Rambling thoughts… about Vietnamese tea

(NLĐO) - I am a retiree who enjoys drinking tea. The older one gets, the deeper the attachment to this wonderful beverage becomes.

From a wild plant, tea has become a beverage, a unique feature in East Asian culinary culture.

From wild tea plants to tea culture

It's strange, but what started as just a plant growing deep in the forest has become an integral part of human culinary, spiritual, and cultural life for thousands of years.

From a wild plant to a beverage, a unique feature of East Asian culinary culture, Vietnamese cuisine is a long and arduous process, linked to the tea ceremony in Buddhist temples, to the tea-drinking habits of emperors, officials, literati, and scholars, and the tea-drinking customs of the people.

The refined art of tea appreciation

Enjoying a delicious cup of tea to the fullest, in a tranquil setting, with a relaxed state of mind, and with close friends and confidants... isn't that a wonderful experience!

As people get older, they become more deeply attached to this wonderful drink.

Come, tea lovers, let's enjoy a cup of spring tea on a cool spring afternoon. Raise a cup of tea as rich as honey, inhale its aroma, then take a small sip, feeling the warmth on your tongue. The natural tea fragrance is subtly and gently fragrant.

The sense of smell awakens the sense of taste. The characteristic mild astringency of the tea gradually transforms into a gentle sweetness at the back of the tongue. A joyous feast of smell and taste. That aroma, that flavor, is the culmination of the flavors and colors of the flowers, plants, and trees of the mountainous region.

For me, tea is a companion.

From a wild plant, tea has become a beverage, a unique feature in East Asian culinary culture.

I am a retired person who enjoys drinking tea. The older one gets, the deeper the attachment to this wonderful beverage becomes.

I usually drink tea early in the morning. Drinking it early, when my sense of smell and taste are still pure, delicate, pristine, and refined... not yet weary from the crude, vulgar, and boorish flavors of the day's cuisine.

The drinker then deeply and clearly perceives the subtle nuances of the delicate aroma; the spreading, permeating steps of the tea's flavor, transitioning from mild bitterness to gentle sweetness… Furthermore, drinking tea at the transition between night and day, in the quiet, misty morning, allows the drinker to calm their mind and contemplate many interesting and profound things.

The aroma of tea is subtly fragrant and gentle.

(Entry for the "Impressions on Vietnamese Coffee and Tea" contest 2026, part of the 4th "Celebrating Vietnamese Coffee and Tea" program organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper).

Source: https://nld.com.vn/lan-man-tra-viet-196260323091121743.htm