vietnameseiced.coffee

The map

A map of Vietnamese coffee

Almost everything written about Vietnamese coffee treats the country as one origin. It is not. Robusta grows on the red basalt of the Central Highlands at 400 to 800 metres; arabica grows 1,200 km away in the northwestern mountains, and on a cool plateau above Đà Lạt. They taste nothing alike.

Hoàng SaTrường SaĐắk LắkLâm ĐồngGia LaiĐắk NôngKon TumSơn LaQuảng Trị

Mostly robusta

Đắk Lắk

The heartland of Vietnamese robusta

Altitude
400–800 m
Harvest
Nov – Jan
Planted area
≈ 212,000 ha
Commonly described as
Cocoa · Dark chocolate · Roasted nuts · Heavy body

Buôn Ma Thuột is where Vietnam’s coffee story is loudest. The city runs a biennial coffee festival, hosts most of the country’s large exporters, and sits in the middle of the largest coffee-planted province in Vietnam. Coffee reached the area under French planters in the late nineteenth century; the enormous smallholder expansion came much later, after the 1986 Đổi Mới reforms opened land and export markets.

Read about Đắk Lắk →

Coffee grows outside these seven provinces too — including Điện Biên (arabica, northwest), Quảng Nam (small arabica and robusta), Nghệ An (small arabica). This map shows the areas that most shape what reaches an export bag.

Hoàng Sa (the Paracels) and Trường Sa (the Spratlys) lie further east than this drawing reaches. Each is shown in a dashed panel at its own latitude and at the same scale as the mainland, moved inshore to fit the frame — so the distance to the coast is not to scale, though everything inside a panel is. Island positions come from Natural Earth's 1:10m dataset; both archipelagos contain more named features than it records.

Seven regions

Regions at a glance

Altitude, species, harvest window and the flavours each area is commonly described with. Every figure here is sourced at the foot of the page.

Rows of robusta coffee trees on deep red basalt soil in Đắk Lắk, Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Mostly robusta

Đắk Lắk

Altitude
400–800 m
Harvest
Nov – Jan
Commonly described as
Cocoa · Dark chocolate · Roasted nuts · Heavy body
Misty arabica coffee terraces among pine trees near Cầu Đất, Đà Lạt, Lâm Đồng province.

Arabica above, robusta below

Lâm Đồng

Altitude
700–1,600 m
Harvest
Oct – Dec
Commonly described as
Citrus · Stone fruit · Brown sugar · Bright acidity
Coffee cherries drying on tarpaulins in a village yard on the Pleiku plateau, Gia Lai.

Robusta

Gia Lai

Altitude
500–800 m
Harvest
Nov – Jan
Commonly described as
Dark chocolate · Molasses · Earthy · Full body
Honey-processed coffee cherries drying on raised beds in Đắk Nông province.

Robusta

Đắk Nông

Altitude
600–900 m
Harvest
Nov – Jan
Commonly described as
Cocoa · Toasted grain · Caramel · Smooth finish
Forested hills and a Bahnar rông communal house in Kon Tum province.

Robusta, some arabica

Kon Tum

Altitude
550–1,200 m
Harvest
Nov – Jan
Commonly described as
Roasted nuts · Warm spice · Woody · Medium body
Terraced arabica coffee on steep limestone mountains in Sơn La, northwest Vietnam.

Arabica

Sơn La

Altitude
900–1,200 m
Harvest
Sep – Dec
Commonly described as
Red fruit · Honey · Tea-like · Gentle acidity
Arabica coffee trees on hillsides near Khe Sanh in Hướng Hóa district, Quảng Trị.

Arabica

Quảng Trị

Altitude
400–700 m
Harvest
Sep – Dec
Commonly described as
Citrus · Herbal · Light body · Crisp acidity

Compare

All seven, side by side

The clearest way to see how much the two species diverge.

RegionAltitudeSpeciesHarvestPlanted areaCommonly described as
Đắk LắkBuôn Ma Thuột400–800 mMostly robustaNov – Jan≈ 212,000 haCocoa · Dark chocolate · Roasted nuts · Heavy body
Lâm ĐồngĐà Lạt / Cầu Đất700–1,600 mArabica above, robusta belowOct – Dec≈ 176,000 haCitrus · Stone fruit · Brown sugar · Bright acidity
Gia LaiPleiku500–800 mRobustaNov – Jan≈ 100,000 haDark chocolate · Molasses · Earthy · Full body
Đắk NôngGia Nghĩa600–900 mRobustaNov – Jan≈ 140,000 haCocoa · Toasted grain · Caramel · Smooth finish
Kon TumĐắk Hà550–1,200 mRobusta, some arabicaNov – Jan≈ 30,000 haRoasted nuts · Warm spice · Woody · Medium body
Sơn LaMai Sơn / Thuận Châu900–1,200 mArabicaSep – Dec≈ 20,000 haRed fruit · Honey · Tea-like · Gentle acidity
Quảng TrịKhe Sanh, Hướng Hóa400–700 mArabicaSep – Dec≈ 4,000 haCitrus · Herbal · Light body · Crisp acidity

Timing

One harvest a year

Vietnamese coffee flowers once, usually in February and March after the first rains, and picks once, from September through January depending on species and latitude. There is no second crop.

Full calendar →
Growing areaJFMAMJJASOND
Robusta · Central HighlandsĐắk Lắk, Gia Lai, Đắk Nông, Kon Tum
Arabica · Lâm ĐồngĐà Lạt and Cầu Đất
Arabica · Sơn LaNorthwest highlands
Arabica · Quảng TrịKhe Sanh, Hướng Hóa
  • Flowering
  • Cherries ripening
  • Harvest
  • Drying & milling
Approximate timing. Harvest windows shift by a few weeks year to year with rainfall and altitude.

Coffee grows outside these seven provinces too

This map shows the areas that most shape what reaches an export bag. It is not a complete inventory of Vietnamese coffee land. Other growing areas include:

  • Điện Biên (arabica, northwest)
  • Quảng Nam (small arabica and robusta)
  • Nghệ An (small arabica)
  • Bình Phước and Đồng Nai (robusta, southeast)
  • Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu (robusta)

We will add these as region pages once we have provincial data good enough to publish.

Where these figures come from

Figures on this page come from the following. Where a claim is an estimate or a common description rather than a measurement, the text says so.

  1. Coffee Annual — Vietnam (GAIN report VM2026-0016)USDA Foreign Agricultural Service · accessed 2026-09-11National production and area figures; robusta 644,000 ha harvested; total coffee area ≈ 730,000 ha; ~30% of area 20 years or older.
  2. Vietnam Coffee Report: Production Rising for Third Straight YearDaily Coffee News · accessed 2026-09-11MY 2026/27 forecast of 32.5 million 60 kg bags (31.4 robusta, 1.1 arabica); exports and domestic consumption figures.
  3. Geographical indication protection “Lâm Đồng” for coffee productsIntellectual Property Office of Vietnam · accessed 2026-09-11Lâm Đồng GI granted 10 October 2025 covering arabica and robusta; Lâm Đồng coffee area ≈ 175,916 ha with ≈ 16,972 ha arabica (2022).