Hà Nội vào thu đẹp lạ thường.
Thưởng tách trà sen đậm thơm hương.
Hồ Tây trong vắt in màu nắng
Phố cổ còn lưu trí kiên cường.
Thăng long hạo khí nền văn hiến
Tinh thần đất Việt tỏa muôn phương.
Literal Translation: “Hanoi in autumn, strangely beautiful
A cup of lotus tea, its fragrance deep and full
West Lake’s clear waters mirror the sun’s gold
The old quarter holds its strength untold
Thang Long’s proud spirit, foundation of learning and grace
Vietnam’s essence shining across time and space.“
These verses about Hanoi and tea evoke something vast and timeless—a current that carries cultural memory through the generations. The tea plant has borne frost and wind, borne love from the earth’s deep heart. It stands proud between earth and sky, offering gifts beyond price. Nature’s offering mingles with the feng shui of place, with regional character converging on the capital, where stories settle and deepen—stories told over tea.
Trầm thơm một cõi an lành
Trà thơm một tách dỗ dành nhân sinh.
Literal Translation: “Incense fragrance drifting through a realm of peace
Tea’s perfume in one cup, coaxing life to release.“
No color can muddy sound. No sound can disorder melody. No melody can break rhythm. No movement can resist harmony. Every gesture completes itself simply, naturally, and tea becomes the medium through which culture flows—unhurried, weightless, pure.
Throughout Vietnam’s long unfolding—its persistence, its evolution—Vietnamese tea culture bears a distinct signature, an indelible mark. For thousands of years, tea has played a vital role in Vietnamese life.
Tea is not merely a medium but a connection itself. A bridge between heaven and earth, between yin and yang, between the tangible world and the realm of spirit. Tea culture has fused with the Vietnamese spiritual core across the full arc of history.
The Vietnamese pay careful attention to the balance of yin and yang in all things, especially in culinary culture. Tea culture embodies this balance and the interplay of the five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. Wood is the tea, Water is the liquid, Fire is the temperature, Earth is the pot and cup, and Metal is the minerals dissolved in the brew.
A single cup of tea crystallizes the harmony of heaven and earth—the result of nature’s long accumulation and time’s patient work. To honor what heaven and earth bestow is not merely gratitude; it’s how we listen to the stories hidden in each cup. And in those moments when we sit together over tea, each person contributes to the communion between human, nature, earth, sky, and time.
Tea has entered the spiritual life of the Vietnamese in matters both humble and momentous—in weddings, in funerals. If betel leaf begins the conversation, tea carries it forward, becomes the spice that propels the story. Whether the story runs long or short, strong or light, it takes on the character of the tea itself.
Those who gather for tea choose companions they cherish, people who share their concerns and can exchange stories on common ground. And so tea enters life, affirming its intimate connection to every activity. Culture flows through each cup like water through earth.
Suoi Giang: The Forest Above the Clouds
Along Vietnam’s length, many tea regions have earned renown not only domestically but internationally: Tan Cuong in Thai Nguyen, Ta Xua in Son La, Tay Con Linh in Ha Giang. Among these is Suoi Giang—a commune in Van Chan district, Yen Bai province, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of Hanoi. Ninety-nine percent of the people here are H’Mong—one of Vietnam’s fifty-four ethnic minorities. The lives of the H’Mong have been bound to the ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees since birth. For them, the tea tree is mother nature herself.
Beneath the white cloud layer of the Northwest highlands, Suoi Giang conceals an ancient tea forest that has grown in silence for centuries—even millennia—longer than many human generations. This forest clings to land more than 1,300 meters above sea level, where year-round mist blankets mountain and forest. The climate is cool and pristine, seemingly undisturbed since time began. In the H’Mong language, Suoi Giang means “stream of heaven.”
No one knows when the tea trees first appeared. Only this: generation after generation, the Mong people (the H’Mong) have carried their woven baskets on their shoulders. They have crossed forests to pluck tea buds from the very trees their ancestors found in the mountain mist. As one villager, Lo A Nu, explains:
“I asked my father and he said he saw the tea trees when he was small. I asked my grandfather and he said when he was born, he already saw the endless tea forest—no one knows when it began. According to the elders’ stories, long ago a group of Mong people migrated here. They suffered from fever and skin disease. They saw the tea tree and thought it resembled a medicinal plant, so the elders picked the leaves, boiled them, and drank—and the sickness disappeared naturally. Silently thanking heaven for this rescue, the Mong ancestors decided to stay and live here, bound to the tea tree.”
