Plant & Botany
A specific named variety of tea plant, selected for traits like flavour, hardiness or yield.
Cultivar is short for 'cultivated variety'. Just as Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir are grape cultivars, tea has thousands — Yabukita dominates Japanese green tea, Qing Xin dominates Taiwan oolong, TV1 powers Indian Assam.
From the Journal
Three of Japan's most famous green teas come from the same plant. The differences are everything — and once you know them, you'll never confuse them again.
by Sameera
Not green, not black — oolong is the in-between family that rewards craft. The science (and art) of partial oxidation, explained.
by Sameera
An hour south of Kyoto, a riverbank town has been growing the world's finest matcha for 800 years. A field report.
by Sameera
From high-mountain Dong Ding to the global juggernaut of boba — Taiwan punches far above its weight in tea culture.
by Sameera
Sixteenth-century Japan refined matcha-making into one of the most demanding art forms in human history. A primer on chado — the Way of Tea.
by Sameera
The Tea List dispatch
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