Asatsuyu

An old Uji-derived cultivar nicknamed 'natural gyokuro' for its unusually low astringency and high sweetness even without shading. It is difficult to grow and susceptible to disease, so it survives mainly as a parent of better-behaved cultivars.

あさつゆCamellia sinensis var. sinensisJapanAlso called Natural gyokuro

Where it sits in the botany

Asatsuyu is recorded under Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, the variety group one level above cultivar. It is associated with Japan, which is where it was selected or is most widely planted rather than the only place it grows.

Also transliterated as: asatsuyu.

What the plant is like

Its nickname is a description of flavour, not a claim that it is gyokuro — gyokuro is defined by shading, which Asatsuyu does not require to taste sweet.

What it is usually made into

The categories this cultivar is typically processed into. It is a statement about common practice, not a limit — processing decides the category, and a cultivar can be taken down more than one route.

Green tea — Tea whose oxidation is halted early by heat, keeping the leaf green and the cup fresh, vegetal or marine in character.

Other cultivars in Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

Sources

TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ

This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No breeding register or institutional record stands behind the account above, which is why the origin note carries its confidence in the open rather than reading as a citation.

How TeaHQ handles sources

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this cultivar against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.

Asatsuyu vs Saemidori — A parent and its more successful child. Asatsuyu is nicknamed ‘natural gyokuro’ for tasting sweet without shading, and is difficult enough to grow that it survives mainly through its descendants — Saemidori among them.