Yamatomidori

A Nara cultivar used in the covered-garden production of the old Yamato district, and one of the plants behind tencha made outside Kyoto. Matcha is popularly treated as a Uji product, and the covered gardens of Nara, Aichi, Mie and Fukuoka have been making tencha for a long time as well; a cultivar record is one of the few places that distinction is visible.

やまとみどりCamellia sinensis var. sinensisJapan

Where it sits in the botany

Yamatomidori 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: yamatomidori, yamato midori.

Where it came from

A selection associated with the Nara covered-garden districts and propagated for tencha production.

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

What the plant is like

Selected for performance under extended shade rather than for open-field yield, which is a different set of traits: soft thin leaf, a strong colour response to covering, and low productivity.

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 Yamatomidori

Tencha

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