Where clouds and mountains meet

Exploiting the wild, poetic beauty of nature on the eastern slope of Tam Dao mountain range to develop tourism; changing production thinking, moving towards green, safe agriculture and gradually increasing the value of local crops, that is how the East Cloud Cooperative (in Hoang Nong commune, Dai Tu) has been doing. Not simply the goal of profit, behind the production and business activities of the Cooperative is also a long story about the efforts of a young person who wants to contribute to his homeland.

Báo Thái Nguyên•26/06/2025

The first time I learned about the May Suon Dong Cooperative was through the keyword “May Suon Dong Homestay” on social media. The name is simple, full of mountainous character but has something extremely attractive and appealing. And when I found the way to the homestay here, I found that the name was true to what was there.

The natural scenery is as beautiful as a watercolor painting. The smooth asphalt road connecting the district center to Hoang Nong commune winds around the green tea fields. The closer to the commune, the more clearly the majestic Tam Dao range appears, surrounded by white clouds floating, entwining and embracing the mountains.

Ms. Bui Thi Mai (born in 1990), the owner of the homestay and also the Director of May Suon Dong Cooperative, welcomed us with open and enthusiastic sharing, starting with the reason why this homestay was born. That was at the end of 2019, while harvesting tea in the fields, Ms. Mai accidentally met a group of American tourists who got lost while trying to find their way to a homestay in the commune.

After a while of chatting, she decided to lead the group to the right address. The chance meeting with the petite, but quick-witted, and kind-hearted local girl left an impression on the strangers, so they returned to her family the next day and asked to stay.

Ms. Mai and her family members happily welcomed the group of guests like long-lost friends. As for the new guests, they had unforgettable experiences when they were immersed in nature, listening to the sound of the stream flowing deep in the mountains, picking young green tea buds in the morning mist, and enjoying rustic dishes with the rich flavors of the mountains and forests...

Surprisingly, after returning home, these guests shared their experiences with friends and relatives. Since then, Mai's small house has attracted more visitors from far away. Gradually, Mai came up with the idea of building a homestay to have a more spacious place to welcome guests who come to experience and want to stay.

On her family's vast tea plantation, Ms. Mai leveled a part to make a homestay, and built a stilt house to accommodate guests. Ms. Mai shared: The materials used to build and decorate the homestay are all close and environmentally friendly materials, such as: Bamboo, palm leaves, stream stones... In addition, I prioritize planting many flowers and green trees to add color to the homestay, without destroying the natural landscape around the house.

The visitors here all have very good feedback and feel satisfied with the experiences at the homestay. Currently, we can welcome about 50 visitors per day. Among the visitors who come to us, 70-80% are foreigners, mainly Europeans, Americans...

Not only attracting foreign guests, Ms. Bui Thi Mai's homestay is also a destination for those who love and are passionate about tea. The spacious tea-drinking space is located right next to the stream, next to the green tea fields and the production workshop has closed the entire cycle to produce fresh, safe tea products to bring directly to the hands of users.

Ms. Mai's tea products have many types and different prices, the lowest is 600 thousand VND/kg, the highest is over 20 million VND/product.

Seeing our surprise, Ms. Mai shared: In Hoang Nong in particular and Thai Nguyen province in general, it is not difficult to find mass-produced tea products and there are many names that have made their mark on the market. Therefore, a small, new unit like us will find it very difficult to compete if we do the same. Therefore, we have chosen for ourselves a separate and sustainable direction. In which, most of the products that the cooperative brings to the market are according to specific orders and requirements of customers. We are confident in providing full information as well as testing indicators to prove the safety of the products.

To have the confidence she has today, few people know that Ms. Mai had to trade a lot of time, effort and a lot of money. She said: Before making safe tea, I had a fairly stable income by selling tea online. At one point, I sold more than 1.7 tons of dried tea buds a day. When the tea my family produced was not enough, I connected with people in the area to buy it, then pack it and supply it to the market.

While the business was expanding, one day I suddenly wondered and thought. The amount of tea sold was too large, while I could not control the quality, and did not know what flavorings and additives were in the tea, what the dosage was, and whether it would affect the health of consumers?… And so I decided to stop! - Ms. Mai shared.

Mai’s sudden choice made her family members worried and disagreed. However, with her decisive nature, she was determined to start over from zero. She spent time and money traveling to many places, learning how to make tea in the safest and most natural way.

During the first two years of the experiment, the tea fields were fertilized with organic fertilizers, used biological products, hired people to pick weeds… with large investment costs but almost no harvest. The products were not well received, even sent back, many batches of tea and matcha had to be thrown away because there was no place to sell them.

However, she did not give up, she continued to persevere in researching, learning, inviting experts to come to the site to survey to find the most suitable method for the climate and soil of her hometown. And then the land did not disappoint her. The tea fields, after a long time of using chemicals and fertilizers that had made the soil hard, have now revived day by day, gradually increasing productivity, giving better quality, proving that her direction is correct.

In addition to the tea area of her family and 7 cooperative members, Ms. Mai also cooperated with more than a dozen households in the area to expand the safe tea material area. In particular, she guided people to cultivate according to the correct process and committed to achieving 85-90% of the yield compared to conventional methods, but with higher product value and long-term purchase of all quality products.

Currently, the cooperative's tea growing area has expanded to nearly 20 hectares, yielding more than 20 tons of fresh tea each crop. May Suon Dong's tea products are available in many provinces and cities across the country and have even followed tourists to the West.

“My dream is to have a large enough tea area, apply organic farming methods and be internationally recognized, so that my hometown tea products can confidently step out into the world with confirmed quality. In the near future, I am planning to renovate and expand the homestay to bring new and more interesting experiences to tourists…” - Ms. Bui Thi Mai added.