VietNamNet Bridge - For the first time an ancient tea tree forest has been discovered in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, the kingdom of tea trees in Vietnam.

An ancient tea tree.

These ancient tea trees were discovered by Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, a tea grower in Minh Tien commune, Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province.

Tuan says since childhood he had heard about a legendary ancient tea tree forest named Bat Tien on a mountain of nearly 1,000m high.

Tuan climbed all the mountains in the region to the find the ancient tea trees in the legend. In such a trip in 2011, Tuan was exhausted so he sat down and leaned his back against a tree.

Plucking a leaf of the tree and tasting it, Tuan felt a strange taste. He sat up, looked around and then found out that the big tree that he was leaning against was an ancient tea tree that he had been seeking for many years.

Being informed of the discovery, the local authorities conducted a survey at the ancient tea tree forest. They found a community of old tea trees of 20-30m tall, 1m in trunk diameter, which are believed to be hundreds of years old.

The survey team took samples and sent to the Central Institute of Tea Research. Experts believe that the trees are the “ancestors” of the current tea varieties of Thai Nguyen, which is famous nationwide.

My Linh