The early morning in the Northwest Highlands is magical: the sunlight is still flickering, the morning dew gently flutters on the green tea leaves. In some places, there are green Shan Tuyet tea buds growing straight up on the hillsides. In other places, there are tea patches in the middle of lush green villages, where each ethnic minority family has spent their whole life making a living from the tea hills. Regardless of the product, for Son La, tea has been and is one of the products like two harmonious notes in the symphony of rural livelihood and culture.

 

Son La with more than 5,800 hectares of tea in harvest, including the rare Shan Tuyet tea area and the tea hills scattered across the border, the ethnic minority communes are writing a story of change: from fragrant flowers and strange grasses turning into warm houses, from warm cups of tea bringing tourists to the villages, from the invitation to "sit down and drink tea" to the local tea brand.

 

In Moc Chau plateau and neighboring areas, ancient Shan Tuyet tea is not a mass agricultural product but a natural heritage right in the heart of the community. Shan tea trees are over a hundred years old, with moss-covered trunks, thick leaves and a special tea aroma - rich, deep, but pure, retaining the layered flavor of the mountains. Each tea bud is the crystallization of the cold climate, fog like clouds drifting across, and mineral-rich soil and rocks. Picking a few early buds of the season, drying them by hand, and steeping the tea using traditional techniques, the teapot is poured into the palm of the hand, steaming, and the connoisseur immediately feels the "soul of the mountain" blending into each fragrant, sweet aftertaste of the cup of tea.

 

Shan Tuyet is a native tea variety, grown in ancient forests, closely associated with the lives of ethnic minorities here. The Mong and Thai villages in the highlands have attached their lives to ancient tea trees through stories passed down through many generations: ancient people picked tea buds for medicine, brought tea bags to weddings, went to the fields, and went down to the streams. Preserving Shan tea gardens not only retains rare plant genes, but also preserves the customs, rituals, and cultural portraits of the community.

 

What could be more heartwarming than being invited to a cup of Shan tea in the middle of ancient trees when the weather is chilly? Visitors can wear traditional costumes, listen to the flute, sip the cup, and absentmindedly listen to the local people tell fairy tales. That is the scenery, the culture and the livelihood. When the ancient tea buds are respected, have a place in community tourism, and preserve the original soul of the mountain.

 

To effectively exploit the value of ancient tea trees, businesses in Son La have been implementing many solutions to link and consume products, creating branded and valuable products. According to the Northwest Tea and Specialty Company, through a survey, the company found that Ta Xua is one of the places with quality Shan Tuyet tea materials. Therefore, the company has built a processing facility and produced tea products in Ta Xua commune. Currently, products processed from Shan Tuyet tea buds are very diverse. From green tea with traditional flavor to products in the fermented tea group.

 

Among them, fermented teas such as cake tea, fruit tea or white tea are the company's main products, favored by domestic and foreign customers. Because these teas have a long shelf life, the longer they are stored, the higher the quality of the tea. Currently, the company has purchased an average of 50 tons of fresh Shan Tuyet tea buds each year at an average price of nearly 80,000 VND/kg.

 

In Chieng Son commune, Chieng Ve Tea Joint Stock Company has proactively provided fertilizers to tea growers; encouraged households to utilize by-products from cultivation and livestock farming in production to reduce costs. At the same time, it has assigned technical staff to inspect, supervise, guide and transfer techniques to help tea growers increase productivity and quality, ensuring the livelihoods of workers and tea growers.

 

The company is currently maintaining a raw material area of ​​over 300 hectares in Chieng Son commune, mainly Shan Tuyet tea. The company always maintains production and ensures to purchase all tea output from farmers at an average price of 6,000 VND/kg. In response to the increasing demands of the market, the company has invested in modern tea processing lines, improving the quality of tea products, improving working conditions for staff and workers, and increasing labor productivity. Fresh tea buds after harvesting are immediately transported to the factory, processed on a modern line, so the tea products are of high quality, mainly exported to the markets of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, etc.

