A complete tea set consists of four saucers, one large "tống" (or "tướng", meaning "general") cup, four "tốt" (or "quân" meaning "soldier") cups, an earthen pot, and a tea box for storing tea. There are many kinds of tea sets, and finding the right one takes a good deal of time and luck. The designs and pictures on tea sets are often taken from famous stories and legends such as "Tô Vũ mục dương", or "Nhất Chẩm tùng phong." In Hue, there is a famous tea set called Mai Hạc (The Apricot Tree and Crane).
The set is made of glazed procelain. On it is an image of a crane standing at the foot of an old apricot tree, and two lines of poetry by Nguyễn Du:
Great is the pleasure of roaming the hills and dales,
The apricot tree is an old friend; the crane, an acquaintance.
It is believed that Nguyễn Du brought the tea set back with him from China when he was sent there on a diplomatic mission in 1813. On his return, Nguyễn Du stopped at a porcelain shop in Kiang Tsi District. Knowing Nguyễn Du was a famous Vietnamese poet, the shop owner asked him to write a few characters on one of the porcelain tea pots he was making. Nguyễn Du wrote the two lines above in nom (the Vietnamese demotic script).
The tea set became so popular that many Hue craftsmen borrowed its design for their own tea sets. This tea set and similar ones were so often used by mandarins and nobles under the Nguyễn Dynasty that they have become a symbol for the dynasty itself.