Journey of bringing Vietnamese tea to the world by a runner-up who loves traditional culture

As a Vietnamese born and raised abroad, the fateful “encounter” with ancient tea trees in the Northwest region made the first runner-up of the Miss Vietnam contest in the Czech Republic 2009 Nguyen Thu Trang become the CEO of Hacoocha, with the desire to bring Vietnamese tea to the world. In an interview with PNVN, Thu Trang said that turning passion into a career is not an easy thing.

Runner-up Nguyen Thu Trang

Want to create a new way of telling stories about Vietnamese tea

+ What opportunity brought you - a woman born in Europe - to decide to start a business in the already competitive tea industry?

Seven years ago, on a trip to the Northwest, I happened to stand in front of a thousand-year-old tea tree. The tree stood there, silent and majestic, like a living symbol of the nation’s culinary culture . At that moment, I felt like I was connected to my roots.

I grew up in Europe, where tea is not just a drink but a ritual, an art of living. But when I met those ancient tea trees, I wondered: Why does a country with the rarest tea trees in the world not have a famous tea brand in the international market? Vietnam does not lack raw materials, perhaps it just lacks a new language to tell. And Hacoocha was born, not only to sell tea but also to write a new chapter for Vietnamese tea.

  + From love to understanding always requires a process. When did you feel and shape the soul of the Vietnamese tea brand you wanted to build?

At first, I thought that branding was about showing off Vietnam's precious tea. But then I realized that it wasn't enough to create a brand that touched the hearts of global consumers. The answer came from a tea party with my brother, a busy businessman who rarely showed emotion. After the first sip of tea, he looked at me and said: "This tea doesn't make me "wow" like a luxury, but it does make me want to sit and talk with my father."

I thought about it for a long time and realized: tea is not for display but to connect people, between the past and the present.

+ Selling cultural products has never been easy, especially how to maintain the cultural and artistic values ​​of the product while still having a marketable nature. How do you solve this problem?

There was a time when I wanted to launch a tea line with hand-painted packaging on Do paper to revive the image of old Vietnamese tea. But my sales team was worried about the high cost and difficulty in accessing the market. At that time, I understood that if I wanted to survive, I had to learn how to "translate" art into the language of the market. Maintain the creative spirit but still ensure reasonable prices. Because creativity is not only for beauty but also to reach many people. Hacoocha chose the path of compromise: the product is sophisticated enough to give as a gift, beautiful enough for customers to keep as a gift and professional enough to stand firm in the international market.

Great love is enough to tell a long story

+ What advantages do you think the title of runner-up and the wife of a famous businessman like "Shark Hung" brings to you in your entrepreneurial journey? In other words, when starting a business, how should we combine available conditions and what needs more effort?

I consider myself lucky to have a husband with a lot of experience in business. With his strategic vision, he always encourages me. The title also brings many opportunities, helping me practice being meticulous, delicate, and responsible when representing the image of Vietnamese people abroad. Living in the Czech Republic and participating in activities of the overseas Vietnamese community helps me learn how to tell Vietnamese stories in a global language.

I always thought of myself as an example of "surpassing success" when I chose to follow the villagers to pick tea from early morning, sitting and watching the tea batch until 3 am. Thanks to a solid foundation, I want to make more efforts to answer with actions, with tea quality, with a better life for tea makers, with the care in each box of tea sent.

+ Turning passion into work to do what you love, earn income and even have a career is what many women today desire. For you, what is the key factor to make that dream come true?

RUNNER-UP, BUSINESSMAN NGUYEN THU TRANG:

• Passion is the reason to start but to make the dream come true I need to build a team, an ecosystem

The first thing is to be honest with yourself: is it a real passion, or just a passing excitement? It takes a big enough love to write a long story. In addition, to turn passion into a career, you need three more conditions: ability, value and efficiency.

Having the ability to operate from production to the team. Having a clear value to answer: what problem does my product solve for customers? And finally, being effective means generating revenue, if we don't generate cash flow, we won't be able to go far, can't support the team or expand our influence. I often tell my colleagues: "Good tea is a necessary condition.

But for a brand to survive, there must be both a business plan and a decent ecosystem."

+ After all these years with tea, do you have any life philosophy formed from that?

Normally, I keep two things in mind: gratitude and constant learning. The ancient Vietnamese tea tree must be deeply rooted to be able to grow tall and last forever. The same goes for people, if they want to fly far, they must stand firmly. And if they want to be firm, they must know what they are living for. I do not think I am the best, but I am definitely the one who always strives to learn, always tries my best with the deepest love for what I have chosen.

Since I fell in love with tea, I have started my day with a small ritual: making myself a pot of tea. No matter if the previous day was a crisis, a slow order, or a supply chain problem, that moment is when I come back to myself, remember why I started this journey in the first place, and keep going.

+ On that journey, what results made you feel most proud and happy?

Not when I achieved KPIs on sales, growth, and market expansion - but the moments that made me realize that: Hacoocha is not only selling tea but is also contributing to enhancing the value of Vietnamese tea. That was when a Mong farmer hugged me and said: "Now I see that the tea leaves I make... are called specialties". Or the moment when a tea expert drank Hacoocha tea and exclaimed: "This is Vietnamese tea". I am very happy because I have brought the Vietnamese soul into the product when introducing it to the world.

+ Thank you and wish Thu Trang much success on her journey to bring Vietnamese tea to the world!

Vietnamese tea culture is among the world's top

Tea is not only a popular drink but also a part of the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. From the first cup of tea in spring, the teapot in the family kitchen, to the solemn receptions, tea is always present as a symbol of connection, tranquility and hospitality. Each land has its own way of enjoying tea: elegant Hanoi lotus tea, strong Northwest Shan Tuyet tea, rich Thai Nguyen black tea... Vietnamese tea culture has a long history. Although not as sophisticated as Japanese tea ceremony or Chinese tea ceremony, Vietnamese tea has a simple beauty, attached to daily life, where each cup of tea is an invitation to share, a moment of connection between people and with themselves.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/hanh-trinh-dua-tra-viet-ra-the-gioi-cua-a-hau-me-van-hoa-truyen-thong-20250922181402918.htm