Okumidori is the late-budding cultivar — the buds open about a week after Yabukita, and that slow start builds its signature in the bowl: deep jade colour, a round, almost creamy umami, and remarkably little bitterness. Shaded, steamed and stone-milled, it makes one of the most forgiving single-cultivar matchas to whisk — sweet enough for everyday usucha, with enough structure for koicha.
We carry Okumidori matcha from two growing regions — Nishio, with its river-clay soils, and volcanic Kagoshima in the south. The genetics are identical, since tea cultivars are propagated from cuttings; what separates the tins is terroir and shading craft. Tasting the two side by side is the cleanest single-cultivar comparison we know.
The full cultivar story — parentage, the disputed father, and how Okumidori reads against Yabukita and Saemidori — is in our Okumidori matcha guide. The same plant as sencha lives on the Okumidori cultivar shelf; all named-cultivar matcha is here.