International experts who surveyed the area directly have concluded this may be one of the birthplaces of tea in the world. Suoi Giang Shan Tuyet belongs to the primordial tea group—never hybridized, carrying rare genetic heritage. In the 1960s, a Soviet expert, M.K. Djemukhatze—a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences—observed:
“I have travelled across 120 countries which have tea trees in the world but I’ve not seen anywhere there are perennial tea trees like those in Suoi Giang. Whether this is the place where the tea tree came from–the tea here is unique. In the bowl of green tea there are all the 18 tastes of the top tea types in the world.”
The highest peaks are where Shan Tuyet lives. Not everywhere produces tea buds as beautiful as Suoi Giang’s. At elevations above a thousand meters, with dramatic temperature swings between day and night, experiencing all four seasons in a single day, shrouded in mist nearly year-round—the tea absorbs night dew in cold, overcast weather. The trees endure winter’s brutal cold in the high mountains, wrapped in cloud and fog each dawn, bursting forth when spring returns.
Harsh weather creates ideal conditions for the tea plant to accumulate nutrients. The young shoots gather all the essence of heaven and earth, of nature, of frost and wind, of sun and rain from the high mountains—a completeness in the silver snow coating each leaf, each bud. The tea buds here wear a fine white snow—natural downy hair. The tea’s deliciousness depends heavily on this delicate layer. The flavor is deep, with a lingering sweetness, fragrant with mountain forest—a taste impossible to replicate.
From childhood, young H’Mong men and women follow their parents along worn mountain paths. Their hands can’t yet reach the tea buds, but their eyes already know the color of leaves, their feet know the slopes, and their hearts know the rhythm of forest life. When they grow, they carry their own baskets up familiar mountainsides, crossing dew-slick stones to pluck fresh young buds. Hands weathered by frost and wind, needing no tools. They harvest by feel, knowing which buds are perfect, knowing how to preserve the snow coating each tender bud. This knowledge cannot be taught in any school—only passed from one generation to the next.
Vang A Lu, a Suoi Giang villager, recalls: “I followed my parents harvesting tea from age three or four—forty years now. Harvesting this tea is very difficult and exhausting. Going up and down is very hard.”
In the baskets filled with green leaves: sweat, dew, steep stones, calloused hands—and an entire life bound to the forest.
No one planted these trees. They need no irrigation. The Shan Tuyet tea trees of Suoi Giang grew from nature’s own wellspring, as if they belong to the forest, bound to earth and sky since the primordial age. Suoi Giang produces not only tea buds but offers the world a heritage bearing original spirit—pure and vital. Primordial tea is not merely a beverage but the crystallization of earth, of heaven, and of people who protect nature as they protect their own origins.
Whether it’s coincidence or the effect of drinking Shan Tuyet daily, this place has never recorded a single cancer case. Other health indicators—blood sugar, blood lipids, blood pressure—remain excellent according to medical experts.
Daily, villagers brew tea right at the fire pit in the center of their homes. The fire pit provides warmth and dries wet clothes—one of the distinctive features of H’Mong culture in Suoi Giang. The tea tree and the fire pit have become part of the living pulse of culture, how they preserve identity in the great forest.
From Shan Tuyet tea, many varieties can be made: Green Tea, White Tea, Yellow Tea, Red Tea, Oolong, Pu-erh, or flower-scented teas like Jasmine Tea—with Lotus Tea being the most distinctive and celebrated flower-scented tea in Vietnam. Each variety has different flavor, color, aroma, and brewing method.
Beyond Suoi Giang, along Vietnam’s length, people continue searching for tea, understanding tea, loving tea, finding affinity with regions like Ta Xua, Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang, Moc Chau, and many tea-growing areas—each bringing their own understanding and special connection.
Tea as Living Culture
Huong, from Tay Ho, Hanoi, shares: “What makes me proudest is that Vietnamese tea is so close to Vietnamese people, expressed so richly in daily life—there seems to be no distance. Tea has woven into life without our noticing. Anyone born in a Vietnamese family carries tea’s resonance—from engagement ceremonies to funerals, special occasions to daily life—we always see tea sets or tea cups for sharing in every family.”
Trầm thơm quyện với hương trà
Tay nâng thưởng thức gọi là tri âm.
Literal Translation: “Incense fragrance mingles deep with tea’s perfume
Hands lifting cups in reverence, kindred spirits in the room.”
Truyen, from Ba Dinh, Hanoi, shares: “Perhaps tea is the most wordless companion you can love in your own way. And when you finally listen to yourself, you’ll notice—when you brew tea, are you anxious? Are you afraid of something? Are you unsettled about something? So you can stop that unsettledness, stop that fear, stop that anxiety—and then you love yourself more. And when you love yourself, your pouring, your brewing becomes gentle, peaceful. Only then do you sense you’re treating the tea well, reading its flavor correctly, responding to it properly. It’s a kind of fate that when I found tea, I gained clearer awareness and thoughts about myself. The ancients said: ‘Like sounds respond to each other, like energies seek each other out.’ Then many friends with similar views and thoughts regularly gather to talk, discuss different teas and their flavors, and also share feelings, confidences, understandings about life philosophy.”
