A specialty tea tasting in Bac Ha, Lao Cai, northern Vietnam. Photo credit: Seth Griffin
For the past two decades, Vietnam has ranked in the top ten for global tea production, exporting tens of thousands of tons annually. Despite having a reputation for competitive prices over top-quality teas, the rising domestic demand for specialty teas is leading to a wave of tea shops opening in major cities and inspiring a new generation of tea enthusiasts to seek out the country’s finest leaves.
“Twenty years ago, there were very few tea houses or tea shops serving high-quality tea in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi,” recalls Dinh Ngoc Dung of Tra Viet tea company based in Ho Chi Minh City. “Today, there are too many to count,” and the trend has spread to smaller cities throughout the country. “Vietnam’s tea market used to be simple.” Dung continues. “Tea was a daily drink. Now, people want to make higher quality, more expensive teas.”
Commodity tea still accounts for the majority of tea production in Vietnam. According to Nguyen Quoc Manh of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam’s total tea production in 2022 amounted to 194,000 tons. An estimated 146,000 tons, worth approximately $237 million, were exported, while 48,000 tons were consumed locally.
Mr. Than Ngu of Hanoi-based tea sourcing organization Ecolink, estimates that specialty tea makes up just a small fraction of that amount, around 10,000 tons or 5%. “But there are conflicting definitions of specialty tea,” he added. “That number is closer to 40,000-50,000 tons if you include shan teas and wulongs, much of which are exported. Locally, Vietnamese probably drink around 20,000 tons of specialty tea.” With a lack of official standards designating what counts as specialty tea, exact figures are difficult to quantify.
What sets Vietnam’s specialty tea apart from its commodity teas? According to Mr. Ngu, “Specialty tea is generally single origin and often costs around 5 to 10 times more than commodity teas. The people who make these teas take careful care of the plantations and processing, and they really want to create something different. They care about quality.”
When offering Vietnamese specialty teas, local tea shops usually steer customers towards four areas: the classic and well-established green teas of Thai Nguyen, teas crafted from heritage or wild assamica varietals locally referred to as shan or shan tuyet, Taiwanese-style balled wulongs, and teas scented with lotus – Vietnam’s national flower. These teas are occasionally served to visiting foreign dignitaries like China General Secretary Xi Jinping or the King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni.
Green tea remains the local favorite. However, Vietnam’s growing economy is increasing the domestic demand for premium products, allowing locals to gradually become aware of the country's broader range of specialty teas.
“Vietnam has only recently begun producing black and white teas,” says Mr. Hoa, a tea maker for over twenty years in the northern Vietnamese province of Ha Giang. He produces around 60 tons of tea for export each year, compared to 1 or 2 tons of high-quality tea sold in Vietnam. “This market is going to take more time to develop. People are still trying new teas and learning, but the market could be bigger five to ten years from now.” In the meantime, Mr. Hoa continues to focus on producing higher-quality teas for buyers in China.