Yamakai is one of the varieties that was selected and developed from Yabukita seeds at the Shizuoka Prefecture research centre in 1967. These varieties are all coded as Shizu-7166. They include Kurasawa (Shizu-7111) and of course the famous Shizu-7312. Yamakai was not given a high ranking during the tea professionals’ era because it has an unusual scent that sometimes evokes melons and sometimes raspberries. It is rich in umami and has been used for shaded production that somewhat attenuates the unusual aspects of its fragrance. Today, however, its highly recognizable fragrances make it a fascinating unshaded sencha. Time of harvest: early.