Vietnam has many tea areas across the country, with approximately 124,000 hectares of tea plantations. Besides, Vietnam has more than 500 tea processing facilities with a capacity of over 500,000 tons of dry tea per year. Thus Vietnam currently ranks fifth in the world in tea exports and seventh in global tea production. Vietnamese teas have been exported to more than 74 countries and territories.
Along the length of the country, the image of Vietnamese tea trees is deeply imprinted by the climate and soil of each area, by the lifestyle and farming habits, reflecting the spirit and life of the Vietnamese people. The characteristics of the region will create a different taste in each tea leaf.
Let’s learn more about the Vietnamese tea areas and FGC tea products in the article below.
Contents
1. Characteristics of Vietnamese tea trees
Nowadays, tea is grown and developed in more than 40 countries around the world. The annual output is estimated from 4 to 6 million tons. Each country will have its characteristics of taste and quality depending on the processing method and care process. In particular, Vietnam is famous for teas produced according to traditional methods. Thus their flavors are gentle and pure.
Tea is a highly adaptable and growing plant that grows well in many different environmental conditions. Especially in the area with subtropical climate like in Vietnam, the temperature ranges from 23 – 40°C. The climate feature brings heavy rainfall and high humidity to help tea plants grow.
Currently, there are over 170 varieties of tea that ensure quality and high yield, such as Shan, PH1, LDP1, LDP2, PT 14, etc all over Vietnamese territory. Among them, Vietnamese Shan tea is a precious tea variety that has been grown for a long time in some northern regions such as Ha Giang, Yen Bai, Son La, Dien Bien, etc.
In the next section, we will learn more about the 4 Vietnamese tea areas with best quality products.
2. Highlights of 4 Vietnamese tea areas
We will learn the specific characteristics of geographical location, climate, and tea varieties of the 4 largest tea growing regions in Vietnam.
2.1. Phu Tho province
Phu Tho is a midland region with many large hills suitable for tea growing. It is one of the localities with the largest tea area and production in the country. In the past, people mainly planted old tea varieties to produce Vietnamese black tea for export.
In recent years, Phu Tho province has implemented many solutions to develop tea plants sustainably. Up to now, Phu Tho has risen to fourth in area and third in tea output of the country.
In 2021, the province had more than 16,000 hectares of tea. The tea yield is 118 quintals/ha; output reaches more than 185 thousand tons/year; the proportion of new tea varieties is 75.3%. Phu Tho has not only the area of raw materials for processing black tea exported, but also raw material areas for processing green tea are initially formed in districts: Tan Son, Thanh Son, Doan Hung, Thanh Ba, Phu Ninh, Ha Hoa; growing LDP1, Kim Tuyen, Phuc Van Tien…).
Currently, there are more than 3,300 hectares of tea produced according to food safety and hygiene processes; 100% of refreshing bud tea processing establishments have material areas or sign contracts to build raw material areas sufficient for green tea processing.
2.2. Thai Nguyen province
With a total of 20,000 hectares planted and exploited tea region, Thai Nguyen is the largest tea source in Vietnam from output to quality. The mountainous terrain is suitable for growing tea trees. The most famous tea-growing areas are Tan Cuong, La Bang, Vo Nhai commune with high-class tea. Thai Nguyen traditional green tea is famous for its aromatic flavor, bitter taste, and sweet aftertaste.
Most of tea in Thai Nguyen region is produced in the direction of applying safe, organic tea production processes, good agricultural production practices (GAP), meeting national and international safety standards (such as: VietGAP, GlobalGAP, UTZ Certified, organic, etc.).
Related post: Top 9 popular Vietnamese tea types
2.3. Northwestern Vietnam (Tay Bac)
In the Northwest of Vietnam, where the majestic Hoang Lien Son mountain is located, hundreds of years old tea trees grow wild and are harvested manually by ethnic minorities. Tea growing regions are mostly in Son La (1900 ha) and Lai Chau (590 ha). Tea varieties are mainly Shan tea varieties (over 80% of the area), the rests are hybrid tea varieties (about 10%) and other tea varieties.
