Lotus tea

When I was young, I heard that infusing tea with lotus flowers was quite elaborate. In the evening, you'd row a boat out to the lotus pond, place a pinch of tea leaves inside a budding lotus flower, and gently tie it with a thin string. Early the next morning, you'd row out again to remove the flower and take out the tea. Even more elaborate, as Nguyen Tuan wrote in his writings, you'd have to collect the dew drops from the lotus leaves to use as water for brewing tea. Each lotus leaf only yielded a few drops. To have enough water to boil for a pot of tea, you'd have to collect the dew from dozens, even hundreds of lotus leaves…

 

I was on a business trip to a district in the north of Ha Nam province and heard about "Old Man Dong Van"—an elderly man living near the Dong Van train station who made a famous lotus-scented tea. I didn't know him personally, and actually had no interest in learning about him, as I wasn't a tea enthusiast at the time. But I did meet one of his three sons, a literature teacher at a nearby high school. We exchanged brief greetings... Later, I heard that none of the three sons followed in his footsteps in the tea business, but his grandson successfully continued the tradition. Now, when you mention lotus tea, few people don't know the brand of Mr. Truong An's lotus tea in Dong Van, even Vietnamese people living abroad.

As mentioned earlier in this article, the lotus tea infusion method is merely a quick, superficial process and not truly elaborate. Such an infusion only satisfies personal tea-drinking preferences. To produce lotus tea that is both abundant and has a rich, lasting flavor, like the one made by the grandson of "Old Man Dong Van," one must harvest the lotus flowers and separate the lotus seeds for infusion. Lotus seeds are the ivory-white seeds at the tip of the lotus flower's stamen. Each kilogram of tea requires five to seven infusions, each requiring 200 grams of lotus seeds. In short, it takes the lotus seeds from approximately 1,500 lotus flowers to produce one kilogram of finished lotus tea.

My knowledge of lotus tea, gathered from various sources, is limited. Having reached the age where tea-loving people are accustomed to drinking tea, a pot of tea becomes an indispensable part of my daily routine. Then, one day, I received lotus tea as a gift – tea infused with lotus blossoms, sent from Hanoi to the South, with a reminder to store it in the freezer for later use. Each blossom contains enough tea to brew several pots (depending on your preference for strong or weak tea). The first time I poured the tea from the pot into a cup, I took a sip and almost exclaimed: "Heavens! How can there be such a wonderful tea?" The flavor was truly unique and unlike anything I'd ever tasted. Remembering the tea described by Nguyen Tuan in his writings, recalling the reputation of "The Old Man of Dong Van," I immediately understood the exquisite craftsmanship in the tea-making and enjoyment culture of our ancestors. A culture that could be elevated to a kind of philosophy – the philosophy of tea.

Occasionally, while browsing Facebook, I made friends with an old man from Hanoi. He was about ten years older than me, but after chatting online for a while, we found we shared many things. Even more surprisingly, I realized we had been "neighbors" through various stages of our lives: he had been stationed in my hometown during the war, my workplace was right next to his in Hanoi, and we had shared meals for many years in a communal kitchen filled with the pungent smell of charcoal stoves… Once, I heard him boast about picking lotus flowers from West Lake to infuse tea. In a friendly conversation, we chatted a bit about lotus tea. The lotuses from Dong Tri and Thuy Su ponds (Quang Ba village) on the shores of West Lake are truly precious, with many petals (hundred-petaled) and a fragrant aroma. During the lotus blooming season, tea producers search for the flowers; while a single lotus flower elsewhere costs around ten thousand dong, the lotus from West Lake costs two or three times that amount. Time and time again, I've made plans to meet up with my old friend whenever I have the chance to go to Hanoi, to chat about "the old days" and drink a cup of lotus tea that he personally brewed.

Suddenly, a few lines from his son appeared on his Facebook page, informing friends near and far that "his father" had passed away.

Oh no! I quickly texted him: "My dad told me that whenever he has free time, he writes down many things from his youth, from his time in the army, to his time as an official after his discharge... Please keep it, don't lose it." My son replied: "I can't find any papers or notebooks of my dad's, I only found a few lotus flowers preserved for tea that he saved from the previous lotus season in the freezer..."

I read the message and was silent for a long time.

A pot of tea for a reunion, how much human affection does it hold, O lotus?

LY CHUONG

 

Source: https://baobariavungtau.com.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202502/tra-sen-1035561/