Đời là một chuỗi vui phiền.
Ta đây mặc kệ thần tiên hay phàm.
Ngoài kia để lại sân tham.
Cùng nhau thưởng thức trà đàm vô ưu.
Literal Translation: “Life is a string of joy and sorrow intertwined.
We sit here, caring not if immortal, divine, or human kind.
Leaving greed and craving outside the door
Together we savor tea talk, worries no more.”
Hien, from Dong Da, Hanoi, shares: “When we sit drinking tea and listening to stories together, the connection between the people in that tea story becomes closer. And gradually, understanding these stories, we also connect with love for our homeland. Like understanding our tea tree, those precious ancient Shan Tuyet trees in the forests of high mountain regions.”
Even foreigners seek tea in the heart of Hanoi. They come to Vietnam hoping to learn about Vietnamese tea, about culture, about the beauty and depth beside a tea cup.
Mr. Shamin (USA) says: “I came to Vietnam traveling, and before that when my friend came to Hanoi, he told me about Vietnamese tea. Today I brought my mother to learn about tea in Hanoi, to enjoy tea, and it’s really interesting. I’ve been many places, many countries, to many lands of tea trees. But coming here, I really like it. The space is warm, people sit enjoying tea calmly, gently. I feel your tea culture is wonderful. It’s about sharing, it’s quiet but also deep enough, motivating enough for you to have many meaningful, wonderful journeys.”
Poetry and the Art of Presence
Hundreds of years ago, Nguyễn Trãi wrote:
Làng xưa như mộng trong ngần
Can qua chưa dứt, yên phần mừng thay
Bao giờ lều cỏ núi mây
Pha trà nước suối, gối say đá mềm.
Literal Translation: “The old village dreamlike in misty distance afar—
Troubles passing not yet done, yet peace I’ve found so far.
When will I reach my grass hut where mountain clouds reside?
Brewing spring water tea, on soft stone pillow, satisfied.“
And perhaps the vast tea space perfectly suits these verses by Đăng Học:
Thèm bấy lâu nay một ngụm trà
Ngóng người tri kỷ tận nơi xa
Hương trà xứ ấy lòng còn lắng
Dẫu có bao xuân vị chẳng nhòa.
Literal Translation: “Longing all this time for one sip of tea
Waiting for a kindred soul from lands far away from me
The tea fragrance from that place still settles in my heart
Though springs may come and go, its taste will never part.”
When enjoying tea in different places with different cultures and different people, the tea’s flavor differs, the tea’s aroma differs, and the character of tea and culture seeps through words, drawing everyone into a private space—the settling space of tea. More importantly, it’s where culture deepens.
Vietnamese tea culture has existed for ages. It’s not just noble families who drink tea—rural families also consider tea a daily beverage. Vietnamese people offer each other cups of tea when visiting each other’s homes. Tea serves as a medium that makes conversation intimate, sincere, profound, and connects people. This is a beautiful aspect of Vietnamese culture.
Tea can bring people together to listen and understand each other better. But tea is also for solitary moments. Coming to tea doesn’t always mean arriving already calm, and it’s not always gentle, as Nguyễn Bá Thắng wrote:
Thơm thơm thơm tự bàn tay
Hương nào của đất, của cây, của người
Chắt trong gió nắng mưa trời
Đi qua lửa đỏ một đời đến nhau
Literal Translation: “Fragrant, fragrant, fragrant from skilled hands
What scent belongs to earth, to tree, to human strands
Gathered through wind, sun, and rain from sky
Passing through red fire, one lifetime to arrive.“
Those who have time to understand tea, to love tea—they can sense which fragrance belongs to earth, to tree, which feeling belongs to people, to the reverence for each sweet drop of tea fragrance and each journey, each private contemplation. The great poet Nguyễn Du once wrote:
Khi hương sớm lúc trà trưa
Bàn lan điểm nước, đường tơ họa đàm
Literal Translation: “Morning incense time, midday tea hour
Touching orchid with water, silk strings for scholarly power.”
Whoever understands tea will love tea, and only by loving tea can one understand tea’s essence. Those who love tea from the heart’s depths each have their own ways of tending tea, enjoying tea. Like these verses by Hoàng Năng Trọng:
Ví không sánh chát từ xanh tóc
Đâu dễ dư hương đến bạc đầu
Trăm tuổi người đi trà ở lại
Khói xương lãng đãng để bền lâu.
