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What kind of tea is Yabukita? Introducing the history of Yabukita and its creator.

You might have heard of the tea variety ”Yabukita.” As introduced in this article, Yabukita is the top tea variety in Japan, with 67.6% of the tea produced in Japan being Yabukita. This excellent variety was created by a person named Hikosaburo Sugiyama in 1908 and was registered as a variety by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1953.

Did you know that the name ”Yabukita” actually means ”north of the bamboo grove”?

In 1908, Sugiyama developed a tea plantation in a bamboo grove in what is now Suruga Ward, Shizuoka City. He selected two excellent tea plants from the tea bushes. One of these plants was grown in the northern part of the former bamboo grove, so it was named ”Yabukita” (北, ”north of the bamboo grove”). At the same time, ”Yabuminami” (南, ”south of the bamboo grove”) was also developed.

This Yabukita variety was discovered in 1908 and registered in 1953, which means it took 45 years to achieve this recognition. During this long period, Hikosaburo Sugiyama led a very interesting life. While today the concept of variety improvement is well-known, at that time, the idea of improving tea varieties was not common, and people thought that mixing different types of tea would produce a good flavor. Thus, Sugiyama was considered an eccentric at the time. Despite the skepticism around him, Sugiyama’s belief in tea varieties led to the creation of ”Yabukita.” It’s remarkable that this variety still holds the largest share more than a hundred years later. In the future, I plan to delve deeper into the life of Hikosaburo Sugiyama.