Sourcing region information

Son La highland sourcing

Long He coffee is built on Arabica from Long He and the neighbouring highlands of Thuan Chau, stretching toward the foot of the Pha Din pass in Son La — a cool, high-lying area with a marked day-to-night temperature swing. Long He’s sourcing area sits roughly 700–1,500 m above sea level. This natural setting gives the cherries a longer ripening window that favours sugar accumulation and the character typical of highland Arabica.

Son La is now one of the most important Arabica regions in Viet Nam. According to figures published by the province for 2026, it has around 33,600 ha of coffee, of which 19,951 ha are in production, with green coffee output estimated at 37,724 tonnes.

Within our sourcing area, Long He selects for quality rather than using the entire harvest. Out of roughly 110,000 tonnes of fresh cherry from the growing area, about 2,000 tonnes of large, ripe red cherries in good condition are set aside for wet processing. Picking and sorting for ripe cherry only keeps out under-ripe, over-ripe and defective fruit, making the lot far more uniform before processing.

Wet processing turns those 2,000 tonnes of ripe cherry into roughly 400 tonnes of green coffee. The beans are then graded by size and quality, with Long He favouring screen size 16 and above. After screening and colour sorting, about 200 tonnes meet the criteria — so out of the cherry selected at the start, only around 10% ends up as screen 16+ green coffee for Long He’s selected range.

Photos from the Son La growing region

A wide view of the growing area's terrain.
A wide view of the growing area’s terrain.
A field survey of an Arabica plot in the sourcing region.
A field survey of an Arabica plot in the sourcing region.
The hilly terrain of the sourcing region.
The hilly terrain of the sourcing region.
A field survey at an Arabica plot.
A field survey at an Arabica plot.
Arabica cherry at several stages of ripeness on the same tree — a real field photo.
Arabica cherry at several stages of ripeness on the same tree — a real field photo.
A cluster mixing red cherry with green/yellow — showing the uneven ripening clearly.
A cluster mixing red cherry with green/yellow — showing the uneven ripening clearly.
An Arabica tree bearing cherry at several ripeness stages at once.
An Arabica tree bearing cherry at several ripeness stages at once.
A sample of picked cherry at different ripeness levels — the basis for further sorting.
A sample of picked cherry at different ripeness levels — the basis for further sorting.
A heavily fruiting Arabica tree in the growing region.
A heavily fruiting Arabica tree in the growing region.