Dong Hy, a colorful countryside [Part 1]: Missing Thai Nguyen, lingering on the taste of tea

If I die, please report to Song Cau tea farm!

In 2016 - more than 40 years after martyr Nguyen An Trung died, he returned to Song Cau tea farm according to his will: "If I die, please report to Song Cau tea farm." The day they welcomed him back, both old and young people on both banks of the Cau River, Dong Hy district, Thai Nguyen province burst into tears.

Whose family is martyr Nguyen An Trung from, and where is his hometown? No one living in Song Cau tea farm knows, they just know that when he came to them, he was a boy about 10 years old who went to the farm to beg for food. Ask where his family is, where is he from, and what is his name. The boy shook his head!

At 10 years old, he was not yet old enough to work, but the local people could not let the boy continue to wander, so the tea farm took him in to help cook and clean the room. Then they gave him the name Nguyen An Trung. So he grew up and became a farm worker. In 1967, like many other boys, he volunteered to go to the battlefield to protect the Fatherland. A little amount of money that he saved was sent to a relative at Song Cau tea farm, hoping that one day when he returns, he will find a girl in that land of love to become husband and wife.

It's been 40 years since I've seen him return. The newly born children did not know his name, and the old people with white hair like clouds suddenly became excited about the story of martyr Nguyen An Trung returning to the land of Song Cau according to his will: "If I die, please inform about Song Cau tea farm". People on both banks of the Cau River burst into tears. He returned to the Song Cau tea farm with beautiful memories, a symbol of a tea area, a beautiful image of Song Cau's hometown.

Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Hao, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Thinh An Tea Cooperative, Song Cau town, Dong Hy district talked about the story of the respected martyr of her hometown tea region with pride. Ms. Hao is also the owner of the cooperative that owns the tea brand named after that martyr - Nhat am An Trung tea product. This is a high-end product, the ingredients are clean sweet soup with tender shrimp marinated with the scent of lotus flowers picked while still dewy in the morning.

After its launch, Nhat am An Trung tea product was well received for its passionate aroma blending between tea scent and lotus scent. Perhaps because contained in that product is the life story of a martyr, with a deep love for the land and people at Song Cau tea farm.

Ms. Hao confided: "The cooperative wants to get a product named after the venerable martyr An Trung as a tribute to today's generation for the kindness the martyr gave to the tea farm and also as a way to remember the story of the martyr of the tea area. Just like the martyr An Trung loves Song Cau tea area, Song Cau people also love tea fields like their flesh and blood, and as if they are part of their life."

A pot of tea costs the same as a bowl of pho Thin Lo Duc 

When many people follow high-yield hybrid tea varieties, Ms. Hao is still passionate about restoring small-leaf midland tea varieties. This is an ancient tea variety that is up to 60 years old. Their roots are deeply rooted in the ground, like a reminder of the golden period of the 60s and 70s of the last century, when Song Cau tea was named in many countries around the world. Then, a difficult time came, Song Cau tea farm collapsed, making that famous tea area seem to be forgotten.

But Song Cau tea only temporarily subsided. Because the soil of that tea area leaves behind many fond memories of the lowland people who came to this land to serve in the army, work as engineers, workers... when returning to the lowlands, they still send with them memories of the taste of tea in their nostalgia. That degree of remembrance is enough for the tea plant to seep into the life memories of future generations like Ms. Hao, allowing her to live and devote herself to the tea profession.

There was a guest from Nghe An who visited Thailand and told Ms. Hao: He had drunk many types of tea in many places, but there was nothing like the taste of Thai tea. Every time he returned to Thai Nguyen, the old man said he had to go to her tea factory to find and buy it, to awaken memories of old times, of the years he worked closely with Thai Nguyen land and people. Ms. Hao carefully selected a tea package taken from ancient small-leaf midland tea trees and respectfully sent it to the old man.

With guests like that, they don't just drink tea, they also enjoy the love and affection, savoring the many thoughts and feelings conveyed in the scent of tea. So how can people from the tea land not respect it? Because knowing how to appreciate them is also appreciating the agricultural culture of the tea land.

Because of that love for tea, Ms. Hao did not hesitate to restore the small-leaf midland tea variety. That type of tea combined with the ancient soil rich in minerals gives her hometown a particularly rich tea flavor. After drinking it for a long time, the taste still lingers in the back of the throat. She has mobilized people to take care of them so that the deep underground roots can receive organic nutrients; flower beds are also planted along the way to the tea fields to attract bees and butterflies...

When she first started working, many people objected her idea because of her contrary approach. The way she asked them to take care of them, as well as the strict standards of slow picking and short picking, had to receive harsh words: "Hao, if you want to dictate or act on others, you have to pay more." Swallowing her anger, she agreed to borrow money at interest to have money to pay them more, so they could pick and take care of the tea as they wished.

