The author of the article invites guests to have tea.
Lotus tea, or tea infused with lotus fragrance, is a unique blend of two national specialties: tea and lotus. Tea is a simple and familiar beverage in Vietnamese life, offering a distinct taste experience. The lotus is a flower associated with spiritual life and beliefs, and also symbolizes purity and fragrance. These two specialties are skillfully combined to create a tea that is both rich and subtly sweet, fragrant and pure…
There are two types of lotus tea: tea infused in lotus blossoms and tea infused with lotus rice (the white, rice-like stamens of the lotus). Infusing tea in lotus blossoms demonstrates sophistication in flower selection, combining experience in timing the lotus bloom and brewing time, and understanding of the weather, air, humidity, and growth characteristics of the lotus. Infusing tea with lotus rice, in addition to the above, also requires meticulous and refined experience in weaving the fragrance and drying the tea to ensure the lotus aroma and tea flavor blend and complement each other…
To make rice-infused tea, rice is extracted from 1000-1200 lotus flowers; it is then mixed thoroughly with tea, fermented, dried, and the process is repeated 6 to 7 times. The tea used is typically "shrimp bud" tea from Tan Cang (Thai Nguyen) and the lotus is the Hundred-Petal Lotus from West Lake. This is why international friends are amazed and impressed by the meticulousness, sophistication, and uniqueness of this tea. This is also a distinctive tea found only in Vietnam and not in any other country in the world .
Author: Do Gia
(Entry for the "Impressions on Vietnamese Coffee and Tea" contest, part of the "Celebrating Vietnamese Coffee and Tea" program, 2nd edition, 2024, organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper).
Graphics: CHI PHAN
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