---
type: Concept
title: Tea Cultivars
description: The China (var. sinensis) and Assam (var. assamica) botanical varieties
  behind every tea cultivar, and three named examples — Yabukita, Da Hong Pao, and
  Darjeeling's seasonal flushes — that shape a cup's character.
tags:
- tea
- cultivar
- botany
resource: raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md
timestamp: '2026-07-16T15:54:42Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Under the six processing classes (see [Tea Processing](tea-processing.md)) sits the cultivar layer: a specific bred variety of [Camellia sinensis](../objects/camellia-sinensis.md).[^s1] Two botanical varieties anchor everything beneath it: var. *sinensis* — small-leaf and cold-hardy, the plant of the China highlands — and var. *assamica* — big-leaf, tropical, and malty, the base of Assam tea and of most pu-erh — with hundreds of named cultivars bred beneath them.[^s1]

## Yabukita

Yabukita is the single cultivar behind roughly 70% of all Japanese tea.[^s2] Selected in Shizuoka and registered as an official cultivar in 1953, its hardiness and balanced, umami-forward cup made it the near-monoculture backbone of Japanese sencha — when a Japanese green tastes "classic," it is usually Yabukita.[^s2]

## Da Hong Pao and the Wuyi rock oolongs

Da Hong Pao ("Big Red Robe") is the flagship Wuyi rock oolong (yancha), grown on the cliffs of the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian.[^s3] Rock oolongs are prized for yan yun, "rock rhyme" — a mineral resonance the cliff terroir lends the cup — and while a handful of ancient "mother bushes" on the Wuyi cliffs are treated as national treasures, almost all Da Hong Pao sold today is a blend of related Wuyi cultivars such as Rou Gui (spicy, cinnamon bite) and Shui Xian (thick, mossy, creamy body), tuned to the classic profile.[^s3]

## Darjeeling's flushes

In the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal, the same bushes give very different teas by season.[^s4] The first flush (spring, March-April) is light, greenish, floral, and briskly astringent, with no muscatel note; the second flush (early summer, May-June) is the prized one — fuller, amber, and carrying the famous muscatel note, a sweet, grape-like, slightly spicy character.[^s4] That muscatel character is partly a gift of the jassid leafhopper, whose nibbling on the warm-season leaf triggers the muscat-grape aromatics, which is why estates now time the second-flush pluck to the insect.[^s4]

## See also
- [Camellia Sinensis](../objects/camellia-sinensis.md)
- [Tea Processing](tea-processing.md)
- [Tea](../objects/tea.md)

## Sources
[^s1]: [raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md](../../raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md), lines 74-78 — the cultivar layer and the var. sinensis / var. assamica split (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md](../../raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md), lines 82-86 — Yabukita: ~70% of Japanese tea, Shizuoka, registered 1953 (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md](../../raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md), lines 87-93 — Da Hong Pao, yan yun, mother bushes, Rou Gui and Shui Xian (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md](../../raw/tea-processing-and-cultivars.md), lines 94-101 — Darjeeling first/second flush, muscatel, jassid leafhopper (ingested 2026-07-16)
