Sweetest Japanese Strawberry Varieties: Awayuki, Kotoka, Benihop

By Selfie Seeds™ / HWGrow · Built from documented grow experience, owner journals, and supplemental external evidence where useful.

Awayuki is our first pick when “sweetest” means a low-acid, candy-like eating experience. It is not possible to name one universal laboratory winner from this group: strawberry sweetness changes with ripeness, growing conditions, sugar, acids and aroma. Research also shows that certain aroma compounds can increase perceived sweetness independently of sugar concentration. [1]

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So this is a flavor-direction guide, not a Brix ranking. Awayuki, Kotoka and Benihoppe are named Japanese cultivars. Koyo and Omakase are the names Oishii uses for its retail strawberry varietals, so we treat them here as fruit-source flavor profiles rather than as directly comparable public cultivar records. [2]

1. Awayuki: best for a gentle, low-acid sweet impression

Awayuki is the most direct answer for growers chasing a pale berry with a soft, dessert-like sweetness rather than a sharp red-strawberry tang. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries describes Awayuki as a rare white strawberry with pronounced sweetness and low acidity. [3]

Our source fruit was pale sakura-pink rather than fully red, with delicate aroma and very little tartness. That is an eating observation, not a guarantee that every seedling will have the same color or flavor.

2. Kotoka: rich, intense sweetness with real acidity

Kotoka is a strong choice for a deep-red premium-fruit profile. It was bred in Nara from a cross involving Benihoppe and was released in 2009. The original Nara breeding report states that Kotoka fruit has high soluble-solids content and high acidity. [4]

That distinction matters: Kotoka can taste rich and highly flavored without being the least tart berry in the group. Choose it if you want concentrated juice, red color and a sweet-tart luxury-fruit direction—not simply the mildest possible berry.

3. Benihoppe: the dependable sweet-tart benchmark

Benihoppe (“red cheek”) belongs on a sweetest-Japanese-strawberries list because it combines substantial sweetness with useful acidity and aroma. It is better described as rich and balanced than as candy-sweet. Japanese export information characterizes Benihoppe by strong sweetness, rich taste and well-balanced acidity. [5]

For a seed project, Benihoppe is a useful comparison point: select seedlings that retain its red color, juiciness and aromatic sweet-tart profile, then keep the plants whose fruit performs best in your conditions.

4. Koyo: familiar red-strawberry flavor, brightened by tartness

Koyo is the more familiar-looking red option in this group. Oishii describes its Koyo Berry as having refreshing sweetness, bright aroma, subtle tartness and a slightly firm texture. [2] That makes it a good fit for growers who want a classic strawberry character with more brightness than Awayuki.

Our Koyo source-fruit description is consistent with that direction: sweeter and more aromatic than ordinary supermarket fruit, but not a low-acid novelty berry. Treat “Koyo” as a profile to select toward, especially when growing from seed.

5. Omakase: aroma, juice and creamy texture over a simple sugar contest

In our tasting notes, Omakase stood out for room-filling floral aroma, abundant juice and a soft, almost creamy texture. That is a sensory observation rather than a measured sugar claim. Oishii likewise describes the Omakase Berry as delicately sweet, highly aromatic and creamy. [2]

For seed growers, this is the most important point: a fragrant berry may taste more dessert-like than a higher-sugar berry with a weak aroma. The Selfie Seeds™ Omakase listing reports roughly 10% viability for that seed lot, so sowing multiple seeds is sensible; check the current product listing because lot-specific information can change. [6]

6. Pearl White: choose it as a phenotype-hunting project

Pearl White is the pick for growers most interested in an unusual pale-fruit phenotype. Our source fruit was fragrant and gently sweet, and we found it unusually sweet for a white strawberry. That is owner experience from the evaluated fruit, not an independently verified claim that every white strawberry—or every seedling from this fruit—will be sweeter than red cultivars.

The name Pearl White on our listing identifies the source fruit/selection; it should not be read as proof that every resulting seedling will reproduce the original plant’s exact appearance, flavor or texture.

Which of these Japanese strawberries should you start with?

Important: seed-grown plants will not be true to the named variety

This is the practical limitation behind every seed-grown premium strawberry project. University of Connecticut Extension notes that strawberry seedlings do not develop true to the named variety. [7] A seed from an Awayuki, Kotoka or Benihoppe berry can still produce an excellent plant, but it is a new seedling—not a guaranteed clone of the fruit you ate.

That is why we recommend growing enough seedlings to compare them, then keeping runners from the plants that deliver the best flavor, fruit color, vigor and yield in your own setup. Think of the name on the fruit as the starting direction for selection, not a promise of identical offspring.

See the available varieties in our Japanese strawberry seed collection or browse our rare fruit seeds.

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