Drinking tea has been a necessary part of Vietnamese culture for thousands of years. There are many kinds of Vietnamese tea and different ways of making Vietnamese tea. In this article, we will guide you on how to make some typical favorite Vietnamese teas to enjoy easily.
Contents
1. Notes on making Vietnamese tea
Each country has its significant ways of making tea that reflects the culture of that nation. Vietnamese people drink tea as part of their daily routine. It also becomes a part of many important events such as meetings, parties, weddings, celebrations, receptions.
Vietnamese tea making is not as fussy as the Japanese or British. However, the way Vietnamese people make tea still shows their respect and hospitality. The specialty expresses through the way they prepare for making tea, for example, choosing water, teapot, types of tea, etc.
There are some notes for users on making tea to have a delicious teapot.
1.1. How to choose water
Firstly, we need to know how to choose water for making tea. Vietnamese people consider that water for making tea plays a crucial role in the quality of a teacup. Tea lovers love using rainwaters taken from areca trees or dew drops on lotus leaves to make excellent teapots.
We often boil purified water to keep the fresh taste and pure aroma of the tea. In cities, people often use boiled tap water to replace it because it is hard to have the purified water in cities. Using tap water is a final choice and not a recommendation because the taste and flavor of the tea will not be as good as the above water.
1.2. How to choose tea
Secondly, it is about how to choose tea. Vietnamese people rely on a deep sense of aroma, color, and taste to rate a delicious pot of tea or not. According to the preferences and feelings of each person, there are different ways of enjoying Vietnamese tea.
Personally, the perfect tea will include clean and pure tea leaves harvested and processed by hand. We prefer to choose tea leaves from famous tea areas or highlands of Vietnam such as Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang, Shan Tuyet, Suoi Giang, etc.
And obviously, you should not use poor quality tea such as moldy tea or out-of-date tea to brew. There are signs to know tea leaves are out of date:
For example, green tea should have a green appearance and transparent infusion. If the tea leaves turn dark brown and tea turns darker green or red, you should not be drunk anymore.
About black tea, it has a golden amber infusion. If it is expired, it will show a dull gray color. The taste of tea also tells a lot about the quality of the tea. If the tea expires, its taste will be unpleasant and bitter.
1.3. How to choose a tea set
Finally, what Vietnamese care about is how to choose a tea set to make tea. For those drinking tea for a long time, they prefer to use a Bat Trang ceramic pot. It is one famous kind of Vietnamese ceramic, as it both helps improve the quality of tea and has artistic value. The Bat Trang ceramic pots have unique characteristics that you cannot see anywhere else. They are made from special clay so that the teapots can keep heat longer, retain more flavor.
You can also use a porcelain pot or glass kettle to make tea. However, you do not use an iron pot to brew Vietnamese tea because the material will make the tea taste degraded.
We point out some factors that contribute to having a good pot of Vietnamese tea. However, with different types of Vietnamese tea, there are various ways to make tea. Here, we learn how to make some popular teas in Vietnam.
2. How to make Vietnamese tea
As we mentioned above, although making Vietnamese tea is not complicated, it still has its rules to have a delicious teapot. Therefore, to satisfy those who enjoy it and make the conversation more intimate, you should pay attention to every step. Here are the most popular 5 Vietnamese tea recipes for you.
2.1. Vietnamese green tea recipe
The famous pure Vietnamese green tea products are always attractive and fascinating to tea connoisseurs. The tea has a beautiful color of light green and iridescent yellow. A fragrance like young nuggets spreading out can bring a relaxation feeling. Its pure astringent taste and deep sweetness captivate people’s hearts.
Though green tea has long been familiar in Vietnam, everyone has a different style when making it. Here, I would like to share my experience of making delicious green tea following a traditional formula.
How to make Vietnamese green tea
Step 1: Rinse teapot and cup
Fill the teapot with boiled water, and fill up the cups till water overflows. It helps sterilize the teapot and heat the teacups, making tea more perfect.
Step 2: Rinse tea
- Put about 8 grams of green tea (for four people) in the pot.
- Pour about 850C boiled water into the tea (raise the thermos and add water quickly, make sure the water is on the side of the tea)
- Pour the water out immediately. This step is a wash to wake up the tea, helps remove impurities while frying the tea, and keeps the pot hot.
Step 3: Make tea
- After rinsing the tea, you quickly pour in a sufficient amount of boiling water to ensure that after dividing it into 4 cups of tea.
- Cover the pot and continue to pour water over the lid so that the tea infusion in the teapot keeps a stable temperature.
Step 4: Pour tea
- After steeping, wait for the tea about 2-3 minutes to fully ripen, then pour the tea into cups. Before pouring, you should arrange the teacups close together into a closed circle.
- When pouring, first divide each cup in half, then repeat 2-3 rounds until the cups are even. You should only pour 3/4 cup, not too full.
Step 5: Offer tea
- After dividing into the cups evenly, you offer tea to your superiors or friends by family order (for family) or by age order from old to young (for people outside the family).
- You should use two hands, or use 3 fingers to lift the tea cup when offering tea to others. After offering tea, you should add boiling water to the pot to continue pouring tea the next time.
Gently bring the tea cup close to your nose and move back and forth for some time to smell the aroma of the tea. Enjoy tea and give each other gratitude. It is the most refreshing, cozy and sweet moment that each of us wishes to have.
