Xin chao!: Vietnam Tea

Moc Chau town of Son La province, Northwest
1/ 200-year-old Shan Tuyet tea

Tan, a young Thai in 20, invited me to his house as I passed by his village of Cho Long commune in a late afternoon of September. He and his mother just finished a day work in Moc Chau tea company.

When a guest visits a Vietnamese family, the host will start the story with a hot tea pot . As Tan's house ran out of famous Oolong tea, he asked me if I would like to taste some Shan Tuyet tea? "How lucky I am!" I thought. I came to Cho Long commune to see Shan Tuyet ancient tea and didnt expect that I would have chance to enjoy it.

Tan came to the back of the house. There stood two tall big tea trees with bold green leaves. Tan told me that when his grandfather was a child, the trees were there already. They should be over 100 years old and still grew up well naturally without using any chemical/fertilizer.

The sun came down and the outside street became darker and darker. I enjoyed Shan tuyet tea while Tan were playing a great song with flute. How warm it was on a cold night on Moc Chau plateau! I knew I would come back someday.

There are still more than 500 Shan Tuyet ancient tea trees in Cho Long commune of Moc Chau plateau. According to local people, most of them are about 200 years old with 4 - 5m tall and grow up totally naturally.

Cho Long commune is home to Thai people who still stay in traditional wooden houses.

Shan Tuyet tea garden

Flowers of Shan Tuyet tea

4 - 5m tall and quite big trunk

Tan with his family's Shan Tuyet tea tree

A hot cup of Shan Tuyet tea

Pics: vietnamguidebook

2. Moc Chau tea hills

Moc Chau is home to Vietnam’s one of the largest tea plateaux.

Among the teas produced in Moc Chau are Oolong, Kim Tuyen and Shan Tuyet...Tea leaves are harvested for nine months of the year, fromApril to December. It is commonly believed that the tea leaves picked in April give the best-tasting tea because the very first leaves of the harvest season have had four months to rest and contain valuable extracts. The leaves are picked from 9am to 3pm – considered the best time of the day.

There are two famous tea companies in Moc Chau: Moc Chau tea company (Cong ty che Moc Chau) with more than 1,000ha and Taiwan tea company with lovely heart-shaped and S-shaped tea hills.

Moc Chau tea company often welcomes Vietnamese tour groups who come here to join tea tour on its vast tea gardens. “I have been picking in the fields, processing the tea, and now enjoying the final product. For me, drinking the tea that I have helped to make is just fabulous. And I am sure that my friends will be jealous when they hear my story”. Thu, a tea lover from Hanoi, told Vietnam News.

Much more beautiful, in my opinion and feeling, Taiwan tea company with vast green tea hills in many sizes and shapes, is a favorite destination of many couples and young bikers. They come here to take pictures in the heart-shaped tea garden or enjoy driving motorbike from a tea hill to other ones along S-shaped dirt roads... And for me, slowly walking along these tea hills in a cold late afternoon was one of the great experiences that I had during 25 days in the North Vietnam.

(With some information from Vietnam News)

Taiwan tea hills

Pics: vietnamguidebook

Moc Chau tea company

Pics: vietnamguidebook

Vietnamese “trà” flower recognized as world’s new species

TUOITRENEWS

Updated : 03/08/2014 13:20 GMT + 7

The “trà” flower found in the Cat Tien National Park in southern Vietnam in 2011 has recently been recognized as a new species which has been discovered for the first time in the world by the Swedish scientific magazine Nordic Journal of Botany.

The floral species, which has been named “Camellia longii” by the magazine, was found when a group of researchers led by Dr. Vu Ngoc Long, head of the Southern Institute of Ecology, made a trip to examine the national park’s forests which were affected by hydropower projects in Dong Nai.

Noticing the species different from floral species he had ever known, Dr. Long assumed that the species needed to be recognized as a new species and announced as well as included in the list of strictly protected species. Since then, Dr. Luu Hong Truong, vice head of the institute, had collected images and documents to make dossier for the recognition.

According to Nordic Journal of Botany, the new species are locally endemic and considered threatened by local hydropower projects that may inundate the species’ locality.

Vietnamese tea-drinking flavor
(Cinet)- A way of making and drinking a Lotus or Jasmine tea is the treasured custom of Vietnamese people. Every cup of natural flower tea makes a variety of Vietnam’s rich and vibrant culture.

Tea drinking has been a tradition of Vietnamese people for over three thousands years. There are many aspects of tea culture worth noting. There are also many types of tea in Vietnam , each with its own unique flavor and properties. Tea cultivation , the history of tea in Vietnam , its relationship to the environment, its economic impact on the ethnic minorities who grow it , the aesthetic aspects and social importance of tea-drinking rituals, could all provide topics for extensive research.

Tea, known as “tra” in Vietnamese, can be divided into three kinds—dried tea leaves, tea combined with herbal remedies, and tea scented with flowers—each possessed to best advantage. For green tea people prefer brewing it hot and strong and sometimes flavoured with lotus, jasmine, or chrysanthemum flowers. The therapeutic and medicinal functions of tea are well known for its incongruously cooling effect in both hot and cold weather conditions.

The unique and exquisite lotus tea is one variety especially popular during Tet –Vietnam’s traditional Lunar New Year festival. The people of Tràng An (ancient Hanoi people) were renowned their lotus tea making and drinking. The lotus is seen as a pure and serene flower that gathers the essence of heaven and earth in its scent.

Drinking lotus tea is an elegant feature of Hanoi lifestyle. It is believed that the best lotus flowers are collected from the ponds of Quảng Bá village near West Lake in Hanoi or from Tịnh Tâm Lake in Huế City because the blossoms grow larger and more fragrant.

Jasmine tea, also made from green tea leaves but scented with jasmine flowers, requires special preparations. The jasmine flowers are harvested during the day and stored in a cool place until nightfall to preserve their full fragrance. They are then layered over green tea leaves and every step of the scenting process is done by hand.

Green tea, is hugely popular, and the majority of Vietnamese drink several cups everyday. Taste a good Vietnamese green tea, and you will immediately taste the difference between it and a green tea from anywhere else. One of the main effects of green tea's catechins is they prevent micro-tumours from creating a new network of blood vessels essential to their growth.

Vietnamese habit of taking tea, betel, or a cigarette as a prelude to conversation is even referenced in the folk saying "a quid of betel and areca-nut starts the ball rolling".

Lotus tea