Tea drinking - an indispensable habit.

Vietnamese people have a nice habit of drinking tea. They drink it everywhere and at any time: at home, at workplaces, even in tea shops on their way to work, or atformal meetings, weddings or funerals. They also place it on altars asan offering to their ancestors on worshipping occasions. Wheneverthe locals feel thirsty, they are likely to look for this drink, inboth summer and winter. A cup of iced tea in a hot day in summer notonly refreshes your mind but also detoxicate your body. On thecontrary, in winter, a sip of hot tea makes you feel warm inside andbetter able to cope with the outside cold temperatures.

Yet, tea drinking is not a recent trend in Viet Nam but attached to an ancient history as follows;

Tea drinking - from history to daily life...

VietNam is one of the largest and oldest tea-producing countries in theworld. The Vietnamese have been growing tea for over 2,000 years. Asearly as in the 11th century, tea was used as a symbol to convey theessence of Buddhism. During the period of the Tran Dynasty from the13th to early 15th century, tea assumed a philosophical value for theVietnamese. In the 15th century, the Vietnamese polymath Nguyen Trai(1380-1442) lived as a hermit, renouncing the outside world for a lifeof "tea, poetry and the moon".

Whiletea has a special philosophical value for scholars and a long traditionin Vietnamese history, it has its own place today in the life ofordinary people living both in the cities and in the countryside. Inthe past, peasants could not afford expensive tea, so they grew tea ontheir own. Nowadays, tea is used to bind people together, for example,the peasant often invites his neighbor around for a chat over a cup oftea. They drink tea initially to thank the host for his hospitality, then throughout several tea sips, they open  heartmore, to share their feelings, to speak about the family, the companyand finally to feel the nature savor of the cup of tea.

Besidesa normal thirst-quenching beverage, tea is also considered a delicateand meaningful one. In the past, it used to be the leverage for poets’inspiration. Up to now, the habit of leisure tea-drinking has helpedrefresh and polish the drinkers’ minds. Moreover, a person's charactercan be assessed by his or her tea drinking ways. Vietnamese peopleconsider those who drink concentrated tea to be finely-mannered; andthose who can pour tea into bowls arranged in a circle using a coconutscoop without spilling a drop will certainly enjoy the admiration oftheir tea-drinking peers.

Kinds of tea

VietNam has grown many and various types of tea such as che Tuyet, che Moccau, che man, che chi … Each one is combined with a particular kind offlower: che man with chrysanthemum; che bup with hoa soi flowers; highquality che man and che bup with lotus, narcissus or jasmine. Someconnoisseurs go so far as to row out to the middle of a pond to placesmall amounts of tea inside lotus buds in order to perfume it. Anexample is cum tea, grown by the Tay ethnic minority. Cum tea plantsare allowed to grow until the buds are mature, then they are picked,and roasted in a pan until they are dry and the buds begin to curl up.The tea is then wrapped up in palm leaves to keep it fragrant.

TheVietnamese like to mix tea with flowers to make it more aromatic. Teawith lotus is very precious for Vietnamese people. This kind of tea wasformerly reserved to the Kings. According to the predecessors, when thelotus blossoms in the afternoon, they put a sachet of tea in the pistiland then, they tighten it with the sheets of lotus. In the nextmorning, they take dew remained on the sheets and in mixture with thesachet of tea in the pistil. After having poured into the cup, the softand fresh odor of lotus dominates the whole room.

Thetea culture has sticked to the life and the heart of Vietnamese peoplefor generations. And when they drink tea at a small mouthful, the teasavor makes them more off-hand and closer to one another. This hasformed the culture of the vicinity and the affection between neighbors.