Hanoi’s “lemon tea”

In recent years, “Lemon tea” has become one of the most favorite drinks of Hanoi’s youngsters. It is not the traditional dish, but it is more and more attractive to the teenagers, young adults as well as tourists who travel to Hanoi. So, what is “lemon tea” and why is it so hot?

Lemon tea (in Vietnamese, it is called “Trà Chanh”) is a very simple drink: a glass of green tea with jasmine fragrance, adding little sugar, 1 or 2 lemon slices. Sweet, sour, acrid and smell of jasmine became the familiar beverage of the people of Hanoi. The drink is popular only with the material life, but it was so appealing to so strange. If anyone has been to Hanoi and has had the opportunity to enjoy lemon tea, it is sure to be unforgettable. No tables and chairs, no professional serving and space nor elegance, modern.., the lemon tea shops have only plastic chairs. These chairs also do work of tables in order to put the tray on.

The first lemon tea shops in Hanoi are on Nha Tho (Cathedral) Street, Nha Chung and Dao Duy Tu Street. However, after only 2 years, lemon tea shops are now appeared in every streets of Hanoi. Pavements, roads and small parks become lemon tea shops, where thousands of the youngster groups get glasses of lemon tea, some sunflower seeds and chat. Besides Nha Tho, Nha Chung, Ly Quoc Su, Dao Duy Tu Street, some streets that have many lemon tea shops are Nguyen Sieu, Cho Gao, Cat Linh, Quang Trung, etc, especially in Nga Tu So crossroads. Or you can sit in any shops in any streets of Hanoi, observe the beautiful scenery (around the ancient Cathedral it seems to be more amazing), watching the flow of people and vehicles crossing the road, results are an interesting experience for you.

Some shops are opened from morning to late night everyday, such as in Dao Duy Tu, Nha Tho, or Cho Gao streets. But when evening falls, especially in the summer, all the lemon tea shops have become busy and crowded.

“Trà Chanh” – Lemon tea is more and more popular to the youngsters in Hanoi as well as foreigners who travel to Hanoi. You can not only drink lemon tea but also enjoy other drinks and desserts such as sweet desserts (chè), coffee, iced tamarind… Lemon tea shops are the cheap place to spend time on chatting and socializing. With only about 10,000VND for a glass of lemon tea, you can sit and chat with friends all evening. And if you are a foreigner and want to study Vietnamese, come to these street shops and you will get a lot of interesting things.

With glasses of lemon tea and a plate of sunflower seeds, you can sit and chat to your friend till the mid-night

A Lemon tea shop in Nha Tho Street, where you can observe the beautiful Cathedral

Lemon tea shop in Dao Duy Tu Steet – one of the first shops in Hanoi

Nga Tu So crossroads is full with people sitting to drink lemon tea

You can also enjoy delicious sweet desserts like taro, banana… (chè khoai, chè chuối…) in some lemon tea shops in Dao Duy Tu, Cho Gao, Nguyen Sieu Street

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