The second time I came back by chance, I was fascinated by the stories of Vietnamese agarwood and Vietnamese tea. The third time, visiting the agarwood exhibition, enjoying tea and vegetarian meals, watching many foreign groups enjoying the experience, my initial concerns found answers.
Tell the story of Vietnamese agarwood
In the past, every time Tet comes, many Vietnamese families still keep the habit of burning incense. In recent years, many people also buy agarwood bracelets to wear, agarwood bags to burn incense, hang in cars... However, not everyone knows or understands about agarwood.
When it comes to agarwood, everyone thinks of its special fragrance, rarity and expensiveness. It is expensive because agarwood is created after the damage of the Aquilaria tree. When the tree is damaged by external factors (scratches, lightning strikes, insects, etc.), the tree will immediately secrete an oily resin to protect and heal the wound. Over a long period of time, that layer of oily resin accumulates, gradually penetrating deep into the heartwood and forming agarwood. There are many types of Aquilaria trees, scattered in some Asian countries, of which Vietnam currently has about 4 species of Aquilaria that can produce agarwood, but the most is still the Aquilaria tree. Thanks to the characteristics of the soil, water and climate, Vietnamese agarwood is highly appreciated for its thick and deep, gentle and sweet scent, with many types of agarwood and many layers of scent.
Because natural agarwood is rare and expensive, Vietnamese agarwood production facilities have sought ways to influence the Aquilaria tree to create agarwood, not only to bring agarwood to the majority of lovers but also to contribute to protecting natural agarwood, preserving Aquilaria trees from being exploited to exhaustion. And Truc Lam Quan Tue (or Tram Tue, lane 235 Phuong Trach, Vinh Ngoc commune, Dong Anh district) is one of the "addresses" that has been researching ways to create agarwood that is increasingly close to natural agarwood as possible with advanced cultivation methods, genetic selection technology, and microbial agarwood creation technology. At Truc Lam Quan Tue space, you can meet many foreign groups of visitors, mostly from the Middle East, China, Japan, and Korea. Some people are introduced to them, some come here on purpose, and some even come to Tram Tue by chance through Google Search, but all of them express a great love for Vietnamese agarwood when they come here.
Not simply creating agarwood, but it seems that in Tram Tue there is an entire ecosystem of agarwood that has been built. With the principle of exploitation requiring replanting, Tram Tue is one of the few producers that is completely self-sufficient in the raw material area of dó bầu forest, with about more than 500 hectares distributed across the country from Tuyen Quang, Son La, Dien Bien , Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh to Khanh Hoa, Phu Quoc. Tram Tue cooperates closely with local people to reforest bare hills and currently manages more than one hundred thousand dó bầu trees with an age of over 10 years. Tram Tue produces agarwood with a comprehensive closed process, from breeding, planting to inoculating microorganisms to stimulate agarwood creation, exploitation, processing and distribution with the goal of creating clean, pure and safe agarwood products.
Mr. Hoang Van Huong, General Director of Truc Lam Quan Tue Joint Stock Company (Tram Tue), shared: “Tram Tue's wish since its establishment is to replace a chemical incense stick with a clean agarwood incense stick. Tram Tue wishes to produce clean agarwood products to spread clean incense sticks from the heart to the community. Agarwood is the fragrance of purity. Burning a pure incense stick is also a way for us to send our thoughts and dedication to the sacred realm. The clean incense helps everyone to calm their mind and body."
Create a peaceful space
At the end of 2024, agarwood lovers in Hanoi were extremely excited to participate in the "Carving" event series organized by Tram Tue. Not only did they admire the rare and unique collection of natural agarwood, including blocks of wood that had been polished and carved into works of art, not only did they hear the story of the arduous and challenging process of exploiting agarwood, but participants also got to "enjoy agarwood" by smelling the scent, "drinking agarwood" through the unique flavor of tea or coffee, and especially "carve agarwood" through the experience of "picking agarwood" to better understand the exploitation and crafting process. Each cut, each pick shows the patience of the craftsmen who meticulously trim each layer and separate each part every day to keep the precious essential oil layer inside the wood intact, thereby understanding why agarwood products are always expensive.
However, at Truc Lam Quan Tue, there is more than just agarwood. Tea tasting is also one of the attractions when coming to Tram Tue. In the tea meditation room, in the space of agarwood gently spreading is the story of tea ceremony, about clean tea leaves from thousand-year-old trees, the processing method to create green tea, black tea, white tea... and especially learning about agarwood tea - the royal drink of the past. Tram Tue's current formula for making agarwood tea is to harvest leaves from natural do bau trees that have accumulated agarwood for about 15 years and apply advanced oolong tea production technology. Tram Tue's tea can be brewed many times with water but the color is still clear, the aroma is still strong and deep without losing flavor.
Vegetarian rice is also an unforgettable highlight at Truc Lam Quan Tue space. Aiming at the criteria of clean, natural, full of nutrition and balanced yin and yang, for many diners, Tram Tue's meals are extremely delicious, rich and attractive. Regularly welcoming guests every day, especially the large number of guests on weekends, but Tram Tue kitchen does not charge any fees. With the team of people working at Tram Tue, the vegetarian kitchen operates to spread the vegetarianism to everyone.
Serving a large number of customers without charging a fee, so how does Tram Tue survive and develop is a question that many people have asked. Focusing on sharing and spreading values, from clean agarwood, clean tea to clean meals is what the Tram Tue team has been doing. In the quiet space of Truc Lam Quan Tue, customers can view and buy products such as agarwood incense, agarwood burners, agarwood jewelry, agarwood essential oils, agarwood tea, agarwood cosmetics such as agarwood masks, agarwood moisturizers... or enjoy Tue coffee, a brand that Tram Tue opened nearly a year ago with the goal of doing business, while also wishing to contribute to raising the value of Vietnamese coffee and coffee brewed in filters made from traditional ceramic materials.
As a place to return to that anyone who has the chance to come once still wants to return, Truc Lam Quan Tue has become an attractive creative space for domestic and foreign visitors. Located quite far from the center, which seems to be a limitation, but is actually an advantage of Tram Tue because it truly brings a cool, relaxing and peaceful green space to the people of the capital in the hustle and bustle of urban life, and at the same time, it is very convenient for foreign visitors to stop by on the way to the airport. Telling the story of production and production, elevating the construction into a creative space like Tram Tue is a model that is worth spreading and replicating.
Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/song-cham-giua-khong-gian-truc-lam-quan-tue-691620.html
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