A festival featuring Tan Cuong tea, a speciality of northern Thai Nguyen province, took place in Thai Nguyen city on February 20.

The event, themed “Flavours of Spring Tea – Tan Cuong Tea Speciality Area,” was one of the activities leading up to the second International Tea Festival to be held in the province this year.

The annual festival aims to honour the tea tree and traditional tea growing industry in Tan Cuong, which produces one of the most popular tea brands in the country. It is also a meeting place for growers, producers and drinkers of Tan Cuong tea in particular and Thai Nguyen tea in general.

A wide range of activities were held during the festival, including tea offering ritual, art performances by local people and folk games.

The highlight of the event was a competition of tea processing in the traditional way with 16 teams from Tan Cuong commune.

2013 marks the 6 th year the Tan Cuong tea has been granted the geographical indication (GI) by the Department of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Science and Technology. It is the fifth national products protected with the GI nationwide.

The Tan Cuong tea area covers an area of 4,861 ha in three communes of Phuc Xuan, Phuc Triu and Tan Cuong.-VNA