Vietnamese Tea Habit: Acquired English Tradition
The habit of having tea in the afternoon is an old English tradition which started in 1840 among the rich bracket of society. Also called low tea and accompanied by a small meal between 3 and 5 p.m., this tradition has been adapted by other countries and regions, Vietnam including.
Ho Chi Minh in particular took this tradition so far as including a high tea as well, taken a little later in the evening. Many hotels in the city now offer this acquired English habit. Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel is one establishment serving this tea habit, offering several tempting yet reasonable options for its clients.
The Park Lounge of Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel serves afternoon tea everyday between 2:30-5:00 p.m. For VND890,000++, the set of tea and pastry is already good for two persons. On Saturdays, it offers a tea buffet for VND570,000; 850,000; and 950,000 per person, inclusive of a glass of Moet Rose or Brut champagne in the latter two prices. Preserving the original tea tradition, the tea is imported from France and the pastry is prepared by the hotel’s own French pastry chef. To complete the mood, guests are treated to a classical music played in piano and violin, and pampered in luxurious, comfortable wooden furniture. The tea itself comes in elaborately carved, bronze-colored, Middle Eastern-like metal pots and served in white porcelain cups.
Park Lounge offers a tea menu of 11 selections ranging from white, black, green and oolong teas, some with herbal infusions. There are two specialties in the house, Passion de Fleurs and Earl Grey. Passion de Fleurs is a light-colored concoction with a slighty bitter taste. It has a small hint of rose and apricot scents, with rose petals in the mixture itself for aroma, taste and aesthetic effect. Earl Grey is the crowd's favorite though with its darker and more bitter mix than the former. It is a mixture of rural Southern China tea and bergamot orange, a sweet-smelling fruit the size of an orange and equivalent to a lemon in Italy. While Passion de Fleurs is famous for its sweet, floral scent, Earl Grey earns the clients' interest and approval because of its unique aroma when mixed with milk.
The original English tea tradition is not complete without pastries, and to make its own version authentic, Park Lounge offers its own pastry selection consisting of fruit tarts, finger sandwiches, cinnamon tarts, English scones, macaroons, chocolates, and cupcakes in an assortment of shapes and colors. Everything is both physically appealing and gastronomically satisfying. Bertrand Sommereux is the hotel's French pastry chef who infuses Vietnamese ingredients and flavors into the French pastries, creating a one-of-a-kind English-acquired Vietnamese tea tradition.