The story of the daughter-in-law of the tea land

In a small room hidden under a canopy of green trees, a girl with a kind face and a bright smile quickly peeled a lotus flower to make special tea to offer to her guests. The scent of lotus mixed with the scent of tea spread throughout the space as she poured the water shimmering in the sunlight into the pure white cups. Seeing her skillfully working, hearing her passionately talking about her plans and aspirations, few people would have thought that she was the one who traveled thousands of kilometers to come here to be a daughter-in-law of the tea land.

Raw material area of Phuc Nguyen tea cooperative in Nui hamlet, Van Phuc commune.

The land of enchantment

Before my eyes were endless waves of green tea stretching to the horizon. The tea area of Xom Nui is located next to the eastern slope of Tam Dao mountain range, surrounded by a fresh climate and cool water from the source pouring down from the vertical cliffs. This place is like a sparkling carpet woven from millions of fresh, strong tea buds growing in the summer sun, with the tenacious vitality from the deep, fertile soil.

Director of Phuc Nguyen Tea Cooperative, Do Thi Nguyen, introduced this as the VietGAP tea area of ​​Nui hamlet with an area of ​​8.4 hectares, with 42 participating households, led by Mr. Luu Sy Son. Since 2018, the VietGAP tea group has been operating but not very effectively. By 2022, when Phuc Nguyen Tea Cooperative was established and took over the product consumption, the linkage model has flourished. The Cooperative not only stabilizes the output with a higher price for fresh tea than the market, but also provides capital to buy materials, provides technical support, and gradually helps people switch to organic farming.

Thanks to the application of technology and smart management, from using the VNPT Green app to trace origins to training farmers to use AI, people have improved their awareness and production skills. "Tea soldiers" - as Nguyen calls "teacher" Vu Van Tai, with the enthusiastic help of the Thai Nguyen Cooperative Alliance, Tai has taught classes about artificial intelligence as a "senior partner", helping farmers no longer be hesitant with new technology.

The VietGAP group now helps 42 tea farming households have a stable income of 7-8 million VND/person/month, much higher than growing rice or short-term crops. What is special is that, even when traders offer higher prices, many households still keep their word, only selling tea to the cooperative - where they have placed their trust and long-term future.

Mother in law is "teacher"

Do Thi Nguyen was born in 1995 in Hai Phong, grew up in Ho Chi Minh City, studied Biology at Ton Duc Thang University. She loves nature and plants but has never touched a tea tree.

Then fate brought her to Tuyen - a boy from Hamlet Duoi 3, Van Phu Commune (formerly Van Yen Commune, Dai Tu District).

Once, when she followed her lover back to her hometown during the rice harvest season, the bright yellow color of the rice mixed with the green color of the tea “enchanted” the young girl. Moreover, the land with its back leaning on Tam Dao mountain, facing Nui Coc lake, with Van mountain and Vo mountain standing tall like two sturdy gates opening towards the future; the land of historical relics and the heroic military training story of the famous person Luu Nhan Chu made her decide to attach her life to this place.

Do Thi Nguyen enthusiastically talks about her tangerine tea product.

Nguyen said that it was her mother-in-law who taught her how to pick tea, roast tea, and experience the aroma of tea with all her senses. Her husband became her most loyal and devoted colleague.

Together they built Phuc Nguyen Tea Cooperative, a place that connects like-minded people with a love for the traditional tea industry. The cooperative's product lines include green tea (moc cau tea, non tom tea, dinh tea); black tea; tea bags; and a variety of flower-scented teas (lotus tea, grapefruit, jasmine, magnolia).

Nguyen took me to visit the cooperative's production workshop. In addition to the biomass gasification technology roofing system, the cooperative still uses firewood roofing.

She said: Each ton has its own strengths, the number one tea topping is still the Taiwanese ton ga fruit, but after the first dry roasting, the second time needs to be roasted with a wood stove. The requirement is to choose solid, dry firewood, slowly stir the aroma, the tea is fragrant from the core of the tea, at this time a special change will take place, creating the smell of young rice, a unique flavor that cannot be achieved if roasted entirely with electricity or gas.

Perhaps because of this delicate combination, the tea of Phuc Nguyen Tea Cooperative is still strong and smooth with honey color even after 7 times of brewing. In 2024, the Tea Buds of Phuc Nguyen Tea Cooperative won third prize at the Dai Tu District Tea Festival and was auctioned for 30 million VND/kg. Currently, the Cooperative has three agents in Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong and Phu Tho, consuming 2-3 quintals of dry tea each month.

Dream of wild tangerine scent

Booth introducing products of Van Phuc Tea Cooperative at the Congress of Delegates of Van Phuc Commune Party Committee, term 2025-2030.

Not stopping at the initial successes, the young couple continued to expand the production workshop in Xom Nui, planning to cooperate with VietGAP groups in Xom May and Xom Bau 2. At the same time, Nguyen quietly produced a type of tea with his personal mark - Wild grapefruit red tea.

Nguyen gently opened the zinc bag containing the dried tea berries. The scent of tangerine mixed with black tea created an impressive sweet aroma, both clean and warm.

This product is inspired by Chinese kumquat pu-erh, but the ingredients are 100% pure Vietnamese. Wild kumquats, hollowed out and the skin intact, stuffed with well-brewed tea, wrapped in do paper and dried. The longer this tea is kept, the sweeter it becomes, like a precious medicine that helps warm the lungs, prevent sore throats, help sleep well, and calm the nerves. Many experts say that the flavor of "Wild kumquat red tea" is not inferior to foreign products.

The story of the daughter-in-law of the tea land is not only the personal story of a girl leaving the city to return to the countryside, coming from far away to this place, but is a living proof of a new generation of farmers who know how to inherit, preserve and create from the traditional foundation.

In this girl born in 1995, there is a harmonious combination between the hands making tea in the way of her mother-in-law, with the modern thinking, the desire to reach far of young people. The transformation from the simple tea buds clinging to the ground to rise to the digital age, from the small VietGAP group to connect into a professional production community. Amidst the fragrant tea aroma, I believe that not only the tea trees, but also people like Nguyen and the tea farmers here are gradually creating a green, sustainable and hopeful countryside for a bright future.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202508/chuyen-cua-nang-dau-dat-che-14f00b3/