Tea artisan Trần Thị Thanh Nhị and the path to making tea at Nhị Độ Mai – Khám Phá Huế

 Tea artist Thanh Nhi instructs a child to make tea

Reporter: Is there any difference between the scented tea line that you pursue and the scented tea from other places? 

Artist Tran Thi Thanh Nhi:  There are many secrets involved, but one of the things that can be shared is that we focus on using the main ingredient which is ancient Shan Tuyet tea collected from old wild tea trees. Hundreds of years old in the forests of the Northwest of our country, natural tea has absorbed the aura of heaven and earth for hundreds of years and is not affected by human fertilization, so it is very pure and beneficial to health; And on that tea base, we scent all kinds of flowers, such as lotus flowers, grapefruit flowers, osmanthus flowers, apricot flowers, areca flowers, roses, chrysanthemums, orchids, jasmine… From the ancient Shan Tuyet tea base. , the flavoring process is strenuous and consumes more fresh flower ingredients, but when finished, the tea has a more fragrant and lasting taste using ingredients from grown tea, which is especially good for health and beauty.

Steps to make tea for lotus flowers

Reporter: In your opinion, with ingredients from Hue flowers and grass, what kinds of scented tea can be exploited to make?

Artist Tran Thi Thanh Nhi:  In Hue there are three special flowers: Moc flowers, Apricot flowers and Lotus flowers. If you step into garden houses in Hue, you will easily see Moc and Apricot flowers. It is a simple but elegant flower, pure but still fragrant. These are precious ingredients for making tea. Lotus flowers are also flowers with a special and meaningful scent. The ancient lotus of Hue, especially the White Lotus grown in the Imperial Citadel and Tinh Tam Lake, really has a more special fragrance than flowers grown in other places. From the raw materials of thousands of white lotus flowers at the Imperial Citadel and Tinh Tam Lake, we carefully separated lotus rice (the white incense bag located on the lotus stem) to prepare a tea called Ngoc Khiet that attracts tourists from near and far. Depending on the fragrance of the flowers each year, we balance the amount of flowers into the tea. On average, we need approximately 2,000 flowers to flavor 1 kg of tea (we choose Shan Tuyet Lung Phin green tea – King Meo tea).

Tea artisan Thanh Nhi enjoys the scent of newly collected lotus rice

Reporter: Which of the shop’s unique tea dishes do you put the most effort into?

Artist Tran Thi Thanh Nhi:  In my opinion, for every passionate tea maker, each type of tea is unique to them. Every type of tea I put my heart and soul into. However, if we are to find a very unique scent of Hue, of the Nhi Do Mai Tea Porch that no tea house has created into a work of art and put on the menu for tea guests to enjoy, then in my opinion that is Suong Mai tea – tea. is inspired by and recreates the beauty and taste of dew drops on apricot flower petals in the misty morning. To complete this work, it took us 3 years of research, testing and the finished product. With its outstanding bright yellow color, vigor, and heroic spirit that overcomes the cold of winter to announce spring, the apricot flower is honored as the Hundred Flowers – such as the person who wins the exam, the son The best boy or the most beautiful girl in the area. Along with Tung, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum, the Apricot flower is also one of the symbols of the beauty and character of a gentleman. Cao Ba Quat once exclaimed, “Nhat is born and worships plum blossoms” (all his life he only bows to apricot blossoms” because of that). In addition, the apricot flower in reception has a symbolic meaning of wealth and prosperity. Especially according to my research, the apricot tree has a very strong positive energy. I believe that when Hue’s “Yellow apricot in front of the alley” project is successfully implemented, with apricot trees in front of every Hue citizen’s house, With apricot groves in front of the Citadel, in parks, apricot forests covering the hills and mountains, and along the banks of the Perfume River, it not only beautifies the landscape but also helps create feng shui, increasing energy and prosperity. for Hue. When enjoying Suong Mai tea, you will feel many flavors, at first the taste is elegant, gentle, and clear like the morning dew water. When you enjoy it deeper, the flavor changes to a subtle, round, deep milky scent. At the base of the scent is the sweet smell of incense, which can make you ecstatic.  

Công đoạn xử lý hoa mai trước khi thực hiện trà hoa Mai

Công đoạn vào trà cho bông sen của nghệ nhân Thanh Nhị

Công đoạn gói hoa sen đã có trà bên trong bằng lá sen

The finished product is lotus tea with white tea ingredients

Reporter: Have you ever participated in tea festivals? What outstanding competitions related to tea? What did those experiences help you realize about Vietnamese tea?

Artisan Tran Thi Thanh Nhi:  Experience in September 2019, when participating in the Vietnam Tea Making Competition (Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2019), showed me that our Vietnamese tea resources are so rich and precious, if only Good trade will help improve people’s lives. When interacting with international judges, I see that through tea we can promote and introduce culture very well.

Tea artist Thanh Nhi teaches how to make lotus tea for students who are passionate about tea

Reporter: What dreams do you have about tea? 

Artist Tran Thi Thanh Nhi:  My dream is to contribute my intellectual power to spread the taste of Hue tea and Vietnamese tea to many places and bring many good values ​​to life.

Link: https://khamphahue.com.vn/Hue-24h/Chi-tiet/tid/Nghe-nhan-tra-Tran-Thi-Thanh-Nhi-va-moi-duyen-voi-tra-luyen-huong-tai-Hien-Tra-Nhi-Do-Mai.html/pid/15646/cid/28