Tea's of Laos
History + Tea production
Welcome back to Tea Tidbits! Today, I am excited to introduce you all to tea culture, history, and types of tea in Laos. While information on tea in Laos is limited online, I will do my best to provide as much detail as I can! Laos holds a special place in my heart because it was one of my favorite episodes on “No Reservations” when Anthony Bourdain visited Laos. He said,”From the first time I heard of Laos, I was hooked, and filled with a desire to see the place. Once a storybook kingdom of misty mountains and opium. At one time a protectorate of France. A mysterious land-locked nation bordered by China, Thailand, Cambodia, and, as fate would have it, Vietnam”. Laos has held a beauty that I’ve always wanted to see and hopefully I will one day!
History
Laos is considered the “cradle country” of tea as it is home to some of the world’s oldest tea trees. The 20th century has harmed the Laotian tea industry as a result of the Vietnam war, more bombs were dropped on Laos than all of those in WW2 which prevented Laotian tea from reaching US consumers. This also had, and still has devastating effects on the people and as Anthony Bourdain said, “Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the history of the world. 80 million is the number of cluster bombs that did not detonate… so far, only half of one percent of the country has been cleared.”
In 1353, there was Lan Xang Kingdom which was Laos. There are claims that tea entered the Kingdom in the 7th century via trade routes from Yunnan, China.
There are currently over 300 villages and 17,000 households which are involved in tea cultivation. Most of the tea resources are in the mountains and in the Northern province which is responsible for 85% of tea cultivation. However, in the South there is emerging tea cultivation specifically in the Bolaven Plateau. Most of the tea produced in Laos is organic by default.
In the heart of the Mountains in the North, there are wildly growing tea trees that are up to 6m high and some local tea strains can be dated up to 600 years old. Aboriginal trees in Laos are Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica.
Laotian tea gardens existed back from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Tea gardens around the town of Ban Kaman are around 400 years old, the oldest in the country.
The French established tea breeding and a Camellia Sinensis seed (see below) nursery on Laos during their control of Vietnam. In the 1930s the French were promised by the East India Trading Co. to divest from expanding tea cultivation on Laos. France left the tea plantations and the tea trades in Laos once Britain decided to end the Naval blockade.
In 2008 Laos finally reached geographic indication for pu-erh, green tea, white tea, and red tea cakes.
In 2007 and 2012, there was many advancements in Laos which was to develop a sustainable tea forest yield by coppicing and planting ancient tea seeds, this allowed for more growth and new tea gardens.
Laos has a historical connection to the Pu-erh market and ancient tea as the Horse Road connected Southeast Asia to the Silk Road which connected Tibet, Bhutan, and central Asia.
The lack of labor in this country creates small yield for premium organic teas.
Tea Production in Laos
Tea farmers pick leaves from 400 year old trees which can have 30 cm wide tree trunks.
Every harvest in Laos is difficult, tea harvesting requires high concentration and patience. Many people in the modern world can not do such a thing as one day of plucking tea leaves can result in just three or four kilograms of tea leaves, this will result in only one third left after drying.
It has come to my attention that many people do not know or understand how all tea comes from the same plant, Camellia Sinensis (shown below). All the tea’s I will be talking about below come from this plant but they are processed in different ways for different tastes! Click here for my official deep dive on the tea plant, Camellia Sinensis!
White Tea
Locals process tea into “tea cigars” which are dried tea leaves, smoked and pressed into hallow bamboo sticks.
If you want to try a white tea that is processed in this “cigar” style from Laos, click here.
Pu’erh or Pu’erh style tea
Laos is a key region for pu-erh. Laotian tea is cheaper by 80-85% so it is usually exported or smuggled to Yunnan, China. Unfinished tea or Mao cha goes into pu-erh production. A sun dried green tea base from Laos can be used for Pu-erh or Mao Cha, this is a prime ingredient for Yiwu Pu-erh.
Tea made from young plants in Laos is not a sheng (raw) pu-erh, although the production process is similar. Finding a production team that specializes in producing good tea is quite difficult. Most local workers do not know what Sheng Puerh is or how to process it.
If you want to try a pu-erh style tea or mao cha from Laos, click here or here.
Green and Black Tea
Unfortunately, I am not sure about how the process in Laos differs from around the world for Green and Black tea. But, I do have a few tea recommendations where you can compare the Laotian Green or Black tea’s too another type of Green or Black tea you enjoy!
If you want to try some green tea from Laos, click here, here,or here.
If you want to try a black tea from Laos, click here.
I hope one day to visit Laos and fill in the gaps of tea knowledge that my research can’t fully provide the answers for! Unfortunately, my knowledge is limited on tisane’s for Laos as I could not find enough information to make a post. Have any of you ever tried a tea from Laos? Come back next Wednesday for a niche deep dive into famous and important tea figures! Happy steeping <3