Covid-19 pandemic, any opportunity for Shan Viet tea?

The COVID pandemic caused the tea industry to suffer, but tea makers found in it valuable opportunities to spread the story of Shan Viet tea - a precious asset of the tea industry, but it can be said that it has long been lost and neglected. forgotten right on the homeland of the Shan tea tree.

Researching on Vietnam's ancient San tea tree from 2019, Professor-Dr. Nguyen Quoc Vong affirmed: "It is time to verify with people in the country and the world that the quality index of Vietnamese ancient Shan tea - including compounds that bring health benefits such as Polyphenols, Caffeine and Amino Acids ... - accounting for more than 50% of the index of other industrial green and black teas.

Wild and natural factors give ancient Shan tea rich and high medicinal properties

Arguing for his assertion, Professor-Dr. Nguyen Quoc Vong shared: “After many days of searching, researching, and working (learning is the main thing) with households, cooperatives, establishments. and Shan tea processing company in Suoi Giang - Yen Bai, Ban Lien - Lao Cai, Cao Bo, Vi Xuyen, Phin Ho - Ha Giang, Ta Xua - Son La, Tua Chua - Dien Bien... Determination of tannins compounds including tannic acid and 3-isotheaflavin-3-gallate (TF3) of Vietnamese teas is very rich, especially old Shan Tuyet green tea has almost twice the amount of tannins compared to the amount of tannins in Vietnam. foreign green tea; and the tannins of the ancient Shan Tuyet black tea is also one and a half times higher than that of foreign black tea…”.

Shan tea, in bad luck

During the quarantine season because of the pandemic, many industries were forced to stop because of COVID, the transportation of goods must also be attached to the essential and necessary categories for people to be allowed to circulate in the isolated areas. In Official Letter 4481/BCT issued on July 27, 2021 by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, there are specific and detailed regulations on essential items and in that list there is tea. Shows the importance of tea to human life.

From a production perspective, it can be said that the COVID pandemic has caused businesses in the tea industry to suffer, especially for the production units of the ancient Shan Tuyet specialty tea line, in the face of the difficulty of production, transportation, and trade human resources. Trade, export... tea makers find in it valuable opportunities to spread the story of Shan Viet tea - a precious asset of the tea industry, but it can be said that it has long been lost and forgotten right in the countryside. Shan tea scent.

Talking about how to spread the story of ancient Shan tea during the pandemic season, Nguyen Thi Tham – a tea business owner said: “As a producer, the pandemic slowed down business. And to adapt, instead of focusing on quantity production, we focus on researching, improving quality, and standardizing products to make each tea line more stable. If the export, the market demand is average, but for products to domestic consumers, we place stricter requirements, the quality is double, triple that of export. The goal is for consumers to realize the true value of Shan tea.”

“We create sessions to share, introduce and talk about the characteristics of teas, raw material areas, about the local culture where the tea areas we are exploiting, organize online tea sessions, increase the cooperation between tea drinkers and manufacturers, thereby concluding consumer thinking to adjust products to suit the Vietnamese market. Shan tea is not only a drink, but also considered a precious medicinal herb, so we determined that the production was first to serve the Vietnamese people,” shared Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham.

Social distancing, prolonged epidemic, so tea lovers have more time to study, contemplate and feel the ancient Vietnamese Shan tea lines. The quintessence of Shan tea, really brings many surprises. Mr. Doan Minh Giang - resident of Times City, with the habit of drinking Pu Er tea of China, when experiencing Shan tea pressed cake of Sung Do tea area, Yen Bai shared his feelings: "I am familiar with tea. Pu Er from more than 10 years ago through partners in Guangzhou, drinking Pu Er tea as a daily habit. Right during the epidemic, my tea friend introduced me to Shan tea cake from Sung Do region, I really didn't think Vietnam could have this kind of tea, and when I tried it, I was surprised by its strong content, and only after a week. At first, my body had a feeling of positive change, which made me curious and the more I learned more information and documents about Shan Viet tea, the more surprised I was, I have a precious capital next to me that for many years. didn't notice".

Consumers benefit from Shan tea

It can be seen that the ancient Shan tea production enterprises have created a variety of products in both yeast-killing tea (green tea), and fermented tea with white tea, black tea, dried tea, pressed tea... each The raw material area, each manufacturer, has different characteristics in terms of soil, personality, style, creating a variety of types, not just a kind of green tea with a clear star, hand-rolled corrugated iron. once upon a time.

The craft tea making technique of ethnic minorities is also an attractive detail for consumers when choosing products

When Shan tea manufacturers focus on the domestic market, Vietnamese tea lovers have the opportunity to access Shan tea products, know the raw material area, trace the origin, understand the characteristics of the tea regions, information through stories introduced by manufacturers, accessed online.

As a collector and researcher of tea products, Mr. Nguyen Hong Thai - lane 243 Au Co, Hanoi, said: "In the past, when I bought tea, I didn't pay much attention to the manufacturer, the origin, especially the tea manufacturers. imported tea cakes, only know how to buy according to price and habits or by trusting the seller. Now, when you buy tea, you can still trace the origin, know the manufacturer, the year of the product, have access to the raw material area, it is also easy to find out information, thereby locating the characteristics of each tea region. , the type of tea to choose to drink accordingly. Thereby, the belief in Vietnamese tea is also strengthened, but in the past, it was impossible to think that Vietnam could produce any kind of tea such as pressed cake, white tea, red tea ... with such diverse flavors."

Through market survey, tea lines treated with low-impact methods are preferred by the majority of consumers because of their natural, mild, easy-to-drink, and perceptible flavors. Tea must be bitter for a while due to limitations in processing techniques and consumption habits, but now, tea has many rich and diverse flavors, the more time passes, the more interesting that flavor changes. taste".

For those who have a long-standing habit of drinking tea, when choosing old Shan tea, green tea or freshly produced cake pressed tea will be suitable because it still has enough strong acrid, deep aftertaste, and thick traditional green tea style. As for the elderly, women or people who do not often drink tea, should choose fermented tea lines, because of its low acrid, outstanding flavor, and the fermentation process makes tea produce active substances beneficial to the body. body. Types of tea can be mentioned as white tea, red tea, perennial pressed cake, ripe cake pressed tea…”

When it comes to fermented tea, especially pressed cake, Vietnam has a long-standing strength in raw materials, but most of it serves the export market. Due to the COVID pandemic, consumption is slow, making it difficult for businesses to produce and export, but domestic consumers benefit a lot when they have access to valuable tea cakes. The backlog of products, especially pressed cake, is only the initial difficulty for businesses in terms of capital rotation, but creates a great advantage because of the interesting characteristics of Shan tea, the more time passes, As tea continues to ferment, the medicinal properties and intrinsic content of tea change positively, leading to an increase in market value.

The move to hoard tea began to appear more and more among consumers, even with large producers. Another interesting point about Shan tea, perhaps this is a rare industry where products are made, the longer they are in stock, the more profitable they are for both producers and consumers.

* Propaganda on the implementation of Resolution 84/NQ-CP dated May 29, 2020 of the Government