Yabukita Black

About This Tea

History of Yabukita Cultivars Yabukita is derived from two Japanese words, Yabu(?), meaning bamboo grove, and Kita(?) meaning north. It was first cultivated in 1908 by a tea breeder named Sugiyama Hikosaburo(?????). He came from a family of doctors, but chose a different path and became a tea farmer and breeder. He took two tea samples from the fields of Shizuoka city and plated them in a testing field. The field was close to a bamboo grove, and samples came from the north, and therefore he named the new breed Yabukita. The one similar to this came from the south and was named Yabuminami, whereas Minami means south. He experimented with different styles to determine which survives longer and gives better-desired characteristics. After years of struggle, he finally managed to develop the Yabukita cultivar and discarded the Yabuminami due to disadvantages. Yabukita got registered much later in history.