About three years ago I visited Hanoi and posted here about exploring tea there. I've been trying some different Vietnamese teas since (quite a few, over all that time), so I wanted to mention a few here.
This tea was a version of sheng pu'er, which I'm mentioning first since I just reviewed it. It's difficult to summarize what sheng really is, for someone who's never tried it. It's typically a compressed tea from Yunnan, China, that can ferment over time and change character. Shou pu'er is a pre-fermented version, one that is wet-piled instead of darkening and changing flavors with aging. This Vietnamese version was nice. Sheng is typically a little bitter so it's more an acquired taste, but once you get into teas with that unique balance of aspects and complexity it's different than anything else.
This was an Oriental Beauty version from the North of Vietnam that an online tea friend in Ho Chi Minh City shared with me in an exchange (so I don't know the exact source, who made it). It's typical of how style imports tend to go, a really interesting version of an OB (twisted, highly oxidized, sweet and fruity oolong style from Taiwan), but not really typical of the original version. I've reviewed a version from Yunnan (China) that was quite similar to this one.
Hatvala's Oriental Beauty version is so good I should probably stop talking about it. It's not only type-typical related to Taiwanese versions (light, sweet, subtle, complex, fruity, etc.) it's a much better version than you tend to find there. I'm not saying it's better than Taiwanese versions get, because it's definitely not, I'm saying it's better than the ones you almost ever find. Their light rolled oolong versions tend to be pretty good too, but maybe just above average for Taiwanese versions, not quite this far up. Their jasmine black tea is also fantastic, and I don't even like flavored teas (maybe an Earl Grey once in awhile, that's about it).
This is a type unique to Vietnam, snow tea, which is more or less a variation of green tea that shares some aspects in common with sheng pu'er. Fish-hook style green tea, with best known versions coming out of Thai Nguyen, are the most typical of Vietnamese teas, but this one is also distinctive, and maybe a little more unique. Since I love soft, sweet black teas and oolong range the best and green teas the least it's not a great style fit for me but still something unique. I should probably mention a black tea, just to point out how that range can go, maybe again from exchange from that friend (without an origin identified) so this doesn't lean into being marketing related.
Vietnamese black teas also come in a range of different styles, it's just hard pinning down a clear type related to those, and sourcing of the best versions is probably trickier than finding pretty good green tea and rolled oolong. This tea reminded me a lot of Chinese black teas, which is how that can go, and is generally a good thing. Without much for origin on this tea it really doesn't work as a lead for tracking it down, more just to point out that lots of interesting teas are out there.
I hope this helps, that it doesn't come off too much a blog promotion. It is that, in a form, but I mean to indicate that people in Vietnam have a great option to get out and track down some interesting teas. For others outside Vietnam too, but that gets harder. The Hatvala range is nice but it only represents part of what's being made and sold inside Vietnam.
