Zairai: A single cultivar or a blend?

在来という品種：単一品種？それともブレンド？

This is one of the field plots of Zairai plants at Miyazaki Sabou, a family tea farm in Miyazaki.

We call a group of indigenous tea plants "Zairai". Then, is it a simple equivalent of a cultivar like Minamisayaka (a cultivar from Miyazaki) ?

The answer is Yes and No.

Each Zairai plant are completely different to each other in terms of growth and flavor characteristics. This is because tea plants are cross-pollinated, meaning that a tea plant makes seeds only when it crosses with another tea plant. 

When two tea plants cross to polinate, the children (= seeds) inherits the characteristics of both parents. 1/2 of their father and 1/2 of their mother. Therefore, the children are actually genetically different from their parents. For example, if you sow seeds of Minamisayaka, the seedlings are completely different plants that are no longer Minamisayaka.

This photo shows a bush of zairai plants from a farm in Kyoto. If you make a close look at, you will find different patches in different shades of green, or simply the difference in frost damage (brown part). The border of these batches is the border of the different plants.

To make teas, one plant is not enough. In fact, Zairai tea is made by mixing leaves of different Zairai trees. So, our Zairai tea is a single cultivar in the sense that it is one group of indigenous tea plants in one specific farm, but in fact it is a blend of different trees inside that location.