Enjoying lotus scented tea on summer days

‘Bach diep’ lotuses (literally hundred-petal lotuses) are a rare species found mostly in Hanoi. They are renowned for not only their beautiful look with many petal layers but also its use of flavouring tea. Enjoying lotus scented tea in a tranquil summer morning is an elegant habit of many Hanoians. Lotus play an important role and special position in both Vietnamese spirit and culture. By contemplating lotus blossoming, we can see and recognise images of Vietnamese people. The lotus stands for beauty in Vietnam. It reaches through the mud and grime to show off its colour and shape to the world. (Photo: VietnamPlus

‘Bach diep’ lotuses (literally hundred-petal lotuses) have been planted in several ponds within the capital as outdoor studios for camera-friendly people and to produce lotus tea. Lotus plants bring high economic benefits because all parts of the plant, such as the flowers, leaves, seeds and roots are utilised. For example, the flowers are used for decoration, stamens for scenting tea, roots for preparing salads, soups and steaming with meat, seeds for making sugar coated products and sweeten porridge, seed’s cores being used as a tranquiliser and antipyretic and even leaves being used to wrap Com (green rice flakes). In Oriental medicine, lotus is a rare remedy and is beneficial for healthcare. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

In Vietnam, Lotus is the national flower. It is known as the flower of the dawn and is the symbol of purity, commitment and optimism for the future. At night the flower closes and sinks underwater and rises and opens again at dawn. Vietnamese people have considered lotus as a symbol of beauty overcoming darkness. Lotus is known as an exquisite flower, symbolises the purity, serenity, commitment and optimism of the future as it is the flower which grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. These blossoms have long been linked to Buddhism, nobility, and pure thoughts. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Sunrise is the best moment to capture the fullest beauty of ‘hundred-petal’ lotuses as the light that time is perfect for instagrammable photos. During sunrise, ‘hundred-petal’ flowers look stunning in dimmed light and release a delicate scent. Every traditional village in Vietnam boasts a bamboo hedge, a banyan tree, and a lotus pond. In Vietnam, pink lotus blooms are symbolise romantic love. Such is the Vietnamese love for lotus that it was voted as the country’s national flower — for which one of the criteria was that it “must be ubiquitous around Vietnam”, and it would be hard to travel through Vietnam during lotus season without coming across a pond or lake filled with them. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Tea is put into lotus flowers when they has just opened. During the time the tea is packed in the flowers, the tea absorbs its scent. Tasting lotus tea freshly taken from buds by stunning ‘hundred-petal’ flowers is surely an unforgettable memory for anyone. One of the best types of lotus tea is shan tea stuffed in ‘hundred-petal’ lotus buds. Over the years, the tea makers of Hanoi have mastered the art of flavouring green tea with lotus stamen fragrance. This meticulous and time-consuming process takes 1,500 lotus flowers to make 1kg of lotus tea. A cup of high-grade green tea combined with lotus’s luscious fragrance gives us a crisp, sweet, vanilla hinted flavour with scent of lotus flower lingering in the mouth. (Photo: Vietnamplus)

For tea sommeliers, tea sets also play an important role in adding flavor to the tea. A raw pottery teapot is the best to help keep the flavor of the lotus scented tea. Lotus tea is perfect for tea lovers to start a positive new day. Lotus tea is recognised to be one of the most ancient teas of Vietnam which are produced by following the old and traditional process. Here, natural flower blossoms are useful for conferring scent in the tea. With the use of high green tea base, Vietnamese lotus tea confers a sweet and lovely aroma along with vanilla hint in the same. Since the feudal regime, the locals learned how to scent tea with lotus which was a valuable offering to kings and mandarins. Today, lotus tea is a specialty of Hanoi for guests. (Photo: Vietnamplus)

Lotus tea has a delicate scent and slightly sweet flavour, offering drinkers a sense of relaxation. Lotus tea was created originally for King Tu Duc during the Nguyen Dynasty. During the night, as the nectar of the flower was at the fullest, the servants used to go for rowing in the lake in the place where the lotus used to grow. They will be peeling back every fragile petals of the blossom in a careful manner and fill the same with the green tea. The process of making lotus tea is very complicated. Previously, people used to row a small boat out across lotus ponds to leave a pinch of dried tea inside each lotus flower that had just begun to open before dawn during sunny days. (Photo: Vietnamplus)

