We often hear the word cultivar when referring to certain tea's or certain Matcha's, but what does it actually mean? What is the difference between a cultivar and a varietal? How much does this actually change the flavor of the tea?
Starting at the most fundamental level, the word cultivar is an abbreviation for 'cultivated variety.' Botanist (not just with tea plants) are constantly developing new cultivars through sexual reproduction. They find qualities they want from certain varietals and breed them in order to help the desired cultivar either taste a certain way, be more resistant to frost, produce a higher yield, and more. Although it might sound like a simple process, the creation of new cultivars takes a long time and is done in a meticulous manner mostly by a government agency known as the Kyoto Prefectural Tea Research Institute.
Registered officially in 1954, Yabukita is the oldest registered cultivar in Japan. This cultivar was developed by Sugiyama Hikosaburo in 1908 and is the most common tea cultivar (75% of tea production in Japan). Yabukita is used abundantly because of it's adaptability to different climates, it's balanced flavor, and it's high yield.
Other tea cultivars:
Gokou - Gokou is cultivar known for its rich, full body flavor. It is still quite rare to find but is highly sought after for its unique sweet/umami flavor. This cultivar was developed in the early 1900's by Nagatani Soen in Shizouka after awoken from a dream in which god told him to develop a tea that would be "the ultimate tea."
Asahi - The Asahi cultivar is a bit of a rebel and is not yet registered under the 'agriculture and forestry' of Japan. Translating to "morning sun," Asahi was created in 1953 in Uji, and is mostly used for Tencha production (matcha).
Saemedori - This cultivar is known for it's high quality flavor profile and low bitterness, and is normally grown in warmer regions.
Okumidori - Known for it's high yield, this cultivar grows very quickly and is a bush that is easier to manage.
Now that you know a little bit about cultivars, a fun experiment can be to try the same cultivar grown in different regions and compare, or also trying different cultivars from the same region and comparing.
Thanks for reading and let us know if you have any questions!
With love and respect,
Adrian