Literal Translation: “Without the astringency compared to green-haired youth
How could fragrance linger to gray-haired truth
A hundred years—people pass but tea remains
Bone smoke drifting, enduring through time’s chains.”
And Nguyễn Duy also wrote:
Nước chè tươi rót vàng mơ
đôi khi hạnh phúc đơn sơ vô cùng.
Literal Translation: “”Fresh tea water poured, golden as apricot glow
Sometimes happiness is simple beyond what we know.”
To love tea is to love from heart and mind, and exactly as these two lines by Nguyễn Đức Hạnh:
Chọn hương chè làm khăn quảng cổ
Nên thương ai thơm ngát trọn đời.
Literal Translation: “Choosing tea fragrance as my life’s banner unfurled
So loving someone means fragrant throughout the world.”
Perhaps we’ve been busy with life for so long, without much time to talk with family and friends—mainly communicating through social media like Facebook and Instagram, or by phone. So to have moments sitting together where people can sing, where people can laugh and share all joys, all sorrows, all thoughts at the tea gathering, enjoying fragrant tea together, settling together—truly these are rare, precious moments when we’re actually living and have each other in life. Like these verses by Zen master Thích Nhất Hạnh:
Chén trà trên hai tay
Chánh niệm dâng tròn đầy
Thân và tâm an trú
Bây giờ và ở đây.
Literal Translation: “This cup of tea in my two hands
Mindfulness is held perfectly
My mind and body dwell
In the very here and now”
At this tea gathering, there may be entrepreneurs, doctors, journalists, writers, singers, musicians, dancers. Each person may come from different fields and professions. But sitting beside tea cups, all Vietnamese seem to have just one thing in common—the sharing, the companionship, all the energy of earth and heaven that each person transmits to others through tea cups, like these verses by Trầm Cà Mau:
Cùng em nâng chén trà hương
Khi ngày mới chớm khói xương mịt mờ
Trăm năm thu ngắn một giờ
An vui hạnh phúc bên bờ thần tiên.
Literal Translation: “Together we raise fragrant tea cups high
When the new day dawns with bone smoke in the sky
A hundred years’ autumn shortened to one hour
Peace, joy, happiness by immortal shores of power.”
Offering each other smiles, offering each other knowledge, offering each other experience. And beside tea cups, every story becomes more interesting:
Ai hay trong một tách trà
Có hồ sen ngát mượt mà dâng hương.
Literal Translation: “Who knew within a single cup of tea
There’s a lotus lake, soft fragrance offering divinely.”
And through tea, one finds the way back to oneself:
Nhẹ nâng một chén trà thiền
Bình tâm nhìn khói ưu phiền thoảng bay
Cuộc đời một giấc mộng say
Trăm năm nhìn lại mới hay vô thường.
Literal Translation: “Gently lifting a cup of meditation tea
Peaceful mind watching worry smoke drift free
Life is but an intoxicated dream
A hundred years looking back reveals impermanence supreme.”
When people become still with tea, everyone seems able to look into the depths of their own hearts to know how to listen, how to share, how to understand, how to care, how to love, and how to connect the energy of earth and heaven together.
Tea beside culture’s story may only be the medium, but culture settles in each tea cup. Culture exists in the way of tea gathering. Culture exists in the perspective on tea—quiet, gentle, possibly sweet, possibly astringent, possibly carrying the taste of dew and wind, but that character creates tea fragrance’s distinct flavor.
And tea spreads its intoxicating fragrance in the settled space like these lines by Quách Tấn:
Hương trà chưa cạn chén hàn ôn.
Thuyền đã buông theo tiếng sóng dồn.
Ngắm vợi mây thu ùn mặt biển.
Gác chuông thành cổ đọng hoàng hôn.
Literal Translation: “Tea fragrance not yet drained from the warming cup’s embrace
The boat has launched, following waves that surge and race
Gazing at autumn clouds massing over ocean’s face
Old citadel bell tower holding sunset’s golden trace.”
Many people will say tea has many different perspectives, but what Noble Viet Tea discusses here is that everything settles into culture’s character. And that is tea—that is the current flowing with us through so many months and years, so many human lifetimes, so many meaningful journeys.
Let’s muse about tea with culture’s story. Share about mountain tea—Shan Tuyet, Suoi Giang, Ta Xua, Thai Nguyen—and meditation tea stories. There’s so much more to discuss over tea cups. And so many tea regions across the country converge on Hanoi’s capital, becoming culture’s medium, carrying culture’s stories, bringing Vietnamese Tea Culture closer, leaving that distinctive mark on each person, each family, each different cultural space. Where there’s tea, there are harmonious souls. Where there’s tea, there are cultural journeys.