In the afternoon of the day prior to his morning tea, he had his servants row to a lotus growing lake in the royal garden and put a small handful of tea into each lotus flower in the blossom before binding the petals up. In so doing the tea would dry over night and at the same time absorb the scent of the petals. Next morning the tea would be picked from the lotus lake and offered to the king for his morning refreshment. But for those who are serious about their tea drinking, unflavoured tea grown in the hilly province of Thai Nguyen, 50km north of Hanoi, is their best choice. It is said that particular region has a very special taste and fragrance.
Tea drinking is a customary practice at wedding ceremonies.
Tea also finds it way into funeral ceremonies where tea drinking is believed to be a medium for uniting friends and relatives and in offering condolences to family members of the deceased. In the old days when friends met each other after along period of absence, they could offer each other betel and areca nuts plus a tobacco pellet to chew before beginning to chat. Now people in both urban and rural areas rarely invite their friends to take betel or areca , but prefer instead to offer a cup of tea as a precursor for conversation. Recently another kind of tea shop has begun to appear in major urban centres. The ingredients of this tea include flower petals, sugar, honey or milk and grated ice.