Tea tasting in Hoi An – La.kao Teahouse

At the end of several long winding, beautiful yellow painted and plant-lined alleyways, at the edge of the old town in Hoi, An La.Kao Teahouse offers an oasis of tranquility. The two storey tea house serves a wide selection of Vietnamese teas, hot and cold, plus sweet snacks that complement the beverages. At the bar area on the ground floor you can also take part in a three or five tea tasting in Hoi An.

La.kao Teahouse

From an inner courtyard at the end of an alley you enter La.kao teahouse through grand wooden doors with many windows. The ground floor offers a few seats and a bar area (as well as the establishments toilets) where the tea tasting takes place and the very occasional tour stops by. On the second floor is a seating area with several armchairs and place mats around low lying tables (see the post picture). It opens up onto a balcony overlooking the courtyard and invites to linger.

I spend a long time here (more than once), reading and drinking tea (specifically Aged Oolong from the southern Lam Dong Province) by the pot, while snacking on mung bean cubes.

Vietnams identitiy as a “tea country” is often news to foreigners, being known best for it’s coffee, food or recent history in Europe and Northern America. When you mention tea most people in the Western countries will think of China and Japan, not knowing that the tea culture in Vietnam has ancient tradition.

It started with ethnic (now) minority tribes taking care of more or less wild tea trees and had to overcome many challenges. The decades ling French colonialisation, the following revolution and communist-socialist republic, as well as the US-Vietnam war have left their mark on the country and it’s tea.

Tea tasting in Hoi An

I was recommended the the tea tasting at La.kao teahouse by a fellow female solo traveller from Europe whom I met on the train from Sapa to Hanoi. Since La.kao had opened it’s door right after I had left Hoi An in 2023 it became a now stop on my list.

On my first evening back in Hoi An I stopped by the tea house around 5:30 pm, with the plan of asking about the tea tasting, at which times and on which days I could take part, if there was a sign-up sheet, etc. As it turned out (as is so often the case) I could do the tea tasting right then and there!

It started by making a choice if I wanted to try three or five trees. Since I was by myself and had no idea how much tea I would get I picked three. Then I got to look through a small booklet with all the different teas they had on offer. I picked two and got recommended a third one by Mr. An Dang, owner and tea master at La.kao. All three teas were grown in provinces of north-western Vietnam.

The tea brewing and pouring is done by an expert so you can focus on the flavour and experience. Several pours are done for each tea to fully appreciate the development and changes in flavour and appearance.

First came the Green Snail Spring tea. It’s a green tea where only the bud and the first leaf that grow from the branch are used. It’s grown in the Ha Giang Province at the Chinese border and harvested from tea trees that are up to 600 old or even more ancient. It’s harvested in spring and the taste is reminiscent of that.

The first pour was almost translucent in colour, sweet in flavour and reminds of the first flowers of spring. The second brought out the teas bright green colour and even more of it’s aroma.

Second was the Dragon Tail white tea. The taste was slightly similar to the previous green tea, but also decidedly different, with more herbal notes – and while still sweet it was a different kind of sweet (I know, super descriptive, great adjectives).

The Dragon Tail tea is also grown and harvested in Ha Giang, only from trees growing wild in the mountains, at an altitude between 2.500 m and 2.800 m. The prevalent climate conditions (cold, windy) at these heights are the reason the tree leaves look more like scales than traditional leaves. The buds are harvested before they unfurl, then spread out to dry in the sun and finally dried in a kiln, before being packaged for tea. You can see the care that is taken with this special tea in the shape of the dried material that is used for brewing.

Third and last tea was a black tea: Putaleng Red Snow Shan. This tea from the Lai Chau Province (PuTaLeng is the name of the third highest mountain in Vietnam where the Shan Trees grow). The tea leaves are rolled into thin, pointed needles and keep this shape during the drying and roasting process. Once brewed the leaves unfurl back into their original form. The tea has a rich, reddish-brown colour and an intense smell and aroma. I would say it tastes fruity-bitter and like wood in the way a whiskey does.

In between the teas I got water to cleanse the palette and a sweet (but not too sweet) snack in the form of mung bean cubes. They taste similar to Halva (a sesame based oriental sweet treat), but are less chewy and melt on your tongue.

My thoughts on the tea tasting in Hoi An

I like tea. A lot. So of course a tea tasting was right up my alley. Being able to choose which teas you want to try – and getting great recommendations when needed, I can only recommend this tea tasting in Hoi An to anyone visiting the city. It doesn’t matter if you are a tea expert yourself, or have no clue and want to broaden your horizon, you’ll find something here.

You not only get to try the teas, several times each, because each brew changes the taste, but also get to know the origins of the tea and stories connected to it, which are deeply ingrained in culture, tradition or personal experiences. I hope I remembered everything correctly ^^

Hoi An has many cafes where you can indulge in Vietnamese Coffee, but only two tea houses and both have a very different focus. At La.kao it’s all about the tea. During a tasting or with a whole pot on the second floor, you can explore or take your time with the tea.

Things to know about the tea tasting at La.kao