The first tea festival ended on the night of December 24 at the Da Lat flower city’s square after four days with various cultural activities.

At the closing festival, the organising board awarded 17 cups “Vietnam golden tea branch” and nine “tea culture” cups for 26 tea firms throughout the country.

Five records have been set at the festival, including Lam Dong - the largest tea area of Vietnam with 25,000 hectares, Lam Dong – the first place to host the tea festival, Lam Dong that locates the oldest tea planting and processing establishment (80-year-old Cau Dat Tea Department), the biggest tea pot (1.6 metres high) and the tea pot symbol made of a bonsai tree (1.6 metres high).

At the opening ceremony, more than 2,000 artists from Ho Chi Minh City and Lam Dong province - where Da Lat is situated - took part in the two-hour performance night which was accompanied by a pageant in which 35 famous tea brands were highlighted.

"Vietnam has a long history of tea production and tea ceremony. Tea is also a major agricultural export," said Nguyen Kim Phong, chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association.

The festival offered visitors a chance to make tours to local tea farms and processing plants like the factory in Cau Dat and tourist sites like Tra Tam Chau and Tra Tien.

Opened in 1927, the Cau Dat tea factory was the first in Lam Dong to make high-quality tea products for export. Displayed in the plant are rare pictures of tea production 50 yeas ago. On display were also 80-year-old machines and old tea gardens while long-serving workers will take visitors down memory lane to the early days of tea-growing in the province.

Festivities are also scheduled to be held in other places like tea growing Bao Loc town. Vietnam has some 125,000 ha under tea in 33 provinces with half a million farmers making their living from the crop. Lam Dong is considered the tea basket, accounting for 27% of the national output.

(Source: Nhan Dan)