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TEA ORIGIN:  VIETNAM

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

In May of 2022, after years of penciling Vietnam in our 'tea travel goals', we flew to Hanoi and started a road trip to Northwest Vietnam.  After one week of riding mopeds in winding country roads, we barely got a taste of what this beautiful land has to offer.

First impression of Vietnam:  it feels like a time capsule.  It is reminiscent of my trips to Yunnan 15 years ago, before ubiquitous electricity  cars and concrete buildings.  

Just like in Yunnan, the land is stunning and people are hospitable and generous.  If you have not yet explored Vietnam as a tea origin, please do!






A few facts about Vietnam:

  • It grows A LOT of tea.  By volume, it is the 2nd largest tea producer green tea in the world and the 6th of black tea (FAO, 2022 International Tea Market: market situation, prospects and emerging issues).
  • Some of the tea made in Vietnam is world-class.  For years, the lion's share of Vietnamese tea produced was inexpensive and not too carefully handcrafted.  However, tribal people in the Northwest have access to an ecosystem that is strikingly similar to Yunnan's and very similar cultures; these folks, traditionally, create delicious tea.  The quality of farmed tea is also improving; entrepreneurs from Yunnan, Guangxi, Taiwan and even Kyoto (among other origins) have partnerships in Vietnam to produce a wide variety of tea products.
  • In contrast, we found factories producing a shameful amount of Vietnamese tea, poorly handcrafted and sold at rock bottom prices to markets in China and Central Asia.  This is a big problem:  local tea growers are eager for high yields to compensate for low prices; they often over harvest the tea trees, harming or killing plants that are several hundred years old.
Over the next few weeks we will post articles about our Dao (also called Yao) nation friends.  We will also share some information about other Camellia species (taliensis and crassicolumna) found in this region.

massive tea tree

roasted tea in Ha Giant

I had not seen yellow tea flowers


 Ms. Nhun.  Outstanding tea person.

C. sinensis, large leaf










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