Tea line with the scent of wild flowers on the eastern slopes of Tam Dao

THAI NGUYEN Selected from the organic tea region located on the eastern slope of Tam Dao mountain range, daily 'bathing' in Tien Sa stream, going through many steps of moistening in processing to create Thanh Hai Tra.

The person who brings La Bang tea shines

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of La Bang Tea Cooperative (Rung Van hamlet, La Bang commune, Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen) is known as the pioneering female leader bringing La Bang tea to customers across the country thanks to her passion and enthusiasm for her homeland's tea trees.

In 2006, Ms. Hai mobilized long-time tea growers in La Bang commune to contribute to establish La Bang Tea Cooperative with 9 members, with initial charter capital of only 60 million VND.

Organic tea is the most prominent product when mentioning La Bang Tea Cooperative. Photo: Quang Linh.

In 2007, Ms. Hai boldly submitted an application to the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) requesting a certificate for the La Bang tea trademark. She registered the trademark in the English spelling without accents as La Bang tea and was granted a trademark certificate in October 2008.

After 18 years of formation and development, the cooperative's charter capital has now increased to 1.5 billion VND with 15 members and 200 associated households.

The female leader of La Bang Tea Cooperative realized that tea trees in La Bang commune - located on the eastern slope of Tam Dao mountain range - had a lot of potential, but there were no outstanding products. Therefore, Ms. Hai directly researched and produced Thanh Hai Tra - a typical national rural industrial product and produced according to organic standards.

“The impressive and different points of Thanh Hai Tra come from the natural conditions and care. The product is selected from fresh tea buds grown on the eastern slopes of Tam Dao with a cool climate all year round. The tea is cared for according to organic standards, fertilized with compost from chicken eggs, soybeans, honey, probiotics, etc., and enjoys the cool water from Tien Sa stream flowing from the upstream of Tam Dao range every day,” said Ms. Hai.

Not only is Thanh Hai Tra a typical national rural industrial product since 2019, it is currently a 4-star OCOP product and is in the process of upgrading to 5 stars.

Recently, Thanh Hai Tra of La Bang Tea Cooperative was auctioned at the “Golden Hands for Tea Processing” Contest in Dai Tu District (Thai Nguyen) with a value of 68 million VND/kg. Photo: Quang Linh.

Sharing about the process of creating this unique product, Ms. Hai said that Thanh Hai Tea is selected from tea areas that meet organic standards, picked early in the morning (tea buds still sprout, leaves not yet opened, 1 bud - 2 leaves). The pickers are trained in techniques, how to keep the tea from being crushed, ten buds like ten, then brought to the factory, spread on the mesh floor, and lightly withered for 2 to 4 hours.

To have a slightly bitter taste, a rich aftertaste, and a honey-yellow color, the processing rule "according to the smell of the variety" must be followed to preserve the original aroma of fresh tea.

“To preserve the original aroma of fresh tea, Thanh Hai Tea must go through 6 to 8 steps of humidification. The humidification process is also very complicated, requiring twice as much labor as making other types of tea. Only then can we create a pot of tea that becomes more fragrant as it cools,” Ms. Hai explained.

Thanh Hai Tra is currently divided into 2 segments with selling prices of 1 million VND/kg and 1.5 million VND/kg respectively.

Organic, beneficial in every way

In 2018, La Bang Tea Cooperative began to gradually shift from VietGAP to organic farming. To date, of the 37 hectares associated with households, the Cooperative has 10 hectares certified as organic, 6 hectares certified as growing area codes. It is expected that in August this year, the next 7 hectares of tea of ​​the Cooperative will be certified as organic.

At the beginning of the organic conversion, members of La Bang Tea Cooperative also had many concerns due to high investment costs, reduced productivity, while the output was not stable.

“At first, selling organic tea was more difficult than selling VietGAP tea. We had to choose households that were truly passionate, experienced, and daring to think and act to become role models for the people. I also determined that, in addition to protecting the environment, income was the deciding factor in whether people would participate or not. Therefore, I set a goal of increasing the selling price and creating a stable output for households participating in organic tea production as soon as possible,” Ms. Hai recalled.

Currently, while the price of VietGAP fresh tea is only 30 - 35 thousand VND/kg, organic tea ranges from 40 - 60 thousand VND/kg of fresh tea, raising people's income.

Members of La Bang Tea Cooperative all feel the improvement in environment and health when switching to organic farming. Photo: Quang Linh.

According to members of La Bang Tea Cooperative, after only 1 year of organic farming, the soil became loose again, many worms appeared, the air was fresh, and the living environment was like returning to 30 years ago.

In the past, some people used a lot of chemical fertilizers and even pesticides on their tea. After each rain, fish in ponds and streams at the foot of the tea hills died. Since going organic, more fish have appeared in ponds and streams and the situation like many years ago has not happened anymore,” said Ms. Hai.

With the motto of “clean from the heart, safe life”, La Bang Tea Cooperative propagates to households to form self-awareness, if there is fraud in production, they will be automatically eliminated from the supply chain. Households participating in organic tea production at La Bang Tea Cooperative must be strict with themselves.

Accordingly, the cooperative only buys fresh tea, not raw tea. Fresh tea will not be paid for at the tea plantation, money will only be transferred after the tea is finished and the quality is assessed according to the commitment between the cooperative and the associated households.

If the quality standards as initially committed are not met, the cooperative will return the product to the associated household and that household must pay the cooperative for drying the tea.

The road to 5-star OCOP is still full of hardships

Decision No. 148/QD-TTg dated February 24, 2023 of the Prime Minister promulgating the set of criteria and procedures for evaluating products of the OCOP Program is inherently very strict. It is even more difficult for 4-star OCOP products to be upgraded to 5 stars. In addition to meeting 4-star standards, products must also have a regular export market.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai hopes that Thanh Hai Tra products will soon achieve 5-star OCOP to increase income for associated households and cooperative members. Photo: Quang Linh.

When preparing documents to upgrade products to 5-star OCOP, La Bang Tea Cooperative encountered many difficulties, having to change and upgrade products, factories... to meet the criteria. This requires a huge investment that the Cooperative has to work very hard to manage. For example, the Cooperative must have advanced quality management certification (ISO/GMP/HACCP/...), quality management certification according to international standards, meet food safety conditions for export and other legal procedures as required by the target market.

In particular, to meet the criteria of global market opportunities, products must have export contracts. However, the implementation process is not simple.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai, La Bang Tea Cooperative had to hire a consulting unit to support export at a cost of up to hundreds of millions of VND. Even though the products have been analyzed domestically, when shipped abroad, they still have to pass the quarantine and sample analysis stage of the importing partner.

The cooperative also had to invest in a closed factory worth several hundred million VND to meet the criteria of a 5-star OCOP product. The investment was relatively large, but like many other cooperatives, Ms. Hai said that cooperatives were always at a disadvantage when accessing loans from banks.

Currently, La Bang Tea Cooperative’s products are consumed in almost all provinces and cities across the country. In addition to selling in the traditional way, the Cooperative also puts its products on e-commerce trading floors to increase the level and accessibility of the market.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/dong-che-mang-huong-hoa-rung-suon-dong-tam-dao-d391886.html