Seed-grown is better ? Wakoucha Tasting, Tea N°11: Seed-grown Yamata-midori, 2017, The Tea Crane

The teaplant is usually propagated by cuttings. This technique has several advantages for the farmer. All plants are identical and they are all cloned from that one perfect example, so no surprises on taste here, and when harvesting time comes they will all ripen at the same moment, which is a lot easier for mechanisation. Mechanical harvesting is in Japan nothing to be ashamed for, manual work is very expensive here, and it is the only way of doing it in an economical way. But there are a few disadvantages too… the plants have a shorter life span, are more vulnerable to certain diseases and they all taste the same, which can create a certain blandness (that can be solved by blending).

The opposite are the so-called zairai plants we talked about in a previous blog. Lots of advantages here, but the gardens are a burden for the farmer as all plants are very different and a garden like this is less productive and asks for more work.

The in-between solution is working with seed-grown material. Here all the seeds of a plant have the same mother, but they have different fathers, and there will be small genetical differences between them. This is good for more complexity in aroma and flavors, and the plants are healthier and will live longer. Combined with limited or no fertilisation their root systems also go deeper. As the farmer will still need a degree of uniformity he will plant many seeds but retain only the plants with the desired characteristics and pull out the others, thus combining the advantages of the two systems. Is it more work for the farmer ? Absolutely, but in the end he will obtain robust and healthy plants and he can avoid chemical treatments, and still have the wanted degree of uniformity in his plants. There is a very good videao about this here:

The Yamata-Midori cultivar was created in 1924 as #10 but only got its name in 1953. It is a cultivar for green tea and was discovered in Nara, the old capital of Japan, and it is the only recognised cultivar from this region. It is a late cultivar, only ready 10 days after Yabukita, but it handles cold very well and prefers quickly drained moutain-sides. The leaves grow closer to each other and handle night frost quite well, and the plant is known to develop sugars in defence of the cold.

Seed-grown Yamata-Midori, 2017, Nara, The Tea Crane:

Harvested in spring 2017 at the Tsukigasé Kenko Chaen tea farm in Nara. This is the farm of the Iwata family, good for 7ha and founded in 1974. Since 2001 Fumiaka Iwata is the farmer. They work organical since 1984.

Nara

27 euro for 100 gram. Tasted August 6, early in the morning, a root day. 98°C, 3 gram, 2 minutes, 150ml, in a kyusu. The dry leaves are more dark green than dark brown, broken but rather big leaf, several stems. The smell of the wet leaves is intense and richly complex, with honey, fruit and a wonderful flowery aroma. The incredibly intense smell of the infusion wafts up from the cup, sweet, ich and complex (a wonderful way to say good morning). The colour is a coppery brown. The taste is excellent and has depth and complexity. An almost imperceptible but important touch of astringency gives structure. Very full body, incredibly long and a beautiful returning echo. When the tea cools down it gets even better. At this price this is one of the best wakoucha I know.
Second brew, same parameters. The tea gets very toasty, like fresh bread or brioche, the smell of croissants in the morning in a small French hotel that wakes you up, mixed with the heady aroma of a big vase of flowers next to my bed. The very nice round mouthfeel makes it a pleasure to drink, less intense than the first brew but sweet and very elegant, with a nice complexity in its core. This is a very good tea.

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The 2017 is sold out, but the 2018 is now available at https://www.the-tea-crane.com/product/organic-first-flush-seed-grown-wa-kocha-black-tea-2017/