Đắk Lắk (Buôn Ma Thuột)

Đắk Lắk, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, is where Vietnamese robusta made its name. Its capital, Buôn Ma Thuột, gives its name to Vietnam’s best-known protected coffee, registered in 2005: robusta from red basalt soil at 400–800 metres. The French opened coffee zones here in the 1920s, and today the province grows over half a million tonnes a year and calls itself the country’s biggest coffee centre.

The short version

• Robusta, from red basalt soil at 400–800 m.
• A protected origin: Buôn Ma Thuột, since 14 October 2005.
• Protected in the EU too, under the EU–Vietnam trade agreement.
• Over 530,000 tonnes a year on more than 212,000 hectares.
• Mildly bitter, light, not astringent, by the rules.

What does Buôn Ma Thuột coffee taste like?

The protected origin’s rules, set out in Đắk Lắk’s 2010 regulation from the 2005 registration, describe the green beans as grey-green, green or light grey-green, about 10–11 mm long, and the coffee like this:

• Aroma: the characteristic aroma of coffee, when roasted to the right degree.
• Taste: mildly bitter, light, not astringent.

What are the rules?

To carry the Buôn Ma Thuột name, robusta must come from the registered area, the districts of Cư M’gar, Ea H’leo, Krông Ana, Cư Kuin, Krông Búk, Buôn Hồ, Krông Năng and Krông Pắk and the city of Buôn Ma Thuột, and meet three natural conditions:

Condition	Requirement
Soil	Red basalt soil
Altitude	400–800 m above sea level
Day–night temperature range	At least 11.3 °C in September–October, and 13.5 °C in November–December

Source: Đắk Lắk Provincial People’s Committee, Decision 18/2010/QĐ-UBND.

A new management regulation, Decision 62/2024/QĐ-UBND, came into force on 3 January 2025, and the Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee Association checks and controls the use of the name, Nhân Dân reported. The name is also one of 39 Vietnamese geographical indications protected in the EU under the EU–Vietnam free trade agreement, Vietnam Investment Review says.

How much coffee does Đắk Lắk grow?

The province’s own figures differ a little:

Figure	Value	Source
Area	Over 212,000 ha	Provincial directive, 24 November 2025
Output	Over 530,000 tonnes a year	Provincial directive, 24 November 2025
Area, 2025	214,421 ha	Department of Agriculture and Environment, via Quản lý nhà nước
Output, 2025	588,094 tonnes	Department of Agriculture and Environment, via Quản lý nhà nước
Area, 2020	210,092 ha	Same

In June 2025 the province was merged with Phú Yên, on the coast, but the coffee grows in the west, the directive notes. The directive describes Đắk Lắk as “the largest coffee production and export centre in the country”; the enlarged Lâm Đồng now reports more coffee land, so the two provinces’ claims overlap.

When is it harvested?

From about October to January. Vietnam’s coffee year starts in October, and most of the crop is picked before Tết, the Lunar New Year. The province’s 2025 directive urges farmers not to pick green cherries and to raise the share of ripe fruit at harvest.

A short history

The French opened coffee zones in the Central Highlands in the 1920s, mainly in Đắk Lắk, Wikipedia says. The war disrupted the Buôn Ma Thuột plateau, and after 1975 farming was collectivised; the Đổi mới reforms of 1986 brought the boom, along with migration to the highlands and, Wikipedia notes, deforestation and the displacement of indigenous communities. USDA reports that farmers in Đắk Lắk now increasingly intercrop coffee with durian, avocado, macadamia or pepper.

Đắk Lắk and other Vietnamese origins

• Coffee in Vietnam: the whole country, its harvest and its figures.
• Lâm Đồng: the biggest coffee province by area since 2025.
• Sơn La: Vietnam’s arabica heartland.