Bolaven Plateau
A basalt plateau in southern Laos, raised above the Mekong plain and planted by French colonial concessionaires in the 1920s and 1930s with coffee, and with tea alongside it. The lineage is entirely different from northern Laos: these are planted rows of introduced stock rather than old forest trees, the altitude is moderate, and the volcanic soils and cooler plateau climate are the same ones the region’s coffee reputation rests on. Tea remains the secondary crop here and always has been.
History on this page: TeaHQ synthesis
TeaHQ's own reading of well-attested general knowledge, with no single source behind it.
This district’s description dates something — a founding, a first planting, a period of expansion. The label above says on what basis, and it applies to the historical statements rather than to the elevation, climate or soil claims below, which carry their own confidence separately.
Elevation
Recorded at 800–1300 metres.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
Soil
Deep red basaltic soils, acidic and free-draining, on a plateau raised well above the surrounding Mekong lowland.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
When it is picked
A planted-row calendar on a basalt plateau with a strong wet and dry season, so growth is seasonal without being dormant. Tea has always been the secondary crop here to coffee, and the calendar is managed around that.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
How the name is written
Also transliterated as bolaven plateau, bolovens, paksong. Romanisations of a district name vary by system and by vendor, and a packet spelling one way is not describing a different place.
Other growing regions in Laos
The neighbouring districts are the useful comparison: they share a country, a grading convention and often a cultivar, so what differs between them is closer to terroir than anything a cross-border comparison can isolate.
Sources
- TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ
This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No external document stands behind the elevation band, the climate note or the character described above, which is why each carries its confidence in the open.