Nuoc voi was popular in every family in Hanoi. Every house has a basket to hold the hot teapot to make this drink. The food stalls or pho restaurants also have the warm beverage as a dessert.
A healthy drink
Nuoc voi (a drink like tea) is a kind of refreshing drink, Hanoi traditional food made with buds or leaves of voi trees (Cleistocalyx operculatus) which are cooked and then dried. This drink can also be made with the fresh leaves. This is a popular drink in the northern delta, which is used to brew every day as an herbal tea.
Like green tea, nuoc voi is quite familiar to many people in Vietnam, especially in Hanoi. Not only has the use of soft drinks, nuoc voi still has a lot of minerals, vitamins and other compounds which are good for the body. According to traditional medicine, voi leaves have a bitter taste, cool features, febrifuge effects, can cure bone joints diseases, gastrointestinal diseases …
The sophisticated drink
Hanoians is famous for sophistication, in particular in process of making food. Every detail is emphasized, the basket and teapot to make nuoc voi is a typical example.
Nuoc voi is a popular drink in many families in Hanoi. Each house has a basket to hold nuoc voi. The basket is also available in many types. There is a kind of bamboo with the shape as the miniature wine barrel. There is a kind of woven rattan basket, with a rattan cap for the basket. This type is cylindrical and has ellipse mouth with a delicate handle made of curved copper wire. Inside the basket with a cotton cushion like a cotton blanket embracing the teapot inside.
Teapot used to make nuoc voi also has many different types. There is a relatively crude and thick type, enameled with only two colors – blue and white. In addition, there is another kind of teapot, more luxurious and thinner, enameled, decorated with sophisticated paintings such as chrysanthemums or ancient cedars.
How to make nuoc voi?
The voi bud is the dried flower bud. This tree is grown on the banks of the pond in most villages in the Red River Delta. It is said that on the pond if you groư fig trees or voi trees, the pond surface is always cool, the fish under the pond live in cool water will not be shocked in the summer. Dry buds are usually stored in a small jar with dried banana leaves to avoid insects.
In the past, voi bud and voi leaves were full of markets in Hanoi street food tour like Thai tea today. It is said that voi bud will be more delicious if it is brewed for as long as possible.
Nuoc voi can be hot or cold. The rural people often drink nuoc voi in bowl when eating. In the city, nuoc voi is often drunk in glass or porcelain cups. Nuoc voi has a simple aromatic flavor and pure as the soul of the Vietnamese. Nuoc voi is slightly acrid and sweet but not as heavily acrid as Thai Nguyen tea or Phu Tho tea. Drinking nuoc voi make you clearheaded but not cause insomnia. Depending on the taste of each person, some people will add licorice for the sweet taste.
Unlike green tea leaves which are used immediately as soon as picking fresh leaves from the tree, voi leaves must be dried until the leaves become brittle and then put the dried leaves in the basket, dip the leaves into the pond for half a day. Voi leaves will be dried again before making nuoc voi.
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam for thousands of years. Hanoi has an inherent delicacy, rich and lovely as a romantic poem. Hanoi people are elegant, and in the elegance of the people of Trang An, eating their own way is a beauty. Let’s enjoy this beauty with delicate drink on food walking tour.
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