The tea master tells stories of his homeland.

From a tea lover, Ms. Le Thi Mai has spent nearly 16 years dedicated to the Thai Nguyen tea region. Beyond simply selling tea products, she has chosen a different path, sharing stories about the land, people, and tea culture to help more people understand the value behind each cup of Thai Nguyen tea.

Tea master Suong Mai brews tea in a tea room setting.

A fateful encounter with the tea-growing region.

In Mai's childhood memories, the most familiar image is that of the adults in her family gathering around a pot of hot tea in the mornings. As a young girl, Mai was often tasked with washing the teapot and preparing the cups before each tea-drinking session. In 2002, she received a scholarship to study nutrition in Japan . Her time living and studying abroad gave her the opportunity to learn more about the tea cultures of many countries. From then on, her love for tea grew stronger.

The turning point came in 2010 when she met Bui Duc Hung, a native of Van Han commune, a tea-growing region. During her visits home with her husband, she began to become familiar with the lush green tea hills stretching as far as the eye could see, with the mornings when the locals went to the fields before sunrise, and with the everyday stories of those involved in tea cultivation.

The more she learned, the more Mai understood that behind each green tea bud lay a journey of persistent labor. It involved seasons dependent on the weather, hands calloused from the sun and wind, and experience accumulated and passed down through generations. Her trips to tea-growing regions became more frequent. She met with locals, learned about the production process, and observed each stage from cultivation and harvesting to processing. Some days she would sit for hours in the tea factory just listening to the tea workers tell stories about the tea plant and their lives. “The more I travel, the more I realize that what connects me is not just the tea plant, but the people who live with it,” Mai said.

During that time, what troubled her was that although Thai Nguyen tea had established itself in the market, many people only knew about the product but didn't understand much about the region that produced this specialty tea. They knew the taste of Thai Nguyen tea, but not necessarily the people behind each cup of tea.

From those thoughts, she began to ask herself: How can the stories of tea growers and the tea culture of Thai Nguyen be known to more people? That's when Mai's long journey of dedication to Thai Nguyen tea truly began.

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Making tea culture a part of our identity.

After trying her hand at the tea business, in 2014, Ms. Mai and her husband decided to dedicate all their time to developing their tea business. The Suong Mai Tea brand was built using raw materials from the communes of Van Han, Dong Hy, and Tan Cuong. The production process has been standardized step by step, and processing technology from Japan has been incorporated to preserve the maximum natural flavor of Thai Nguyen tea. Suong Mai Tea has also become a certified safe food supply chain for the entire process, from raw material sourcing to processing and packaging.

Ms. Mai chatted with local tea makers.

For Ms. Mai, product quality is just the foundation. What she cares about most is how to help consumers understand the values ​​behind each cup of tea. Because the value of tea lies not only in its aroma or its bitter, astringent, or sweet aftertaste, but also in the journey from the tea hill to the cup of tea.

Since then, Mai has organized tea-growing experience programs. Instead of just enjoying the product, tourists can directly visit the tea-growing areas, pick tea leaves themselves, learn about the processing process, and meet the tea workers. Ms. Ma Thi Hong Diep, a tourist from Hanoi, said: "Before, I only knew how to drink tea and appreciate its flavor. After my experience in the Thai Nguyen tea region, I understand more about the work of tea workers and why tea plants hold such a special place in the lives of the people here."

Not content with just tea plantations, Ms. Mai has also created tea culture spaces. In small tea rooms in Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Lao Cai, and other locations, tea tasting and tea meditation sessions are regularly held, becoming meeting places for tea lovers from all over.

There, the conversation isn't just about the taste of tea. From a cup of tea, people talk about the history of the tea-growing region, about cultural etiquette, and about how people connect with each other amidst the hustle and bustle of modern life. According to Ms. Mai, tea has long transcended the meaning of a beverage. In many East Asian families, a cup of tea is a greeting to guests, the beginning of a conversation, and also a time for people to slow down amidst the daily grind.

Years of studying and working abroad helped her realize that many countries have successfully made tea culture a globally recognized part of their identity. Vietnam also has famous tea-growing regions and highly-regarded products; what's missing are stories powerful enough to resonate with the public.

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Ms. Mai confided: "I often jokingly say that when it's on the hill, it's tea, and when it's packaged and sold, it's still tea. But when brewed in a cup of hot water, it becomes tea. And from there, stories begin about people, about how they treat each other, and about the cultural values ​​preserved through generations."

Late in the afternoon, the sun gradually sets over the tea hills of Van Han. The woman, once an "outsider" to this tea-growing region, continues her familiar journeys amidst the green tea hills. Nearly 16 years since she first became involved with this land, she remains steadfast in her chosen work: connecting people with tea and telling stories about Thai Nguyen tea through her everyday experiences. For Ms. Mai, when people understand more about the land and the people who produce that cup of tea, the value of Thai Nguyen tea will spread far beyond what a simple product can offer.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202606/tra-su-ke-chuyen-que-huong-db81bbf/