This plant species hides itself at an altitude of around 2,500 meters above sea level, quietly absorbing the essence of heaven and earth to produce one of the most expensive products in Vietnam.
In the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range, at an elevation of 2,400 to 2,700 meters, there exists a tree species thousands of years old, known as Vietnam’s treasure. The reason for its high value is that only 50 to 60 trees remain today. So what kind of tree is it?
In the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range, at an elevation of 2,400 to 2,700 meters, there exists a tree species thousands of years old, known as Vietnam’s treasure. (Photo: Internet)
A Special Tree in the Hoàng Liên Sơn Range
This remarkable tree is the ancient Bạch Long tea tree. According to VTC News, around the year 2000, Mr. Trần Ngọc Lâm, while foraging for medicinal herbs, accidentally stumbled upon this tea garden when he noticed tea flowers scattered on the ground.
These tea trees are as large as towering trees, with leaves growing high above, shrouded in mist and moss, making them easy to overlook. The flowers only reveal their presence when they fall to the ground.
Mr. Trần Ngọc Lâm noted that the ancient Bạch Long tea trees have been silently growing for millions of years in areas untouched by humans. Their trunks are thick enough to require a person to embrace, towering among the ancient trees of the primordial forest. The wild tea trees do not grow uniformly but appear in clusters, occasionally showing up as entire populations.
The flowers of the ancient Bạch Long tea trees in the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range. (Photo: VTC News)
Mr. Lâm is also the one who informed Mr. Muteki, a Japanese engineer knowledgeable about tea, that the Bạch Long tea trees in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range must be aged hundreds to thousands of years.
At this altitude, the harsh and frigid environment, with snow-covered winters and frozen ground water, forces the tea plants to send their roots deep into the crevices of the rocks, penetrating deep into the mountain to extract nutrients, leading to very slow growth. According to calculations by Japanese scientists, in these severe conditions, at such heights, the diameter of the tea tree trunk only increases by 1mm each year.
The trunks of the ancient Bạch Long tea trees are thick enough for a person to embrace and tower among the ancient trees of the primordial forest. (Photo: VTC News)
Once the tea trees reach a thousand years of age, they hardly grow any further. Scientists at the Agricultural University have measured the diameter of several small wild tea trees at the Tôn Station and found that they did not grow at all over ten years. At altitudes exceeding 3,000 meters, in extremely harsh climates, a tea tree the size of a calf can be hundreds of years old, while those with trunk circumferences that can be embraced by one person are over a thousand years old. They represent a precious gift that nature has bestowed upon Vietnam.
One of the Most Expensive Teas in Vietnam
VTC News also quoted Mr. Trịnh Văn Hà, a former surveying engineer who participated in the construction of the Fansipan cable car, regarding the ancient Bạch Long tea forest. The tea trees grow straight up, with rough bark and moss growing around them. The leaves are thicker and rounder compared to other tea varieties, producing a slightly strong astringent taste with a sweet aftertaste when chewed. Remarkably, insects like mosquitoes, leeches, and even snakes do not appear in the habitat of these tea trees, despite being typical of the Hoàng Liên Sơn wilderness.
The leaves of the ancient Bạch Long tea tree are slender and white, with the stems covered in fine white hairs. (Photo: Internet)
The Economic and Consumer website describes the tea buds of the ancient Bạch Long tea tree as slender and white, with stems covered in fine white hairs, resembling the tail of a dragon, which is why it is named Bạch Long tea.
When brewed, the tea buds fall gently, releasing a distinctive aroma that lingers longer than regular teas. The tea is a pale yellow in color, with a smooth, sweet taste that delights both the eyes and palate. A sip of Bạch Long tea, held in the mouth for a moment before swallowing, allows the flavor to permeate every cell, providing a refreshing and invigorating sensation that is hard to describe.
The discoverer of the ancient Bạch Long tea forest, Mr. Trần Ngọc Lâm, revealed that the older the tea trees become, the more fragrant they are. Even when brewed for an hour, the tea remains clear and sweet at the throat.
The tea is a pale yellow in color, with a smooth, sweet taste and a distinctive aroma that lingers longer than regular teas. (Photo: Internet)
Regarding the market price of the ancient Bạch Long tea, the Vietnam Law Newspaper reports that the maximum price for this special tea can reach 680 million VND per kilogram, making it one of the most expensive in Vietnam. The reason is that these tea trees, aged thousands of years, number only about 50 to 60. They are now considered rare and unique globally. Furthermore, the processed products from the Bạch Long tea tree are meticulously crafted to produce super premium Bạch Long tea. Farmers spend 2 to 3 hours climbing and harvesting all the young buds from a single ancient tea tree during a harvest. Each bud weighs between 100-300 grams to meet quality standards.
To produce 1 kilogram of dried tea, approximately 3 to 3.8 kilograms of fresh tea buds must be harvested. A farmer must climb all 30 tea trees to collect such a quantity of fresh tea. Therefore, within a year, a farmer can only harvest 2 to 3 kilograms of this super premium tea. This explains why the price of Bạch Long tea in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range reaches 680 million VND per kilogram.
A Rare Gene Treasure Needing Conservation
To protect and effectively utilize the heritage resource of the wild Bạch Long tea trees in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range, it is hoped that relevant authorities will develop specific and practical plans to preserve, develop, and elevate these precious assets bestowed by nature.
According to kyluc.vn, the ancient Bạch Long tea trees represent a miracle in the evolutionary history of tea. They are a rare “wild” tea gene treasure. Not only are they treasures that need preservation, but they also serve as “living fossils” for scientists to study the origins and evolution of tea in the history and tea culture of ancient Vietnamese people, as well as the historical heritage of humanity worldwide.
The author of the article about the ancient Bạch Long tea trees on VTC News shared his personal experience after tasting the Long Tỉnh tea worth 1.2 billion VND per kilogram, noting that its flavor is sweet and refreshing, akin to the buds harvested from the ancient Bạch Long tea trees in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range.
Farmers spend 2 to 3 hours climbing to harvest all the young buds from a single ancient Bạch Long tea tree in one go. (Photo: Internet)
Unfortunately, when information about the ancient Bạch Long tea tree population was revealed, many people came to the area and cut down several branches of tea, leaving the forest devastated and bare.
The information provided about the ancient Bạch Long tea trees in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range affirms that this is a precious tea source, fully deserving to become a brand of Vietnam. It is hoped that, in the future, this ancient tea forest will focus on new plantations as planned, preserving and scientifically exploiting the existing tea areas.
