Westerners eat cake and drink tea

From the ancestral altar, the evening porch corner, to the lively conversations, tea is present everywhere, like the breath of hometown.

Eating cake and drinking tea is a cultural feature imbued with the countryside, a bond that connects generations of people in the swamps and coastal areas.

Người miền Tây ăn bánh uống trà - Ảnh 1.

Since childhood, I have been familiar with the taste of tea through the pot of sweet tea brought to school. As I grow older, the aroma of tea becomes more profound, like a picture of the countryside drawn from memory.

In the summer afternoon, Mom would turn the cakes on the wood stove, and make fragrant pandan tea, just like Grandma used to. Grandma kept the pandan tea in an old Guigoz milk can. Grandma often told her, "After brewing, you must put the tea in a coconut shell pot to keep the heat and fragrance longer." That pot was a keepsake he left behind. So Grandma treasured it and missed it.

I remember clearly the moment when the whole family gathered together, sharing each piece of crispy cake, sipping a cup of mildly bitter tea. The taste of tea lingered on the tip of the tongue, mixed with the sweet and fatty taste of the cake, creating a feeling of comfort and delight. The cheerful laughter, simple stories from the countryside over a cup of tea and a piece of cake, became a family tradition, a link of love through many generations.

Over the past five years, without Grandma, the moments of eating cake and drinking tea were no longer complete. But Mom still kept the old tradition, always adding fresh pandan leaves to the tea, and after brewing, storing it in a coconut shell pot. Each sip of tea reminded her of Grandma, of the warm old days.

Not only my family, but also the neighbors, everyone drinks tea as an indispensable habit. Westerners go to the fields, down to the garden, always bring a pot of cold iced tea, and hot tea lingers on the porch.

No matter where I go, I cannot forget the taste of family affection wrapped in the aroma of tea and cakes. Family laughter, the mild bitterness of tea, the rich sweetness of cakes - all are profound, like a nostalgic song about a West filled with love. They keep coming back in my memory. Deep. Unforgettable.

( Entry to the contest "Impressions of Vietnamese coffee and tea" under the program "Honoring Vietnamese coffee and tea" for the 3rd time, 2025 organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper).