When farmers become tea culture ambassadors

Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Anh, member of Tra Que Em Cooperative, Tan Cuong commune (brown shirt) promotes the cooperative's products in Lang Son province.

Every cup of tea is a story

The simple story about Thai Nguyen land and people begins like a young shoot from a tea seed that reaches out to catch the rain and sunshine. Quietly dedicating to life with so much hard work and diligence, the newly drunk tea always tastes bitter, astringent, and then has a sweet aftertaste.

With a rustic and sincere voice, the people of the tea land sow in the hearts of tourists a joy and pride when experiencing the land of the gateway to the center of the Viet Bac region to the capital Hanoi .

Thai Nguyen farmers have never thought of themselves as tea culture ambassadors, but in their daily lives, the highest expression is when they interact with tourists. The brown robes and conversations around a hot pot of tea are when they embody the role of cultural ambassadors. All the quintessence of the tea region and the value of tea culture are wrapped up, diluted, and then condensed in a cup of fragrant, sweet tea.

Entering the “First Tea” of Thai Nguyen, Tan Cuong commune, visiting Tien Yen Tea and Community Tourism Cooperative, Mr. Bui Trong Dai, Director of the Cooperative, is quite young, but has built a solid foundation to serve tourists to experience and relax. As the inheritor of a large fortune left by his grandparents and parents, he shared: The fortune I inherited is tea hills and experience in making high-quality tea products, meeting market demand.

In the age of information technology, most production and service establishments have ways to promote their product brands on the internet. Tea people are no exception, all information about the production process, processing and tea products are informed and promoted on social networking platforms. However, there is a difference that most concentrated tea production and processing establishments such as enterprises and cooperatives have built a free tea-enjoying space for tourists.

Each space has its own unique style, but they all have in common the East Asian architectural style. The interior is decorated in a pure Vietnamese style with conical hats, traditional ethnic costumes, tools for tea production and processing, and indispensable tables and chairs made of bamboo.

In the tea-drinking space, each diner has their own feelings, but they all share the same story about tea, tea and tea people, in which the tea maker is the central character. Because they are the bridge connecting the tea plantation to the tea drinker.

Without needing flowery words, they tell visitors about their life experiences, their tea life, by carefully collecting and collecting so that the sweat drops fall to the ground for the tea plants to sprout green. The story guides visitors to associate the teacup with the ups and downs of the tea region. With many changes from manual production, until today, the stages from harvesting, processing, and packaging are all carried out on automatic lines.

Sow faith in people's hearts

Many foreign tourists enjoy the experience in Thai Nguyen tea region.

In today's era, food safety is highly valued and placed on top priority by consumers. Therefore, the fact that farmers in Thai Nguyen tea regions inform and promote on social media platforms about the entire tea production and processing process has created peace of mind for consumers when using the product.

In this way, artisans and cultural ambassadors of Thai Nguyen tea firmly affirm the quality of their products to consumers. Not only directly, but also from afar, even from the other side of the world, consumers can know the quality of the products of the “First Famous Tea”. For that reason, many international visitors to Thai Nguyen for the first time feel secure when using the products.

Quality creates a product brand. That is essential to create a strong bond between tea growers and consumers. However, in order for Thai Nguyen tea to spread its wings and fly far to other parts of the world, in recent years, Thai Nguyen province has actively organized tea promotion activities.

The highlight is the tea festival held in 2011, 2013, 2015 and trade fairs. Activities promote tea growing, tea processing and introduce to the people and tourists about tea culture and the art of tea drinking. There, tea artisans are the core, they make tea, invite tourists to enjoy tea. Guests and hosts sit together, raise cups of fragrant tea, creating closeness, thereby introducing and promoting tea to tourists through funny stories revolving around the teapot.

Thai Nguyen tea is not important as a material or intangible culture, but a way of life, a style of behavior deeply imbued with affection between people. Even strangers sitting together around a cup of tea quickly share their feelings with a friendly heart.

Ngo Van Cong, Director of Tra Que Em Cooperative, Tan Cuong Commune, shared: I, like many tea farmers, when participating in serving at major events in and outside the province, do not focus on revenue, but the goal is to promote Thai Nguyen tea. Many times participating in marketing, I realized that it is a way to sow trust in the quality of tea products in the hearts of consumers, so that the good impression of tea and Thai Nguyen tea spreads, flies far, and enters the subconscious of consumers.

When tea farmers become ambassadors of tea culture, it is a beautiful and humane image. Over a pot of fragrant tea, each story of tea farmers is like sweet drops of water seeping into the hearts of people from many cultures around the world.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/tin-moi/202508/khi-nong-dan-tro-thanh-dai-su-van-hoa-tra-e6a2ddf/