Ancient Mid-Region Tea of ​​1971 Tien Yen – A Journey to Preserve the Heritage of Tan Cuong Tea

Amidst the strong development of high-yield hybrid tea varieties, Tien Yen Tea Farm quietly follows its own path: preserving and conserving the ancient Trung Du tea – a native tea variety that has formed the foundation of Thai Nguyen tea for nearly a century.

Instead of chasing the trend of green tea or maximizing production at all costs, Tien Yen chooses to preserve the “roots”—the very essence that creates the depth of flavor and identity of traditional Tan Cuong tea.

1. Ancient Mid-mountain Tea – the foundation of traditional Vietnamese tea

Trung Du tea is a native tea variety widely grown in Northern Vietnam since the beginning of the 20th century. Compared to hybrid tea, Trung Du has a small woody stem, deep roots, slow growth, but accumulates good internal nutrients.

As a result, teas made from this variety typically have a mild astringency, a delicate aroma reminiscent of young rice, a deep, lingering sweetness – a characteristic only clearly seen in ancient tea trees and long-cultivated teas.

In Tien Yen, many ancient Mid-Region tea trees were planted since 1971, some even since 1932 – becoming a rare and valuable source of raw materials for green tea, hooked tea and young shrimp tea that embody the spirit of the past.

2. Tan Cuong’s soil – an unreplicable factor.

Tien Yen Tea Farm is located in the heart of Tan Cuong – an area with feralit (Gan Chau – Feralit) soil. This type of soil drains quickly during heavy rains but retains moisture well during the dry season.

The combination of gravelly soil, early morning fog, and distinct day-night temperature variations has created a very unique flavor for the Tan Cuong Hook Tea, Tan Cuong Shrimp Bud Tea, and Tan Cuong Nail Tea lines.

3. Successor and the choice are not easy.

After Mr. Bui Xuan Tien – the founder of the tea region – passed away, Mr. Bui Trong Dai faced a familiar choice for many farms: switch to new varieties to increase productivity or keep the old varieties and accept the difficult path.

Mr. Dai chose to preserve the ancient Central Highlands and move all farming to organic:

• No chemical fertilizers
• No herbicides
• No compromise on traditional flavors

Thanks to this, Tien Yen tea achieves high stability, suitable for manual processing, especially the artisan tea and traditional wood-fired roasted tea.

4. Tien Yen tea in the press and on television

Over the years, Tien Yen Tea Farm has been mentioned in the press and on television as a prime example of preserving ancient tea varieties in the context of the highly commercialized tea industry.

These are the factors that build high credibility for the brand: a clearly defined source of raw materials, real people, and a continuous and transparent history of cultivation.

5. From farm to Tien Yen FarmStay

In 2025, the Tien Yen FarmStay model was officially launched, connecting tea and experiential tourism.

Here, visitors can not only drink tea but also directly pick and process tea leaves, understanding why traditional Central Highlands tea cannot be cheap – and should not be cheap.

Conclude

1971 Ancient Mid-Region Tea in Tien Yen is not a trendy product. It is the result of time, soil, and a steadfast choice over many generations.

Preserving tradition doesn’t mean standing still, but understanding its roots in order to develop sustainably – the true spirit of Vietnamese tea.