2.2. Vietnamese lotus tea recipe
Vietnamese lotus tea is a pure elegant Vietnamese tea which makes many tea drinkers fall in love with the scent. The caffeine, thiamine, vitamin C and EGCG, isoquinoline alkaloids in lotus tea helps stay awake, anti-aging, protect the heart and detoxify the body.
Vietnamese lotus tea both has a little astringency, fresh mellow taste, sweet after taste of green tea, and the gentle flowery, pure aroma of the lotus flower. If used properly, it will bring great benefits to health.
How to make Vietnamese lotus tea: Making Vietnamese lotus tea is similar to green tea. However, to fully enjoy the taste of fresh lotus tea, you need to know how to make tea properly.
You should not rinse Vietnamese lotus tea because it will reduce the lotus flavor. To lower caffeine content in Vietnamese lotus tea, you should change tea steeping time and content of tea leaves per teapot. You should drink tea infusion when it is still hot.
2.3. Vietnamese oolong tea recipe
Vietnamese oolong tea is a premium tea because of its delicious taste. It is easy to drink with a mellow and sweeter taste compared to other kinds of tea. The tea is produced through a complicated process and oxidized to ferment from 80 – 85%, so the tea is fragrant and not as acrid as green tea.
The appearance of oolong tea is tea leaves dried and rounded into dark green pellets. When you steep the tea, its infusion is golden-green color and a soothing taste brings many health benefits to tea users.
Oolong tea making is a little different from green tea. Besides steps such as green tea making, we have some instructions for how to make Vietnamese oolong tea:
- Step 1: Boiled water temperature for making oolong tea is about 90-950C
- Step 2: Steeping time is short, about 1-2 minutes.
- Step 3: About the amount of tea, it is recommended that you use more tea than when making green tea. Actually, for the taste of Vietnamese tea, if you need about 5g of green tea to mix with a pot of 200ml of water, you need from 10 to 12g of Oolong tea.
Related posts:
- 5 Vietnamese herbal tea recipes you can do by yourself easily
- Vietnamese artichoke tea recipe – The best idea to enjoy naturally sweetened tea
2.4. Vietnamese Iced Tea – Trà đá
What would be more refreshing on a hot summer day than a cup of iced tea? That’s why iced tea is a popular and hot-trend beverage in Vietnam. You can make iced tea by yourself at home or linger at roadside iced tea shops to drink iced tea with friends and chat.
Vietnamese iced tea is made from green tea, oolong tea, or black tea, and then add ice cubes. In Vietnam, it’s often green tea. In restaurants, after breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you will be served with one cup of iced tea if you like.
How to make Vietnamese Iced Tea – Trà đá: Most iced tea shops usually use broken tea and fannings tea to make iced tea. The tea leaves themselves are small and very easy to absorb water, so steeping time shouldn’t be too long. The best duration is 1 – 3 minutes to drain the tea, then add the second water and do the same.
Most people often use a large kettle to make iced tea. After draining all tea extraction, they add 2 – 3 ice cubes or boiled water to slow down the reaction of tea infusion with the air, keeping its color always green.
You can mix iced tea with fresh fruit to have a cup of fruit iced tea such as strawberry tea, lychee tea, peach tea, etc.
In particular, fresh tea leaves are available in Vietnam, so we can make iced tea from them. Its flavor and taste is fresh, different from dried tea leaves.
Clisk here for more Vietnamese iced tea recipes.
2.5. Vietnamese Lime Iced Tea recipe
Vietnamese Lime Iced tea is a refreshing drink that combines the balance between the mild acrid taste of tea and the sour taste of lime to create a unique cool drink in the summer. Lime tea gives drinkers mental alertness, relaxation, and comfort.
Recently, lime iced tea has become a favorite drink of youth in Vietnam. Lime tea shops have become a gathering place for young people to meet and chat.
Although you can find many lime-iced tea recipes on the Internet, it is not easy to get a delicious cup of lemon tea with a taste balance. We here would like to share some knowledge on how to make Vietnamese lime iced tea.
You can make Lime iced tea from Cozy products.
Related post: FGC’s Vietnamese lemon tea – the brand of your choice
We make lime iced tea from base tea (green tea, black tea, oolong tea), added sugar water or sugar syrup, and fresh lime juice.
For the tea, sugar is essential to reduce the acidity of the lemon and provide a delicious taste. But you should use sugar water or sugar syrup instead of regular sugar. As sugar water has deep sweetness, it easily blends with other ingredients, avoiding the situation that the sugar has not completely dissolved, reducing the perfection of the drink.
The ratio of sugar and water is 2:1. If you use a bowl to measure, add two bowls of sugar and one bowl of water. You should put the sugar and water in a large pot, turn on the heat and stir the mixture until it is completely dissolved and homogeneous.
Note: To avoid recrystallization of the sugar water, after the above mixture boils, you add the lime juice at the rate: 1 liter of sugar water, add 1/2 fresh lime, stir for 5 minutes, then turn off the stove.
The requirement of the finished product is a harmonious balance between the harshness of tea, sweet and sour taste of sugar and lemon. There is no sour taste of lemon or strong bitterness of the tea. Tea infusion needs to be clear, bright in color, not cloudy, and not separated.
Related Post: Vietnamese tea culture: 5 interesting facts you may not know
Here are answer for How to make Vietnamese tea. With a variety of teas and ingredients, we can make many kinds of different teas. Each of them shows a unique style of tea lover.
If you are interested in Vietnamese teas, please feel free to contact us at info@vietnam-tea.com or contact me directly!
Author: Ms. Tuyet Mai – Sales Executive (mai.dtt@vietnam-tea.com)
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