The mountain forests of northern Laos, remote regions that are home to many ethnic minorities, are native habitat for the tea plant (Camellia sinensis). Approximately 95% of the tea produced in Laos comes from this region.This represents an important potential lever for local economic development, since one unique characteristic of Laotian tea is that most of it is grown by small producers. This potential is vastly underexploited, however: 85% of tea produced is illegally exported to Chinas Yunnan province, where it is processed and sold as Pu'er, a world-famous appellation.