The art of making West Lake lotus tea, a profession with many taboos

Trà sen - Ảnh 1. — Harvesting lotus rice is a job for artisans - Photo: T.DIEU

The craft of making West Lake lotus tea is well known, but there are still many taboos that few people expect.

Countless taboos for a delicious batch of lotus tea

On a sunny summer day on June 15, the Quang An Huong Thuy Lotus Tea Cooperative (belonging to the lotus tea craft village of Quang Ba - Quang An, Tay Ho, Hanoi ) opened a lotus tea festival to welcome everyone to take photos with the lotus pond and the road full of lotus flowers for free, as well as experience making lotus tea in an extremely delicate and elaborate way.

Because they are preparing to take pictures with lotus, many women put on makeup and wear fragrant clothes. But when they enter the space where lotus is made into tea, they realize that normally they would be "invited out" because... it smells so good.

It turns out that the West Lake lotus tea making profession has countless taboos that many people do not know about.

Công phu trà sen hồ Tây, nghề có bao điều cấm kỵ - Ảnh 2. — Ms. Nhuan (left), an artisan making West Lake lotus tea, picks lotus rice by the Quang An lotus lake - Photo: T.DIEU

Ms. Bui Minh Hang - President of Quang An Huong Thuy Lotus Tea Cooperative, a lotus tea artisan - said that the lotus scent is fragile, light, cool, and very sensitive.

Tea is very absorbent. Any smell near the tea will be absorbed by the tea. Therefore, the space where lotus scented tea is made is not suitable for people who use perfume, wear heavy makeup, or have just eaten durian or jackfruit.

In particular, women during their menstrual cycle and those who have just returned from a funeral and are cold should absolutely not make tea, otherwise the entire batch of tea will be spoiled.

Tea artisans are reminded to prioritize boiled food, without onions or garlic. Therefore, people who make Huong Thuy lotus tea usually consist of three "blocks", which are the elderly artisans, the retired ones, and the students on summer vacation.

Trà sen - Ảnh 3. — Picking lotus flowers early in the morning to prepare lotus tea - Photo: T.DIEU

The elaborate craft of West Lake lotus tea perfuming

The taboos are seemingly very strict, even the tea making process is very elaborate. Ms. Minh Hang said that lotus tea must be infused with lotus from West Lake, in the ponds and lakes of Quang Ba village, or around there, to have a fragrant aroma.

Early in the morning, Quang Ba people gently row their bamboo boats to the lake to pick lotus flowers, the newly blooming ones. When the lotus flowers are brought back, it is time to make the lotus. First, peel off the large lotus leaves (petals), set them aside to wrap tea as a design.

Then peel off the small lotus petals, use them to infuse the tea. Continue to remove the lotus peduncles, take the lotus seeds on the lotus stems, set aside, and use them to infuse the tea.

The remaining lotus shoots are also used separately for many purposes. Some families dry the lotus shoots to drink as a sedative or health-preserving tea. Some families use them fresh, pureed to make delicious smoothies.

Trà sen - Ảnh 4. — Lotus flowers used to make lotus tea - Photo: T.DIEU

Extracting lotus seeds is a process reserved for artisans. The lotus seeds are tiny and fragile, and only artisans can extract them quickly without breaking them. Separating the lotus petals, sewing them into designs, and vacuuming them are all things young people can do.

Next is the tea deodorization step, which is to infuse the tea with small lotus petals, infuse for 4-6 hours, after the tea starts to dry, it will be sifted to separate the tea with lotus petals. Put the tea in a mold-proof bag and dry for 4-6 hours. A technician is assigned to dry the tea, must be someone who has inherited the traditional lotus tea making profession from their ancestors.

After drying, take the tea and marinate it with lotus rice, add small lotus petals, shake well, cover tightly in a jar, and leave overnight.

The next morning, when the tea has enough fragrance (people in Quang Ba village call it "fragrant"), put small handfuls of tea into the lotus flowers, tie them tightly, wrap them with another layer of lotus leaves on the outside, and put them in a pot of water for 4-8 hours.

Waiting for the tea to have enough water to absorb the lotus scent, the "summer vacation block" will make the model, take the tea lotus flowers and wrap them with a layer of large lotus leaves, then put the tea lotus flowers in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag, put them in the freezer or freeze-dry (cold-dry).

Freeze-dried lotus tea is very convenient for long-distance transportation (no need to refrigerate) and can be kept for a long time. The petals, calyxes and lotus tea flowers have the same beautiful color as before drying, the aroma is intact, the tea water is golden yellow, and the sweet taste is very delicious.

Ms. Tran Thu Thuy - Director of Quang An Huong Thuy Lotus Tea Cooperative, said that to have lotus to make lotus tea, artisans must be meticulous from the lotus care stage, must be attached to the lotus pond day and night, detect diseases promptly and handle them to have beautiful, fragrant, healthy lotus flowers without using chemicals.

With the West Lake lotus tea industry, the first difficulty now is that the lake area has narrowed, the lake is no longer circulated so it is more polluted.