When a new tea field is planted, how is it done?
The most natural way to propagate a tea plant is by seeds. The tea plant blooms with beautiful small white flowers and after it blooms, it is natural to have seeds. If a new tea plant is born in that way, in Japanese is called Zairai (在来), literally “native species”. Nevertheless, in Japan the tea plants grown by seeds make only about 1% of the total tea production!
The reason why it is not common today to propagate by seeds, is because the tea seeds keep only 50% of the tea mother plant’s genetic information. Zairai grow unevenly, patchy, each bud can come out and be ready to harvest at a different time compared to the plant next to it. Conclusion: it is a bit hard to manage.
Nowadays planting from cuttings is more common, as cuttings keep 100% of the genetic information of the tea mother plant – they are a clone. They shoot at the same time, so it is easier to manage and harvest. It is easier to select certain characteristics and have a desirable taste.
A cutting is a young branch of a tea plant with a few leaves. It is planted in a small field and, after 1 or 2 years, it is moved to a permanent field.
This method leads to cultivars – plants with the same genetic characteristics. In Japan, there are hundreds of cultivars inside the Camellia Sinensis Sinensis. The most famous is probably Yabukita, as it is it widely used and preferred for its balanced taste and cold resistance. But there is more and more interest in diversifying and trying new ones.
With cultivars, commercial tea production is easier from the field management point of view. The plants tend to grow at the same time and similar high, making it easier to harvest by machine. Each specific cultivar has aroma and flavour traits that are common across. So when the tea is produced, the tea maker knows what to expect for and what that tea’s strong points will be. A balanced flavour for a traditional sencha? Yabukita. A more umami taste with less astringency and a greener colour? Maybe Okumidori or Saemidori.
Tea research institutes of different prefectures, study and breed new cultivars all the time. At the same time, there is a small growing niche interested in Zairai for its unpredictability, strength as a plant and reflection of the terroir.
* If you would like to learn more in depth about Japanese tea cultivars, a good source in English is by our Tea Fellow and Japanese tea expert Pau Valverde Molina. Check out his website!