Abstract
A new medium budding green tea cultivar (‘Sayamaakari’) with improved color has been bred at the Saitama Tea Research Institute. ‘Sayamaakari’ was selected from seedlings crossed between tea line 60F1-148 and tea cultivar ‘Sayamakaori’ in 1981. The new cultivar’s optimum plucking time, yield, cold resistance, etc., were tested from 2012, with these efforts culminating in the registration of the cultivar under the name ‘Sayamaakari’ in 2017.
The shape of the cultivar is semi-erect, and its growth is slightly vigorous. The plucking time of the first crop of the cultivar is the same as that of ‘Sayamakaori’, which is one day earlier than that of ‘Yabukita’. The yield of the first and second crops of ‘Sayamaakari’ is more than that of ‘Sayamakaori'. ‘Sayamaakari’ demonstrates resistance to cold damage and mulberry scale. However, it has a weak resistance to anthracnose. ‘Sayamaakari’ has an umami and astringent taste, similar to that of ‘Sayamakaori’, but its color is fresh green, whereas that of ‘Sayamakaori’ is black. The unrefined tea of ‘Sayamaakari’ has a higher proportion of stem tea than ‘Sayamakaori’.
