Travel to Ho Chi Minh City and try the 'million view' sidewalk tea shop on TikTok

“Hello everyone, it's me again, I sell tea to support my family!”.

Standing next to a small counter with more than a dozen jars of eye-catching yellow and red fruit tea, Mr. Tung, the shop owner, quickly shook the tea cup in his hand like a real “bartender” while filming a video sharing the recipe and daily sales stories. He placed his mobile phone on a tripod. Sometimes, when the shop owner was busy filming, customers would come to him.

"Oh, sorry, please wait a moment. I'll make you a drink right away," Mr. Tuan gently said to the customer in his characteristic Northern accent.

With only simple equipment such as a tripod, a phone, a collar microphone and sometimes with the support of his wife and family, Mr. Tung created a TikTok account with nearly 70,000 followers after 5 months, with a series of videos from several hundred thousand to millions of views.

Mr. Tung's videos about selling tea are watched by many people.

These million-view videos help him introduce his and his wife's tropical fruit tea shop to a large number of customers. Currently, the small tea shop nestled on Nguyen Xien Street (District 9, Ho Chi Minh City) has become a favorite address of many people. Customers and delivery people come and go busily. Orders via fanpage and phone also "explode" continuously.

Called a shop, but in reality, Mr. Tung and his wife still operate as a sidewalk beverage cart. Mr. Tung ordered a bright yellow cart decorated with many kinds of fruit. From the outside, customers can see colorful fruit tea pots. The witty name "I sell tea to feed the whole family" also attracts the attention of many passersby.

Currently, they have rented a house right on the street, with a wide frontage, a roof to protect from the sun and rain, and a comfortable, airy house to ensure a clean space for making tea. Next to the fruit cart are a few small tables for customers to sit and enjoy or rest while waiting for their drinks.

Every day, Mr. Tung regularly makes 10-12 different fruit teas, priced at 25,000 VND/cup. On average, every 2 weeks, he introduces a new type of tea to attract customers. The two best-selling dishes are tropical tea and mango passion fruit tea. The recipes are all created by Mr. Tung himself.

Mr. Tung said he is from the North, after getting married he moved to the South to start a career, and has experienced many different jobs.

"I started selling this tea cart in March this year. At that time, my wife had just given birth to a baby, and I had just quit my job, so the financial pressure was huge. I took the cart for a spin in the blazing sun. Suddenly, I had the idea to try selling refreshing drinks," Mr. Tung recalled.

From the idea, Mr. Tung started to read information, research the recipe, and experiment many times. The best-selling but also the most complicated dish is tropical fruit tea. This drink is a combination of 10-12 different types of fruit, so the process of preparing, cutting, soaking, and fermenting takes a lot of time. "My wife and I often have to stay up until 3 or 4 am to cut and peel the fruit, then soak and ferment for 6 hours before selling," said Mr. Tung.

"The first day I opened the shop, I sat for several hours and only sold 18 cups of tea. I couldn't bear it, so I made delicious cups of tea and brought them to each house around to give away, asking people to try them, give their opinions and support," said Mr. Tung. His wife takes care of the children, so he did all the steps from going to the market, preparing the tea to making it himself to save costs. He also started to learn, filmed videos and shared them on social networks to introduce the tea shop to everyone.

"At that time, I was really stressed and tired from lack of sleep and constant thinking, but now I feel like all the efforts were worth it," Tung confided.

To have a delicious and beautiful cup of tea, in addition to the fresh fruit, you also have to pay attention to how to brew the tea. The tea is brewed at the right temperature and time so that it is not too weak or too bitter. The shaking and mixing of fruit juice during the brewing process must also be in the right proportion so that the finished product has a beautiful tea color, has the characteristic smell of fruit but still does not overwhelm the gentle aroma of the tea.

The shop opens from 10am to 10pm. To prepare enough fresh fruit, Mr. Tung usually goes to the wholesale market in Thu Duc City before 1am. Depending on the season, the types of fruit will be different, but there are no less than 10 types.

For example, with mango tea, he usually prioritizes three types of mangoes: Keo mango, Hoa Loc mango or Tu Quy mango, carefully selecting each fresh fruit, not crushed. They have a fragrant smell and beautiful color. As for plums, he only chooses fruits that are of moderate size but not too soft, with a firm texture so that after soaking, they will be crispy and sweet.

Every time he goes to the market, Mr. Tung usually buys 200-500kg of various fruits. Each type will range from 10-50kg depending on how well it sells. "With this amount of fruit, I save it to process within 2 days. After 2 days, if there is any left, I will throw it away to buy fresh fruit instead of using old, spoiled fruit," Mr. Tung said.

With the fruits he buys, Mr. Tung usually divides them into two main parts. One is cut into bite-sized pieces and mixed with more than 10 different types to make tropical tea - the shop's signature dish. The rest, such as rambutan, mango, dragon fruit, melon... will be soaked by him according to his own recipe, then sealed in each glass jar, neatly displayed on the cart. These are the main ingredients to create drinks such as mango fruit (dragon fruit combined with mango), fragrant guava, durian and pineapple...

"Every day I cook about 4 to 5 barrels of tea, 22 liters is enough to sell. It's not enough to just buy tea and cook it. There is a special way to cook tea, I only cook it 2 to 3 hours before selling," Mr. Tung shared.

According to many customers, the advantages of this tea shop are that the fruit is very fresh and delicious, the menu is diverse, and the owner is enthusiastic and friendly.

"This is my first time here. As soon as I drank it, I found the fruit very fresh, different from many other places," said Minh, a customer. "However, the tropical tea taste seems a bit sour for my taste. I think I should adjust the sweetness to be appropriate," the customer added.

Many people came to see Tung after watching his videos on TikTok. "I really like the way he tells stories, it's sincere, positive and realistic. I came to support him, hoping that the couple will be more and more successful," said Thu Minh (District 6, Ho Chi Minh City).