June is the season of lotus. Around Hanoi, there are numerous ponds of lotus with pink shade fluttering people’s heart.

The tea with dried leaf mixed with lotus pistil to become a delicate drink. The flavor of tea blends with faint sweet smell of lotus become featuring scent of Hanoi summer. The lotus used to make these special tea must be collected in early morning. It’s thought that those “morning flowers” remain the essence of earth and heaven.

This kind of flower is called by canafistula and by other names. It is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and shows up in many Hanoi’s streets.

Only blooming in summer, Purple Queen’s Flower make Hanoi more dreamy in hot sunny day. You can find these charming flower in Kim Mã, Đào Tấn, Trần Thái Tông streets.

With the first rays of the summer landing in Hanoi, the city streets are adorned with the red blooms of the phoenix flowers.

Cốm is a Hanoi’s specialty made from young green sticky rice. It’s served with red persimmons or ripe bananas.