Camellia Sinensis plant is the only ingredient of green tea, black tea, oolong tea, Pu Erh tea, white tea, etc. Two questions are: How can people create those tea types from only one ingredient?  How is it possible to make such a wide variety of teas that we can see nowadays? Okay. We will explain the two questions by the example of Vietnamese tea ingredients.

In Vietnam, the ingredients to produce tea are more than one type. In fact, there are a variety of ingredients to mix with Camellia Sinensis leaves to create a diverse world of tea. Let’s delve deeper into the world of Vietnamese tea ingredients in this article.

1. Types of ingredients to make Vietnamese tea

There are thousands of tea types in Vietnam, and I will separate them into three categories with many different types of ingredients:

Tea types are made of Camellia Sinensis leaves only

Camellia Sinensis leaf is the primary ingredient of most tea beverages in Vietnam. However, it is far from being simple. Why? Because Vietnamese can create many types of tea made from it, for example, black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea, Pu Erh tea, matcha tea, and more.

The differences among them are in the method of processing and cultivation. The tuning of these factors can create a tea product that is worth a few dollars per 1 kilogram or worth a million dollars per 1 kilogram. Therefore, consulting a professional is necessary if you plan to create a drink using tea to get the best out of your investment.

Vietnamese tea ingredient
Vietnamese tea products are made of selected fresh tea buds from the world famous tea estates

Tea types are made of Camellia Sinensis leaves and flowers/ fruits

There are two popular methods to make Vietnamese scented tea products. Those are using ingredients of flowers or fruits to blend with tea leaves or adding flavor to tea leaves.

Scenting tea using flowers or fruits to mix with tea leaves isn’t as simple as it sounds because it works with flowers only. Furthermore, the way we apply the method can be totally different depending on each flower. The cost of output products is often high because it requires many employees, and we cannot replace humans with machinery.

Vietnamese Lotus tea is a particular example of the method. Artisans take a long time to make one kilogram of lotus tea. Therefore, its price is extremely high. Vietnamese people consider the lotus tea as a premium gift to treat esteemed guests.

For more information about the tradition of making Vietnamese lotus tea, you can read here.

Vietnamese lotus tea ingredients
FGC Lotus scented tea product is made by using the traditional method

For the other, it is much faster and cheaper. Because we add flavor and extract from flowers or fruits to tea leaves, then control their amount of ingredients. The final quality of products will be much more consistent compared to the traditional way.

Not only that, by applying modern technology, the added flavors can last much longer when infused in water as well. The only drawback this method has is that it is very dependent on the flavoring and extract provider. That is why it is needed to choose a well-established producer to ensure the quality and safety of the final products.

Vietnamese lotus tea bag
Vietnamese Lotus flavored tea is cheaper than Vietnamese traditional lotus tea

Tea types are made of Camellia Sinensis leaves and herb

Also called tisane, Vietnamese herbal tea is a category that tea leaves are not even the main ingredient. The ingredients are flowers, fruit, roots, or many different types of plants. Most of them are medicinal. They can be artichoke, ginger, dried fruits, etc. The method of making them is often pretty simple. All the ingredients need to be cut into the same size and mixed well together. Only some of the more delicate medicinal ingredients will need more care during the process.

Vietnam Artichoke tea ingredients
Vietnamese Artichoke Tea is made by using artichoke flowers

2. 3 popular ways to use Vietnamese tea as an ingredient

We can use the 3 Vietnamese Tea categories above as ingredients in the three following ways:

To create a tea blend:

Vietnamese teas are well-known for their strong taste and comparatively cheaper price. As a result, Vietnamese teas are often considered by tea wholesalers as an ingredient to mix with their tea blends. This helps create a stronger flavor for the tea blend as well as drive down the cost for the tea.

There are also some other factors that need to be considered such as aroma, liquor color, flavor profile. To have a more comprehensive solution, please contact us at info@vietnam-tea.com or through our sales.

testing different tea blend formula
FGC’s R&D team testing different tea blend formula

To use as a base for a drink:

If coffee has a strong tasting that often overpowers other ingredients, tea is much softer in flavor and compliments other ingredients well.

Therefore, Vietnamese people often use tea as the base for many types of drinks. To help you understand easily, I will divide it into three groups: dairy-based drink, fruit-based drink, and fermented drink (also known as kombucha).

  • For dairy-based drinks, Vietnamese black tea is an exceptionally fitting ingredient. With a strong taste, heavy red color liquor, the tea can still hold its flavor when mixing with milk.
  • For fruit-based drinks, we would recommend using green tea or oolong tea. These two’s flavor profile often compliments citrus fruits such as lemon, lime, or grapefruit.
  • For kombucha or fermented drink, black tea or Pu Erh tea is highly recommended since they can encourage the fermentation process in kombucha.
Black tea is often used as base for milk tea
Black tea is often used as base for milk tea – a hot trend all over the world

To make food

One of the most famous examples of this usage is matcha. It is used worldwide as decoration or flavoring for desserts. Its huge market is said to reach a value of over 5 billion USD in 2025. As people are starting to gain a deeper understanding of matcha, demand for green tea powder that is a fake matcha substitute will decline, and authentic matcha sales will continue to grow.

The decorative use of the dish is not the only use of tea. Now, people use tea as an ingredient to marinate food or used to scent food in restaurants in the developing F&B markets.

Pan cake using matcha powder
Pan cake using matcha powder for flavoring and decoration

Related post: 5 Milestones of Vietnamese tea history

3. Where to buy the best Vietnamese tea ingredients

So, where should you go, and when do you need Vietnamese tea as an ingredient? Here is the part where we will take about 3 minutes of your time to tell you about us.

We are FGC, one of the biggest tea exporters from Vietnam. We’ve been around in the tea industry for over 20 years with many successful tea brands to show.

With our extensive knowledge in the industry, along with huge varieties of tea sources and supporting ingredients, and top-of-the-line processing facilities, we promise to fulfill our customers’ needs for tea. For more information on us, please check us out at vietnam-tea.com.

FGC’s Tea ordering process
Our tea order process to help our customers find the best products for their tea needs

You can start contacting us to find the best Vietnamese tea ingredient today at info@vietnam-tea.com so we can work together to refine your tea products together and launch your perfect tea products to the market!

Author: Mr.Bach – Marketing Manager (bach.dv@vietnam-tea.com)

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