Nuage Sauvage, Vietnamese Organic Tea & Trà Art, a Vietnamese tea house in Paris

Note from Anh: Vân is my childhood friend. I saw her Nuage Sauvage project born from day one. From selecting producers to tasting samples, to choosing packaging and renovating her shop. From near or far, I followed every step of her project. I am grateful that she introduced Vietnamese tea to France to further promote our country’s tea culture. Her shop and website feature the most delicious and rare teas. Some are so rare that only about a hundred kilos are produced each year. Here is an interview with Vân to tell you more about Vietnamese tea culture, as well as her shop / tea house Nuage Sauvage.

My honest opinion about Nuage Sauvage: I tasted Nuage Sauvage’s teas myself. The quality is superior to teas I have bought myself in Vietnam. Her teas are not crushed; each leaf perfectly retains its shape and aroma. The rare Shan Tuyet tea is so incredible that it naturally smells of flowers, even though it has not been scented with flowers or spices. I really liked the oolong tea and the Dragon Scales tea.

Vietnamese version of the interview available here.

Hello Van, can you introduce yourself, and how was Nuage Sauvage born?

My name is Van, a Vietnamese person living in Paris for 12 years.

Before, I worked in an office, but like Anh, I wanted to be free and explore myself, so I quit my job and over 2 years, started and opened a business with the goal of rediscovering my roots and creating value with my own hands. Before leaving my job, I took a photography course at Gobelins, then I returned to Vietnam to look for a photography subject.

That’s when I saw, in Vietnam, in the northern mountains of Ha Giang, old Shan Tuyet tea trees, in the middle of the forest. They are centuries old, measuring between 5 and 10 meters. I was captivated by this sight, because at that time, like most people, I thought the tea tree was like a bush, not such a big tree. I didn’t know then that tea trees are now cultivated in monoculture, and the plants have been crossbred to become shorter and easier to harvest. The tea tree, originally, is a woody plant that, if not pruned, can grow very tall. The scientific name of the tea plant is Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, native to the mountainous region of Southeast Asia: China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Then, with the development of the tea industry, people cultivated other varieties of tea plants to adapt to many climates, and resorted to monoculture farming.

In the world, only at the border of Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and China does such a forest of wild tea trees still exist.It is a treasure of nature to preserve.

So, Wild Cloudit is above all my desire to protect this treasure.

Moreover, one could say it is patriotism, because I want Vietnamese tea to earn its place in the world tea culture. With delicious and rare tea trees, there is an ancient tea culture, but little known, in Vietnam.

When it comes to grand cru teas, one often thinks of Japanese and Chinese teas, or Darjeeling in India. A few years ago, Vietnamese tea was not on the shelves of tea shops. The vast majority of tourists, when they come to Vietnam, are invited to drink green tea that has been steeped too long, so it is very bitter. Our parents and grandparents like to drink very strong, very bitter green tea. Foreigners mistakenly think that Vietnamese tea is not good. But in reality, in Vietnam, there is also another way of tasting tea: the Tra No philosophy initiated by Lord Tinh Vuong Trinh Sam (1767-1782). A philosophy both simple and profound: to better appreciate tea, one must let it become the “Master”. Unlike China and Japan, where man is “master of the tea”, here, one must elevate tea to the highest rank during ceremonies.

That is why I want Nuage Sauvage to become a lasting brand of Vietnamese tea in Europe, to introduce Vietnamese tea culture, as well as the delicious and rare teas of Vietnam, unknown until now.

What is the difference between tea culture in Vietnam and in France?

That’s a good question, because it was interesting to see that tea reflects cultural differences. It is prepared, tasted, and appreciated differently from one country to another.

In Vietnam, tea can be consumed anywhere. And in Vietnam, the majority drinks green tea, which is very concentrated. On bustling commercial streets, you can stop anywhere to buy a cup of iced tea sold at a makeshift stall set up right on the sidewalk. Street food is often accompanied by iced tea. Our parents’ and grandparents’ generation still consumes green tea at home, several times a day. Young Vietnamese don’t consume as much anymore, preferring imported and trendier drinks. It is a shame that very practical tea bags, like Lipton, which add all sorts of flavors, are preferred to traditional green tea.

