This is an annual festival held to honor tea trees and the traditional tea growing profession of the land known as the "First Famous Tea" Tan Cuong; at the same time, it is also an opportunity for tea growers, producers, processors and especially tea drinkers, those who love Tan Cuong tea in particular and Thai Nguyen tea in general to meet, exchange and learn experiences.
The opening ceremony of the festival is the procession of the most beautiful ancient tea tree in the region. The tea tree is placed on a palanquin, beautifully decorated, with four young men carrying the palanquin and six young women holding colorful silk ribbons walking around the tea tree. After the opening drum beat, many meaningful activities were organized such as offering tea, inviting tea, and lion dance.
One of the main parts of the Festival is the competition of delicious tea roasted by traditional manual method among eight hamlets of Tan Cuong commune. According to the people of the tea region, to make 1kg of dry tea buds by manual method, the tea processor must spend about 3 hours roasting and rolling the tea. Roasting tea depends a lot on other stages such as fire temperature, tea rolling skills, roasting tea must be done evenly...
Packaging Tan Cuong tea products, Thai Nguyen province. Photo: VNA
Besides the tea making competition, the festival is also exciting and attractive with art performances and traditional folk games such as throwing balls, tug of war, pushing sticks, cockfighting, chess, etc.
This year is the seventh year that Tan Cuong tea area has been granted the Certificate of registration of geographical indication "Tan Cuong" for Tan Cuong tea products corresponding to three communes including Phuc Xuan, Phuc Triu, Tan Cuong, with a total area of over 4,860 hectares. This is also one of five national products registered for geographical indication protection nationwide. Tan Cuong also identified tea as one of the key crops in its next direction.
