TeaHQ

Kuritawase

One of the earliest-budding Japanese cultivars — wase means early-ripening — grown where the first tea of the season is the commercial objective. It is a scheduling cultivar rather than a prestige one: planted in a corner of an estate to open the picking season a week before the main crop is ready.

くりたわせCamellia sinensis var. sinensisJapan

Where it sits in the botany

Kuritawase 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: kuritawase, kurita wase.

Where it came from

An early-season Japanese selection propagated for its bud-break date.

How firm this is: Inferred rather than taken from a primary breeding or registration record. Date and parentage were not verified against a primary source.

What the plant is like

Very early bud break and correspondingly high frost exposure, with a mild cup. Planted in small blocks to stagger the harvest.

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.

Teas in the catalogue made from Kuritawase

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