But in recent years, there is a small group of young Vietnamese seeking traditional values. Traditional tea houses are reappearing in Hanoi, as if to recreate the past: Thuong Tra, Room 301, 2 Tong Dan, Ly Thai To, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam; Hien Minh Tea House, 13 Ngo Tat To Street, Van Mieu, Dong Da, Hanoi, Vietnam; Tea Salon (51 Phan Chu Trinh Lane – Hoan Kiem)

In France, although street tea culture isn’t as present as in Hanoi, there are still many independent tea shops and salons offering hundreds of teas from Japan, China, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos… as well as teas blended with flowers, herbs, and fruits, which are very rich in flavor.

However, Vietnamese tea is often absent there. That’s what prompted me to bring Vietnamese tea to Paris and Europe.

Is there a difference between the teas you sell in France and those sold in Vietnam?

The teas I sell come from Vietnam. They come from a human-scale tea cooperative (Bản Liên Cooperative), which I selected. I choose the teas with my producers and control quality with them. My teas come from three suppliers located in the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam: Ha Giang and Lao Cai. This area is home to ancient Shan tea trees, uncontaminated by pesticides or chemical fertilizers. They also cultivate a wider variety of tea trees to produce: white tea, green tea, black tea, fermented tea, yellow tea, etc. Staying true to this tea source, I believe it’s the best way to contribute to the development of an eco-sustainable agroforestry culture.

Expanding the supply, tea in Vietnam is cultivated and processed from the northern mountainous regions to the plains: Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Ba Vi (for green tea) and Lam Dong, Da Lat for oolong tea. I have hope that these regions will show favorable signs for organic farming, because the majority of tea production areas in Vietnam are now mainly destined for tea exports to the Middle East and for Lipton. Monoculture is increasing every year. To ensure high yields, they currently use a lot of chemicals and chemical fertilizers. Currently, Vietnam is the fifth largest tea exporting country in the world, with a production of 137,000 tons in 2020.

I only import a few hundred kilograms of tea organic per year, from the northern mountainous region of Ha Giang. Between 1200 and 2400 meters above sea level.

For someone who has never tried Vietnamese tea, which one would you recommend?

I would recommend jasmine tea and lotus tea. Because these are two typical scented teas of Vietnam, with a very sophisticated scenting technique to create a drink with intense floral flavors. It’s an art. Especially lotus tea, the symbolic flower of Vietnam. It carries the spirit of the nation, a flower growing in mud, but the fragrance and color are pure and delicate. We, a people immersed in war for centuries, have the duty to cultivate our soul and spirit, to be as pure as the lotus flower.

Note by Anh: The lotus flower only blooms twice a year. The freshest flowers give the most fragrance. It takes a lot of work to scent tea with lotus. Just harvesting the flowers takes time because it must be done by hand, weaving between the flowers on a small boat, to avoid damaging the buds.

The lotus fragrance is passionate, warm, relieves tension and headaches. To scent 1 kg of lotus tea, you need 1000 lotus flowers, and the technique is very sophisticated. By drinking this tea, you will truly discover the beauty of Vietnamese philosophy, the essence of Vietnamese cuisine.

What are the specialties of Nuage Sauvage?

Nuage Sauvage offers several types of tea: white tea, green tea, yellow tea, oolong, black tea, fermented tea, and teas scented with flowers, spices, and herbs from Vietnam. Each tea has its own character. But we offer a very rare white tea: Dragon Scale, which comes from a very rare variety of tea tree, Camellia taliensis, with purple buds and leaves, giving a rose aroma particularly fragrant of ripe lychee.

What distinguishes your tea salon from other Parisian tea salons?

Nuage Sauvage is located in the heart of the Tra Art Boutique at 34b rue Bichat 75010 Paris, behind a lovely little canal on Quai de Jemmapes.

The notable difference is that I introduce and sell only Vietnamese tea. There is a wall dedicated to displaying works by young Vietnamese artists. It’s a space dedicated to tea and Vietnamese art.

A shelf offers our customers novels and comic books by Vietnamese writers and artists.

I named my tea salon T-R-À A-R-T, the art of tea. Trà /ʨa̤/, pronounced ‘tcha’, meaning ‘tea’ in Vietnamese, is the mirror of Art. In our culture, art is found in tea and tea is found in life, a form of art.

Come taste Vietnamese tea at the TRA ART tea salon at 34b rue Bichat 75010 Paris
Google Maps
To place online orders, visit the website https://nuagesauvage.fr/

Planning a trip to France? Our partner Get Your Guide offers entry tickets and excursions at very reasonable rates. Click here to see what they offer and book online.