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".