quality coffee and present Lao origin on a bigger stage.
The event mattered because it framed coffee quality as more than a cupping score. Organizers positioned the competition as a public showcase for a coffee industry that is still building recognition beyond origin circles, with the goal of lifting Lao beans in regional and international markets. It also aimed to support local farmers and push continued quality improvement across the sector, giving growers a direct benchmark and a chance to stand in front of buyers, judges and peers.
That fits a broader national effort to professionalize the sector. The International Trade Centre said Laos’ Coffee Sector Export Roadmap was developed under the EU-funded ARISE Plus Lao PDR project, with goals that include higher productivity, sustainability, stronger exporter capacity and better compliance with international standards. The Coffee Quality Institute has said the Lao Green Coffee Competition was created to demonstrate and promote Lao coffee quality to local and international markets, making the contest part of an export strategy as much as a celebration of farm craft.
The community behind that effort is substantial. FAO has said the Bolaven Plateau Coffee Producers Cooperative was established in 2007 with support from the Lao government and the French Development Agency, and now includes 1,855 coffee-growing households across 55 villages, along with 23 trained employees. FAO has also noted that coffee exports in Laos were valued at US$60 million in 2012, a reminder of both the crop’s economic weight and the challenge of securing wider recognition and steadier prices.
The 2026 competition also built on a clear precedent. The 2025 edition was held from May 15 to 22 on the Bolaven Plateau in Pakse district, Champasak Province, where Nambeng Coffee Cooperative won the Arabica category with a score of 87.68 and Bolaven Story Coffee won the Robusta category with a score of 85.98. Moving the 2026 competition to Vientiane Center broadened that footprint, turning a local quality contest into a national statement about where Lao coffee is headed next.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