Apart from the fact that the kings used to enjoy drinking lotus tea, people at the beginning of the Nguyen Dynasty used to consider drinking tea as an art. Sooner, it became a custom where people used to take the boat onto the pond as well as lakes on the moonlit nights as the lotus flowers were about the bloom. During the morning, they would find that the tea was filled with the sweet scent of lotus. In addition to this, they used to collect the dew of the nighttime. They will pick the lotus flowers to retrieve their tea the next morning after the tea absorbs the lotus’s scent. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Early lotus tea is mixture of ancient Shan Tuyet tea and “Bach diep” lotuses. Lotus tea has many benefits, including removing stress, regulation of blood pressure, useful in the prevention of cardiovascular issues, controlling blood sugar level, among others. The Vietnamese lotus tea plays an indispensable role in the detoxification of blood. It plays a vital role in the reduction of chances of different diseases. For reaping different benefits, you require a cup of lotus tea on a daily basis. In addition to the detoxification of blood, leaves of Vietnamese lotus plant comprises of properties which are useful in healing different diseases like fatty liver diseases. (Photo: Vietnamplus)

Mr. Nguyen Van Binh in Co Hoang village, Hoang Long commune, Phu Xuyen district of Hanoi, said that to make early lotus tea, he often has to get up early to pick the purest and ripe lotus flowers. The process of making lotus tea is very complicated. Previously, people used to row a small boat out across lotus ponds to leave a pinch of dried tea inside each lotus flower that had just begun to open before dawn during sunny days. This meticulous and time-consuming process takes 1500 lotus flowers to make 1kg of lotus tea. A batch of lotus tea is completed after 20 days. A cup of high-grade lotus tea gives us a sweet and vanilla hinted flavour with scent of Lotus flower lingering in the mouth. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

In the summer, lotus flowers show off their beauty under the sunlight, creating an impressive scenery. Lotus blossoms have the characteristic of blooming in the early morning and fading away in the evening. Lotus has high economic value because all parts of the plant, from flower and seeds to its leaves and roots, can be utilized in both cuisine and medicine. Lotus flowers are used for decoration, flower stamens for scenting tea, lotus roots for making salads, soups and stewing with meat, seeds for making sugar coated products and sweeten porridge, the seeds’ cores can be used as a tranquilizer and antipyretic, and the leaves being used to wrap food or made into tea. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Around 6am to 7am is the best time to watch lotus blossom as they just start to bloom and there is still morning dew on the petals. In Vietnam, lotus is the symbol of purity, commitment and optimism for the future as the plant grows in muddy water but its flowers rise above the water surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. Vietnamese people have considered lotus a symbol of beauty overcoming darkness. A lotus pond is among the regular features of every traditional village in Vietnam, besides a bamboo hedge and a banyan tree. The lotus has been a symbol of purity since before the time of the Buddha, and it blooms profusely in Buddhist art and literature. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

The quality of lotus tea is demonstrated in how it tastes: it should taste bitter at first but then it leaves a sweet flavor in the palate after being swallowed. For many people, tea is not just a drink. Tea drinking has become an elegant hobby enjoyed by many Vietnamese people and Hanoians in particular. Among different kinds of scented tea, lotus tea is loved for its refined fragrance. Ancient Hanoians found the way to bring the essence of lotus flower into the art of tea, by making fresh, premium green tea naturally embalmed with the fragrance of lotus blossom. Tea drinking has been preserved by many generations of Hanoi people. In recent years, this tradition has seen a strong revitalization among young people. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Lotus can be seen every where across the country and thus lotus scented tea can be found in many places nationwide, but Hanoi’s lotus tea is among the best. Hanoians are picky about their ways to enjoy dishes and drinks, so they have invented some of the top scented teas. Life goes by, customs fade with the years but there are old folds that return and remain forever, and among them is the habit of enjoying scented tea combined with the method of “weaving" the scent into the tea buds. Vietnamese people have made many kinds of flower-scented teas from various flowers, such as sweet osmanthus, Aglaia duperreana, orchid, pomelo, Chloranthaceae, and jasmine. Although each has its own beauty, lotus scented tea is still treasured. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

In his collection titled “Vu Trung Tuy But” (Collection Written on Rainy Days), famous scholar Pham Dinh Ho (1768-1839) devoted a part to describing how to drink tea, showing that the way to enjoy tea at that time was very sophisticated. Tea is also a favourite theme for many talented writers of Hanoi such as Vu Bang and Nguyen Tuan, with some of their best writing is about tea. In “Thuong Nho Muoi Hai” (Missing Twelve Months), about the typical features of Hanoi during the full 12 months of the year, Vu Bang also mentioned a variety of tea scented with a flower that is not well known today – paperwhite narcissus tea. (Photo: VietnamPlus)