Cultivated Varieties of Japanese tea - Okumidori

Okumidori | おくみどり

  • Registered as an official cultivar in 1974.
  • Okumidori has a bright and refreshing taste. The fragrant scent of the cultivar also makes it easy to drink.

The name okumidori is loosely translated to "late green", and this is because the cultivar's young shoots take a week longer than yabukita's to sprout.

This makes the okumidori cultivar extremely ideal for farmers who own multiple tea fields and wish to grow several different cultivars.

Although okumidori originated from Shizuoka Prefecture, this cultivar is widely produced in Kyoto Prefecture. The tea can be used for the production for either sencha or matcha.

Okumidori has a beautiful green colour and a flavour profile that is the perfect balance between umami and astrigency.

 

Okumidori is one of the cultivars that you are can find at d:matcha Kyoto.

The nodes between each young okumidori leaf sprout is often slightly wider as compared to other varieties. The ratio of young okumidori leaves that sprout is also slightly more.

 

The flavour profile of okumidori is interestingly expandable and depending on the cultivation process, okumidori can be well-suited for both the production of sencha okumidori and matcha okumidori.

By varying the length the okumidori tea trees are shaded, the end brew can taste distinctly different. Take a look at the variations of sencha okumidori that we produced in 2021 here.

 

Our okumidori tea field located in the Somada region of Wazuka Town was awarded silver at the annual Japanese Tea Selection Paris event.

In 2021 for our Sencha Okumidori (Somada), we experimented with varying the shading period across the same tea field. The tea leaves were harvested on the same day and then blended together during the production process.

 

The flavour profile of okumidori also means that it can be used for the production of confectionery.

We recommend using it for wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionery) or for no-bake desserts.

This provides you with the opportunity to fully taste the quality and intricacies of the okumidori cultivar.