Loc Thanh village, Binh Minh commune is likened to the “midland” area of Binh Son ( Quang Ngai ). There are tens of hectares of tea here, including hundreds and thousands of rare hundreds of years old tea roots.
God endowed Loc Thanh with the color of basalt red soil, and lush trees beside the Tra Bong river are always green. Tea plants may also benefit from the land-river advantage that is green all year round.
Receiving guests with a steaming green teapot, Mr. Tran Ngoc Giau (80 years old, Loc Thanh village) said that this land used to be full of green tea. Then over time, villagers cut many tea fields for hundreds of years to grow eucalyptus, acacia, and rubber. Until recent years, the people of Loc Thanh recognized the types of trees that are sold for money
That “instant noodle” is no longer worth it and doesn’t make as much money as the dear tea trees on the porch. Since then, they have tried their best to protect, preserve, care for and preserve the ancient tea gardens into typical products of the midland countryside.
Loc Thanh tea is not like tea elsewhere. Holding the tea leaves is thicker but smaller. Sipping tea, at first, it feels bitter and acrid. When the tea water flows into the body, the tip of the tongue begins to feel the sweet and aromatic taste. The tea has a bright yellow-green color, the second and third water is still dark, the sweetness is still on the tip of the tongue and palate.
In order to drink delicious Loc Thanh tea, the people of this country find water in a well with gravel at the bottom, without alum, so that the cooked tea does not have a dark red color. Choosing tea leaves is not too young or too old. Young leaves make the tea pale. The old leaves of tea will have a reduced sweet and acrid taste. When cooking, the leaves are only lightly crushed and cooked both leaves and branches to keep the aroma and stronger tea.
Mr. Giau told the story, his voice was even, his eyes proudly looked over the green tea forest in front of him. He said, if he knew how to do it, his hometown’s hundred-year-old tea forest would be an attractive place for tourists from all over the world. And he dreamed that one day the children would be able to do this.
That day, we followed the villagers to go to the fields, to see hundreds of years old tea trees. Mr. Tran Van Thong (49 years old, Loc Thanh village) took us out to visit his family’s 1 hectare of tea, including about 200 hundred-year-old tea roots. There is a root larger than 2 gloves, sinewy, the skin of the tree looks like it is covered by time. Here, for the convenience of care, the villagers only leave a wide canopy of tea, the rest or pruning, so the old tea tree is only 2 meters high. Mr. Thong said that if the tree is left to grow naturally, the tree can be taller than 5 m, not inferior to Tay Bac tea. However, the tea tree will be uprooted and damaged by storms, so no one in the village will let the tree grow too high. According to Mr. Thong, it is impossible to guess the age of the “grandfathers” of tea, because from a young age, according to his grandfather, when his parents came here to pick leaves, these hundreds of tea roots have been around for a long time.
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| In the ancient tea fields in Loc Thanh village |
Talking about the hundred-year-old tea trees, Mr. Phan Van Hoi (also in Loc Thanh village) boasted that his family is fortunate to still be able to keep an ancient tea field of more than 1 hectare. This is the tree that helped his family settle down over the years. According to Mr. Hoi, in the past, the people of Loc Thanh village grew tea mainly for daily enjoyment, Tet holidays were given as gifts to relatives and relatives who went far away to visit their hometown. Now, Loc Thanh tea, a hundred-year-old tea, attracts people with its true value because it is a delicious drink and also a value of time.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dan, former Chairman of Binh Minh Commune People’s Committee, said he used to be attached to Binh Minh commune, knowing the famous ancient tea in Loc Thanh village. It was Mr. Dan and the government of this commune who decided to include tea in the project of one product per commune, recommending people to increase the area of tea trees.
According (thanhnien.vn)