The Northwest of Vietnam has monsoon climate conditions, wet winters, high day-night temperature fluctuations, possibly with frost. Rainfall here is usually less than other tea areas. The growth and yield of tea is low from November to March, because that time is often subject to prolonged drought and low temperature.
In addition, in the Northwest, there is red-brown soil, yellow-red soil, low slope and thick soil layer suitable for tea cultivation. The Northwestern tea region is associated with Shan Tuyet tea grown in some famous places like Tua Chua (Dien Bien), Ta Xua (Son La) or Suoi Giang (Yen Bai).
Inheriting the cool alpine climate during the year, with many cloudy days, the tea here has big buds, covered with a white layer of fluffy, like snow. Shan Tuyet tea is a plant that grows naturally in the high mountains, so the buds and leaves are large, dark green, covered with a thin layer of snow-white fluff. That’s why the tea is called Shan Tuyet. Therefore, Shan Tuyet tea always stays at the top of Vietnamese teas.
2.4. Lam Dong Province
Bao Loc is known as the “tea capital” of Vietnam. The typical climate in Lam Dong is mild, cool all-around year-round, and there are many days with fog, heavy rain intensity. Located 120km southwest of Da Lat City, Bao Loc tea today is a famous brand in the market, especially for Vietnamese green tea, Oolong tea, artichoke tea, and Jasmine tea.
By 2020, Lam Dong has about 12,300 hectares of tea trees and annually supplies about 150,000 tons to domestic and foreign markets. Lam Dong is also the region with the first enterprise applying biotechnology to make tea products that meet food safety standards.
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3. Introduction of FGC’s growing regions
Future Generation Company has determined one of the vital factors in maintaining and expanding the Vietnamese tea consumption market is to ensure quality, food safety, and hygiene. It is necessary to build a stable raw material area, organize production and management according to the value chain, and plan to stabilize safe tea areas. In recent years, FGC has built production-consumption-processing linkage models, invested in intensive farming to increase productivity, and applied automation technology in tea production.
Tea grades
Besides more than 10 co-owned tea garden in Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai, Lam Dong, the company also owns an estate of 30 ha tea trees at Phu Ho commune, Phu Tho province. Thanks to the diverse raw material areas, we can supply bulk black tea and bulk green tea at large volume (> 20000 tons yearly) for almost the main markets like the USA, Russia, Middle East, Africa; as well as special tea (herbal tea, oolong tea, matcha tea) for other markets like Taiwan or Europe.
Tea varieties
At our Phu Ho farms, the percentage of new varieties of tea with high yield and quality such as LDP1, PH8, Kim Tuyen, Phuc Van Tien,… accounts for over 95%. All fresh Vietnamese tea leaves are put into the processing line within a day to maintain good quality.
Cultivation techniques
We guide farmers to strictly follow new planting technical standards (VietGAP) such as the design of tea plantations against erosion, planting at reasonable density, planting shade trees, applying specialized fertilizers, integrated pest management, using mechanization, etc. Because of not using chemicals, pesticides, our tea is completely safe for consumption.
Processing line for a finished product
Not only supplying Vietnamese bulk tea, but our company also has various processing lines to re-fine and pack under the client’s brand (tea bag, instant tea powder, RTD tea…). All the machines are imported from Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden. Therefore they can help to increase the quality of packaging and production capacity, and adapt to large orders.
Above are the highlights of the Vietnamese tea areas. If you are interested in Vietnamese tea in general and FGC tea products, do not hesitate to contact us.
Should you have any inquiry or order, please contact our sales managers via email info@vietnam-tea.com, contact form on the website or phone number +84-24-73000130 or directly through me at vananh@vietnam-tea.com.
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