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Ms. Nguyen Thu Phuong took over her family's tamarind juice shop.

Located on the sidewalk behind Hoa Binh Square, next to Le Quy Don Primary School (Nam Dinh City), Mrs. Bu's tea shop is always crowded with customers and is affectionately called by locals: The childhood plum tea shop.

The shop has been open since 1988, selling only two “exclusive” drinks: plum juice and eight-treasure tea. Of these, plum juice is the most popular.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Phuong, the third generation to take over the family business, said that the first person to make and sell the apricot juice was her aunt - Ms. Nguyen Thi Chat (commonly called Ms. Quy, Ms. Bu).

After that, he moved to the South, passed it on to her mother, and then she took over for a few years now. Therefore, the shop is still known as "Mrs. Bu's dried apricots".

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The shop attracts many students every school hour.

The recipe for the plum juice was given to her by a Chinese man who worked at the same textile factory as Mrs. Bu. To this day, the flavor remains the same and cannot be found anywhere else.

This drink has a strange sweet and sour taste. It is delicious when served with ice, so it is suitable for hot summer days or after hard work or sweating a lot while playing sports .

Ms. Phuong shared that before, when Hoa Binh Square was still a soccer field, the main visitors were students and soccer players.

There is no longer a soccer field, but the number of customers coming to the shop has not decreased. After 4pm, when students leave school, the shop is very crowded, so there must be 2 people selling.

Customers drink a lot of plum juice, so every year during plum season, her family has to buy several tons of fresh plums. In some years when plums are cheap, they buy 5-7 tons to make plum juice, and save it to make juice to sell all year round.

Making dried fruit takes a lot of time because it has to be really dry and not moldy.

The shop's eight-treasure tea is also very refreshing. The tea is made from eight traditional Chinese herbs and raw cane sugar, so it has a good cooling effect. Both drinks are still made by Ms. Phuong's mother and are sold out within the day.

A glass of water here costs 4,000 VND. A takeaway glass twice as big costs 7,000 VND, a 500ml bottle costs 12,000 VND, a 1.5l bottle costs 35,000 VND and can be kept in the refrigerator for 5 days.

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The shop sells many other snacks at affordable prices.

In addition, the shop also sells some snacks such as green mango, mango, fried bread with sugar,... These dishes are all very cheap.

Because the drinks have a different taste and are affordable, Mrs. Bu's shop has become a gathering place for many students from generation to generation.

Apricot juice has also become a childhood flavor associated with the memories of many people in Nam Dinh.

Tran Quynh Trang (Nam Dinh City) shared: “Nowadays, there is no shortage of delicious drinks, but I only like Mrs. Bu's apricot juice. After school, my friends and I often go to the shop to watch the street, drink apricot juice and eat fried dough sticks, as a way to relax after school.”

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The restaurant is crowded but each dish costs only a few thousand dong so the profit is small, Ms. Phuong shared.

Ms. Phuong shared that selling on the sidewalk is very hard work, the sun and rain wear down her health. The shop is crowded but each dish costs only a few thousand dong so the profit is small.

However, she feels very satisfied since switching from selling clothes and shoes to selling drinks on the sidewalk.

“The biggest thing is that I get to meet young people every day and hear customers recall memories of the shop, which makes me feel younger and more optimistic. Many customers who work far away bring their children and grandchildren to drink tamarind juice and reminisce about old memories.”

Regular customers all say that only when sitting here, on plastic chairs close to the sidewalk, listening to the sound of passing vehicles, can one fully appreciate the delicious taste of the drink.

That's why she and her mother decided to keep the shop on this sidewalk corner even though they could open it into a more spacious store.

“It’s not difficult to rent a spacious shop, but I think people come to Mrs. Bu’s shop because of the memories they have of this corner. Therefore, my mother and I want to keep things as simple as possible, from the drinks to the seating.”

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The tea shop is a part of the childhood memories of many generations of Nam Dinh people.
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