🌿 Overview of Vietnamese tea
The Camellia sinensis tea plant is believed to originate from East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, but today it is widely cultivated in many places around the world, in tropical and subtropical regions. It is a perennial green plant that grows as a shrub or small tree. Tea plants are usually pruned to under 2 meters (6 ft) when grown for buds and leaves.
🏞️ Historical Surveys and Early Records
After survey trips to ancient tea forests in Ha Giang province, Vietnam (1923), and southwest China (1926), French and Dutch scientists wrote “…tea forests always grow along the banks of large rivers, such as the Yangtze River, the Tsi Kiang River in China, the Red River in Yunnan and Northern Vietnam, the Mekong River in Yunnan, Thailand and Indochina, the Salouen and Irrawaddy rivers in Yunnan and Myanmar, …”.
🍵 Tea Culture and Health Benefits
Tea is a favored drink of Vietnamese people and people of some regions around the world. Drinking tea brings many health benefits, such as providing antioxidants, improving cardiovascular health, improving brain function, supporting weight loss, reducing blood sugar, protecting the prostate… and strengthening the immune system. In addition, tea also has the effect of calming the mind, reducing stress, supporting digestion and being good for oral health, reducing the consequences of radiation. Vietnamese people often process and use types of green tea, which can be used fresh (picking fresh leaves and buds and steeping in boiling water) or dried (deactivating enzymes in tea leaves immediately after picking and drying).
📊 Tea Production in Vietnam
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, in 2024, the total tea growing area nationwide is 123,000 ha, with a yield of over 1 million tons of fresh tea buds. Vietnam ranks 7th in tea production and 5th in tea export. Vietnam’s tea products, mainly green tea, black tea, red tea, oolong tea… are exported to major markets such as the Middle East, China, Pakistan, Russia and many other countries. Tea products and famous tea regions of Vietnam:
🌱 Famous Tea Regions of Vietnam
🌄 Tan Cuong Tea – Thai Nguyen
Tan Cuong tea is a famous tea region of Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam. The Tan Cuong tea region lies to the west of the center of Thai Nguyen province (about 10km away), adjacent to Nui Coc Lake – a place associated with the legendary love story of Lady Cong and Mr.Coc, who loved each other but could not become husband and wife. The girl’s tears flowed into streams returning to the land of Tan Cuong (the hometown of Coc), creating the sweet, fragrant flavor of the tea region found only here. Coming here, visitors are immersed in beautiful natural scenery with tender green tea hills shaped like overturned bowls. Visitors who arrive once, sipping a cup of tea with a “bitter first taste and sweet aftertaste”, green color, young rice fragrance, will surely become enchanted, remember forever, and many have been “captivated” by this drink.
❄️ Shan Tuyet Tea – Mountainous Northern Regions
Shan Tuyet tea is found in the provinces of Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Son La, Dien Bien, and Hoa Binh, commonly growing naturally in high mountainous areas above 1000m. This type of tea has large buds with a grayish-white color, and the underside of the tea leaves is covered with a fine white layer of fuzz, so people call it snow tea. Shan Tuyet tea has a gentle aroma, golden honey-colored liquor. The tea is processed using green tea technology, handcrafted by H’Mong and Dao ethnic people. Because Shan Tuyet tea grows and develops completely naturally (organic), processed manually using traditional methods, the product is highly favored by visitors and locals for its natural flavor, beautiful natural landscape, and tender green tea hills shaped like overturned bowls.
🌫️ Bao Loc Oolong Tea – High Altitude Flavor
Oolong tea of Bao Loc, famous for raw materials grown at altitudes of 1,000m and above, offers a unique and pure flavor. The year-round misty climate and fertile soil create ideal conditions for the development of the tea plant. The strict processing procedure from harvesting to dried tea production is the secret to preserving the aroma and the best quality. When enjoyed, Bao Loc oolong tea conquers drinkers with its light sweetness, long-lasting aftertaste without bitterness, and within the tea fragrance, a delicate blend of sweet fruit aroma and tender buds soaked in dew.
🌍 Tea Experiences for Visitors
When coming to Vietnam, besides enjoying the famous tea products above, visitors can also taste many types of tea processed traditionally for thousands of years, enchanting people; thousand-year-old tea gardens produced completely naturally (organic) and handcrafted, which very few places in the world possess./.