Cultivar
A tea cultivar is a named, cultivated variety of Camellia sinensis, usually propagated from cuttings, selected for traits such as aroma, yield, hardiness or suitability for one tea style.
Definition
A cultivar (cultivated variety) is a plant line selected and maintained by people for specific traits. In tea, cultivars sit below the two botanical varieties, sinensis and assamica. Tea plants grown from seed are genetically variable, so most named cultivars are propagated clonally from cuttings, which keeps every bush in a field identical. Cultivar has a large effect on flavor. Tieguanyin, Shui Xian and Rou Gui are cultivars that also give their names to finished teas. Jin Xuan (TTES No. 12) from Taiwan is known for a creamy, milky character. Fuding Da Bai is the standard cultivar for white tea. Yabukita dominates Japanese tea fields, while cultivars such as Okumidori, Saemidori and Asatsuyu supply sencha and gyokuro with different aroma and color. The word is often used loosely. Tea sellers sometimes write varietal when they mean cultivar. In China, the term pinzhong (品种) covers both. Many traditional Chinese teas are made from local seed populations rather than a single clone, so not every tea has a meaningful cultivar name.
In Depth
Single-cultivar Japanese tea is labeled by name, for example Saemidori sencha, rather than blended. Cultivars differ in harvest timing: early types such as Saemidori are plucked days before Yabukita, and late types such as Okumidori later, which helps farms spread the spring harvest.
In Darjeeling, clones such as AV2 appear on estate invoices and are known for floral first flushes. Oolong makers often process one cultivar in several styles, so the same Jin Xuan can be lightly oxidized and green or roasted dark.
When buying, a cultivar name tells you more than a marketing name. "Tieguanyin" made from the Tieguanyin cultivar differs from a cheaper tea made from other cultivars in the Tieguanyin style. Ask the seller which cultivar was used; good vendors know.
See Also
- Japanese Tea Cultivars
- Taiwanese Oolong Cultivars
- Clonal Propagation