 

If Shan Tuyet tea is a plant associated with ancient stories of silence among the clouds and mountains, then the green tea hills in the border areas and ethnic communes are streams of modern, lively and useful aspirations, where people place their hopes on every inch of land for a livelihood. The lush green tea fields, watered all year round, picked, threshed, basically processed and then brought to the village market or purchased by the Cooperative, have become the main source of income for many families.

 

In Son La, the “Cooperative - Farmer - Enterprise” linkage model was built to bring tea to the market: the Cooperative provides VietGAP techniques, guides preliminary processing, supports packaging, and then gathers products for businesses or distributors. Many farming households have a stable income, not only growing tea to eat, but also saving to send their children to school.

 

Income from tea has helped reduce poverty and keep young people in their hometowns. Equally valuable is the shift in thinking: every drop of sweat on the tea plantation is seen as valuable and is paid fairly. The issue of output is also less confusing when businesses and cooperatives stand up to buy the products.

 

For example, Tan Lap Tea Production and Trading Cooperative in Tan Yen Commune is a typical example, currently cooperating with more than 400 tea-growing households, cultivating an area of ​​90 hectares according to VietGAP standards. On average, each year, the Cooperative earns over 90 billion VND in revenue, creating stable jobs for more than 60 workers. Currently, Tan Lap Cooperative has two tea products that meet the provincial 4-star OCOP standard, of which the main products are Shan Tuyet tea and Bat Tien special tea, mainly exported to Middle Eastern countries.

 

Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy - Director of the Cooperative said that in the coming time, the Cooperative plans to continue expanding the raw material area with VietGAP and organic production processes. Currently, the Cooperative's tea products are promoted and communicated on mass media, Facebook, participating in booths and fairs. At the same time, it continues to maintain the brand of OCOP tea products and expand the consumption market to Asia, Europe...

 

The story of Son La tea is not only about the area or output but also about the way the product is breathed life into, enhancing its cultural value and raising its brand. Tea in Son La is not simply an agricultural product. For a long time, it has been interwoven into the indigenous cultural life. The hundreds of years old Shan Tuyet trees, covered with moss and cold dew, are natural treasures of the mountainous region. Each tea bud here is the crystallization of the climate, soil and human effort, with a distinctive flavor - rich, pure and long lasting.

 

For the Thai, Mong, and Dao ethnic groups, a hot cup of tea is not only for enjoyment but also an invitation to connect and a ritual to welcome distinguished guests. During holidays and spring festivals, pots of Shan Tuyet tea and Moc Chau green tea become meaningful gifts.

 

Nowadays, tea has stepped out of the kitchen to reach tourists. Many experiential tours in Moc Chau and Ta Xua take tourists to tea gardens, wear traditional costumes, participate in tea picking, hand-roasting tea, and then sit and sip hot tea in the middle of the plateau. This activity not only increases income but also spreads cultural stories to friends everywhere.

 

In addition, some large enterprises such as Vinatea Moc Chau invest in large raw material areas, build processing factories, package products into OCOP standard products, design professional packaging, and move towards international export... This is the door for Son La tea to step into a larger market.

 

However, besides the potential, tea development in Son La also faces many challenges when many small cooperatives do not have enough capital, lack deep processing technology, and packaging is not beautiful enough. The main product is still dry tea, not yet diversified into tea bags, matcha, bottled cold tea - modern products that are popular in the market. Therefore, there needs to be support policies: preferential capital, technology, marketing training, connection with e-commerce platforms, domestic and foreign fairs.

 

Tea in Son La is not simply a product of the people but a symbol of the crystallization of the land, people and culture. When businesses come to invest in development, Son La tea is not only a tree to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, but also a regional brand, a cultural destination, a story worth telling to friends around the world. Son La province has also been implementing many solutions to develop tea into a typical, key product of the province so that more and more people know about it, bringing high economic value in production. At the same time, it supports tourism development in the area and aims to develop sustainable agriculture in the future.