Now her difficult journey is over. The ancient small-leaf midland tea hills, up to 20 hectares wide, have become the treasure of Thinh An Tea Cooperative. Those tea hills produce buds to make premium tea products. There is a product that she sells in Hanoi for the price of a packet of tea for a bowl of the famous pho Thin Lo Duc in the capital.

Ms. Hao also built a safe tea production area with an area of ​​50 hectares, including 20 hectares of organic tea and 9 hectares of tea with a growing area code. Her cooperative has 3 4-star OCOP products and 2 3-star OCOP products. In 2021, the cooperative's purebred midland tea variety was certified by Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee as a typical provincial rural industrial product.

Trai Cai tea is famous in Thai Nguyen

From the Song Cau tea hill with waves like a carpet, I headed down to Trai Cai tea area in Minh Lap commune. Everywhere in Dong Hy hills and mountains, you can see green tea fields running from low mountains to high mountains. Overcoming the difficult times of the tea industry, Dong Hy tea trees accompany the farmers of this country to grow, fragrant throughout the country.

It is said that in Thai Nguyen there are four famous tea regions. That is Tan Cuong tea area, Thai Nguyen city; La Bang tea area, Dai Tu district; Tuc Tranh tea area, Vo Tranh, Phu Do, Phu Luong district and Dong Hy district also have Trai Cai tea area, register in Minh Lap commune.

In Trai Cai tea area, there are farmers who only know how to work on the tea hills around the village all year round. The hand that collect tea is always covered with the black sticky plastic which is too embarrassed for them to say a word every time they left the village. However, with the strength of maintaining their brand and the desire to bring their homeland's agricultural products beyond the midland region, they have become famous traders and tea business cooperative owners throughout the Viet Bac region.

Ms. Uong Thi Lan, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and Director of Nguyen Viet Tea Cooperative, Minh Lap commune, Dong Hy district, shed silent tears in the story of her life's journey as a tea professional.

Ms. Lan confided that every time she makes delicious batches of tea, her heart is filled with happiness. Because she saw the images of her father in it, and saw the images of her children. Her family has four generations of tea makers. From her grandparents and parents to her children, she also grew up in the tea fields. There was a time when tea lost its value, many villagers left tea for other jobs, but she was still passionately attached to it.

In 2011, realizing the need to build a brand, Ms. Lan's Nguyen Viet Tea Cooperative was born. The initial stage of establishment was very difficult and strenuous because a farmer who only knew how to make tea, her hands and feet only knew how to work with mud, the concepts of law and procedures to see who to find to get can make the cooperative establishment documents very vague. Then from the acquaintance she met with officials of the Department of Science and Technology of Thai Nguyen province, officials of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Industry and Trade... everything was slowly unraveled.

Not wanting to go anywhere, everyone who asked her would received the self-deprecating statement: "I don't have capital" and continued, in 2012 she "risked her life" to borrow VND 50 million in capital from the Cooperative Alliance of Thai Nguyen province, plus money from neighbors in the tea area contributed, she gathered 3 tons of tea worth more than 500 million and brought it to the remote Cao Bang area to sell. She was successful in receiving the nod to purchase products for the entire Cao Bang city.

That evening, it was late before she returned to Thai Nguyen. When she got home, it was a new day, but her child still couldn't sleep because they was waiting for their mother to come home. She held her child in her arms, tears kept falling. She has done it, the tea fields have been attached to her hometown for many generations will radiate a fragrant fragrance in many regions of the country. Her belief in a bright future revived as strongly as when she dared to cross more than a hundred kilometers of forest road to Cao Bang to deliver tea.

After that order, other orders from Vinh Phuc and Hanoi also followed. The orders support her cooperative and the dreams and aspirations of the tea makers in Trai Cai. From the initial 7 members with a raw material area of ​​5 hectares, her cooperative now has more than 30 members, the raw material area is up to 50 hectares, of which 10 hectares are implementing procedures for granting planting area codes, 10 hectares are implementing in organic direction. Each member of the cooperative has an income from tea of ​​about VND 90 million/year.

In October, the autumn sun is as golden as honey, busy stretching across the tea fields, bringing in the last tea season of the year. The young tea buds lie neatly in the picker's hand, emitting a familiar, passionate aroma. Then tomorrow, those tea buds will become premium tea, brought to all parts of the country to awaken the senses in every person; awaken the story with so many memories about the famous tea region.

Nguyen Viet Tea Cooperative also linked with households to form an additional 400 hectares raw material area. The cooperative imposes a constraint that farmer households only harvest by hand, and the tea care process must be recorded in a diary, to manage harvesting time, spraying plant protection chemicals... From the people's diary the health of tea plants can be proactively improved and managing nutrition. Currently, the cooperative has 4 tea products with 4 OCOP stars and 1 product with 3 OCOP stars.