Lao Sock Coffee

Lao coffee is strong, sweet and simple: ground coffee, usually Robusta, goes into a sock-shaped cloth filter, hot water is poured through, and the coffee runs into a short glass with a thick layer of sweetened condensed milk waiting at the bottom. You get a layered glass, dark coffee floating on white milk, to stir and drink hot, or pour over crushed ice. Barista Magazine describes it as similar to Vietnamese coffee. Much of the coffee comes from the cool, volcanic Bolaven Plateau in the south. Here’s how it’s made.

The short version

• Ground coffee in a cloth sock, hot water poured through.
• Into a glass with condensed milk in the bottom.
• Strong Robusta, sweet milk: stir before you drink.
• Hot in the morning, iced the rest of the day.
• Grown on the Bolaven Plateau, around Paksong.

How is Lao coffee made?

A writer for South Africa’s Coffee Magazine described their first cup in Paksong: “The ground coffee is put into a sock like bag and hot water is poured in. The water filters through the coffee into a short glass that already has a healthy dollop of sweetened condensed milk resting on the bottom.” The result is “a neatly layered combination of the dark, rich, brew floating on top of the white, thick milk.”

1. Spoon condensed milk into a short glass.
2. Fill the cloth sock with ground coffee.
3. Pour hot water into the sock and let it run through into the glass.
4. Stir and drink, or pour it over ice.

In a Perfect Daily Grind video from Luang Prabang, a café owner makes coffee the same way, with condensed milk and a sock filter; the videographer admits it “may look like tar”, but it became part of his daily routine.

Hot or iced?

Hot, in a glass, is the classic morning cup. Coffeeness calls the traditional drink café lao, made with potent Robusta and taken with milk or creamer and plenty of sugar.

Iced is how many people drink it through the day. Coffee Magazine saw locals enjoying it “poured over crushed ice, served in a bag” as a cool pick-me-up, and Coffeeness names the iced version café nom yen, made with iced milk or iced sweetened condensed milk.

Many Laotians also drink a sweet 3-in-1 instant coffee, and Coffeeness notes that locals gather at tiny roadside kiosks for sock-brewed coffee or instant.

Where does the coffee come from?

The Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, a cool, high, volcanic plateau around the town of Paksong. The sources disagree on just how dominant it is: Wikipedia says 95% of Lao coffee is harvested there, while Coffeeness says over 80%.

When	What happened	Source
Around 1915	French colonists introduce coffee to Laos	Wikipedia
Early 20th century	Saplings brought in from Vietnam; the south proves ideal	Coffee Magazine, Wikipedia
1940s	The plateau is covered with plantations	Coffee Magazine
Later	Coffee rust and blight, war and revolution set the industry back; farmers turn to Robusta	Barista Magazine, Coffee Magazine
Today	About 20,000 tonnes a year, three-quarters of it Robusta, with Arabica being revived	Wikipedia, Barista Magazine

Barista Magazine reports a growing specialty scene too, with cafés in Paksong and Pakse, and training courses from the Lao Coffee Association.

General guidance only. Sweetened condensed milk is very sugary, and take care with just-boiled water.

Lao coffee vs other methods

• Kopi sock: Malaysia and Singapore’s sock-brewed kopi.
• Vietnamese phin: a metal drip filter, often over condensed milk.
• Vietnamese iced coffee: cà phê sữa đá, the iced cousin.
• Costa Rican chorreador: another cloth-bag coffee, on a wooden stand.

Explore every cloth-filter method in the cloth-filter chapter.