HCMC – Ta Lien Son Mountain in Tam Duong District, Lai Chau City, Lai Chau Province in northern Vietnam, is characterized by its forest of Shan Tuyet tea trees. The tea trees of Shan Tuyet, which means old trees growing on high mountains covered with snow and dew, on Ta Lien Son Mountain are wild trees that are centuries old.
According to Sung A Cua, a local forest ranger, the tea forest is 2,000-2,400 meters above sea level, covering an acreage of some 34 hectares. The forest includes more than 2,300 tea trees, each being from five to 20 meters high. Old tea trees here have an average age between 300 and 500 years.
The natural Shan Tuyet tea forest on Ta Lien Son Mountain has been preserved from generation to generation for centuries. Inside the tea forest is murky and misty. The path is lined with moss-covered stones.
In the core of the forest are hundreds of wild tea trees whose height can be 20 meters or even higher. In some case foliage is so thick that little sun light can penetrate it.
In 2018, Tam Duong Tea Company signed a contract with the local authorities on the exploitation and development of the Shan Tuyet tea forest, which aimed to expand the production of the old trees and better protect them.
