Khe Sanh is a Quảng Trị arabica area in Hướng Hóa, first planted under the French in the 1920s and now mostly Catimor.
Khe Sanh, in the former Hướng Hóa district of Quảng Trị province and a commune since 1 July 2025, sits at about 367 m and is best known for the Vietnam War combat base. Much of the former base is now overgrown with wilderness, coffee and banana plants. French botanist Eugène Poilane introduced coffee here in 1926, first Typica, a variety called Bou bou, and Excelsa. After rust problems, Catimor, introduced in the 1990s, became the dominant variety. Coffee covers more than 4,000 ha, and one Vietnamese trade source puts the growing zone at about 350–500 m. Khe Sanh coffee received geographical-indication status in 2025.
Field notes
- i
Eugène Poilane, a French botanist, surveyed the Khe Sanh area in 1918 and introduced coffee there in 1926.
- ii
The former Khe Sanh Combat Base airstrip is now an open-air war museum, and most of the old base area is overgrown by wilderness, coffee and banana plants.
Sources · 5 Every sentence here was checked against a source we read. Taste notes are what guides describe, not promises about your bag. Last revised 2026-11-11. Some details here are less settled than others.
- Khe Sanh · Wikipedia (Vietnamese)
- Khe Sanh — Wikipedia · Wikipedia
- Following in the footsteps of 100 years of Khe Sanh coffee · Vietnam.vn
- The Region of Cultivation Arabica Coffee at Vietnam · VietCoffee
- A breakdown of Vietnamese coffee-producing regions · Perfect Daily Grind