Our Cultivars
While most Japanese tea comes from a single cultivar — Yabukita, which accounts for over 90% of Shizuoka's planted area — we grow ten different varieties across twelve fields in the Setoya mountains. Each cultivar has been selectively bred for specific traits: some bud early, giving us a head start on harvest season; others bud late, extending it. Some are prized for powerful floral aroma, others for mellow umami depth.
This diversity is deliberate. It spreads our harvest workload across weeks rather than days, gives our wholesale customers distinctive single-cultivar teas that can't be replicated by blending, and reduces the biological risk of depending on a single variety. Every cultivar below is grown organically under JAS certification, harvested by our team, and processed in our own factory.
Most of our cultivars are blended into our core sencha lineup rather than sold individually. When single-cultivar quantities are available, we offer them through our samples program. Availability varies by harvest.
At a Glance
Harvest timing relative to Yabukita — our mid-season standard
Cultivar Profiles
Selected in 1908 by Hikosaburo Sugiyama from native seedlings in Shizuoka, Yabukita is the cultivar most people taste when they drink Japanese green tea. It accounts for over 70% of Japan's planted tea area, and more than 90% in our home prefecture of Shizuoka. Its name means "north of the bamboo grove," referencing where it was first found.
Balanced umami, gentle astringency, a clean vegetal character, and a smooth finish. This is the archetypal sencha experience. We process our Yabukita primarily as asamushi (light-steamed) sencha. It's also the base for our houjicha, kukicha, and genmaicha.
Planted across eight fields: Takinoya, Shinbayashi, Yokomi, Mikan, Kitsunezuka, Tanoshiri, Tokoji, and Mari. Our largest cultivar by area. At Tokoji and part of Shinbayashi, Yabukita is shaded before harvest to produce kabuse-cha — a premium style with deeper umami and vivid green color.
Bred in 1970 at the Shizuoka Prefectural Tea Experiment Station and tested for over three decades before registration. Selected partly because its flavor is notably different from Yabukita: reduced astringency, bright sweetness, and a clean finish. High resistance to anthracnose makes it especially valuable for organic cultivation.
A luminous, light green liquor. Clean and sweet with an almost citrus-like brightness. Also processed as our Tsuyuhikari black tea (koucha). Planted in the Yokomi field.
Selected in 1975 from Yabukita seedlings in what is now Kawanehon town — a renowned mountain tea region near our own farm. Became a Shizuoka-recommended cultivar in 2001.
Exceptional fragrance and a deep, pure green infusion color. Clean and well-balanced with subtle sweetness. Planted at the Ichinose field, where it is shaded before harvest to produce kabuse-cha — enhancing its umami and color.
Created in 1980 in Fujieda by tea producer Koyanagi Miyoshi and researcher Morizono Ichiji. The Inzatsu 131 parent carries Assam-variety genetics, giving Fujieda Kaori its remarkable natural jasmine fragrance — a high concentration of methyl anthranilate that is almost startling in a Japanese green tea.
Light, silky, and profoundly aromatic. The jasmine fragrance dominates. Currently growing as young trees at our Ushinozawa field — not yet at full harvest.
Developed in Saitama Prefecture's Sayama tea region. Elevated levels of linalool and geraniol produce floral notes reminiscent of jasmine.
Distinctly aromatic with jasmine-like notes that linger. Smooth with moderate umami. Planted in the Sayama sub-field below Takinoya and in the Yokomi field.
In 1922, researcher Maruo Fumio was sent from the Shizuoka Agricultural Research Center to India, Sri Lanka, and Java to collect tea plant material. He brought back seeds of the Assam Manipuli variety — but tragically died of a tropical disease on the return journey through Taiwan. The seeds were planted at the research center, and in 1944, a seedling was selected and developed by the visionary researcher Arima Toshiharu.
The name "Inzatsu" abbreviates "Indo Zasshu" (印度雑種) — "Indian hybrid." It became the parent of our own Fujieda Kaori and the well-known Soufuu.
Powerful, intense, and polarizing. Spicy floral aromas with pronounced tannic character. A cultivar for adventurous drinkers.
Planted in the Yokomi field. Extremely rare — having both Inzatsu 131 and its offspring Fujieda Kaori in our fields is something almost no other farm can offer.
A very rare, unregistered cultivar. Also the parent of newer cultivars including Sae-akari and Fushun. Its character is genuinely unusual — neither the straightforward umami of Yabukita nor the floral brightness of Sayama Kaori, but something distinctly its own.
Rich and intense aroma with dominant freshness. Strong catechin-driven flavor. Planted in the Yokomi field. Extremely limited availability.
Part of the "7000 series" — cultivars born from Yabukita seeds pollinated by unknown fathers. Also the parent of Koshun, one of Shizuoka's rising specialty cultivars.
Initial vigor and astringency that shifts to gentle umami and sweet-potato sweetness. Typically blended into our core sencha lineup. Planted in the Yokomi field.
Clean, refreshing, mellow, with minimal astringency. Widely used for sencha, gyokuro, and matcha. Currently planted as young trees at our Kurata field.
Mellow, umami-forward with minimal astringency. Gentle, sweet aroma sometimes described as milky. Growing as young trees at our Ushinozawa field.
Where They Grow
Our fields are scattered across the Setoya mountains above Fujieda
From Our Cooperative Partners
Naturalitea is also a cooperative — we process teas from partner farmers in the Setoya region. These cultivars are grown by our partners and processed in our factory.
How They Fit Together
Yabukita appears in the parentage of nearly every cultivar we grow. Our collection radiates outward from this center: Sayama Kaori and Fujieda Kaori push toward floral aroma. Inzatsu 131 reaches back to Assam genetics for an intensity no purely Japanese cultivar can match. Tsuyuhikari and Harumidori lean toward clean sweetness. Z1 and Kurasawa offer bold, distinctive strength.
Fujieda Kaori is unique in our collection for carrying Assam-variety genetics through its Inzatsu 131 parent — and we grow both parent and offspring in our fields, something almost no other farm in Japan can claim.
Every cultivar grown on our own fields is tended organically, harvested by our team, and processed in our own factory. The flavor you taste is a direct expression of this specific land and these specific plants.
For wholesale inquiries and current availability, please contact us.