2004 Smokey Manzhuan Ancient Tree Brick

In a Sentence

Layered sweet-juicy treat.

Wet Leaf Aroma

washing powder, barbecue sauce

Tasting Notes

Starts smokey with pronounced wild honey sweetness and an oily mouthfeel. Minty cooling herbal taste in the back of the tongue together with a sugary sweetness upfront makes for a mouthwatering juicy cup. Smokeyness is gentle. Some (comfortable) bitterness if pushed. Patience and depth is average, but the taste is rich, sweet and layered.

Quick

Sheng ★★★ The Essence of Tea

Details

Entry Date

30.11.2022

Country

China

Region

YiWu, Manzhuan

Price EUR/50g

18.9

Link

essenceoftea.com

Properties

Qi (1-5) i The tea’s felt effect on body and mind.

Average, not too much depth.

Huí Gān i Returning sweetness after bitterness, perceived after swallowing.

Sweet, minty, salivating.

Hóu Yùn i Throat resonance — the depth and length of the finish.

Feeling of opening up the throat and encouraging deep breaths

Kōu Gǎn i Mouthfeel: texture, density, softness, or dryness.

In the beginning quite oily, later steeps more watery light.

Journal

2026-01

Reordered this tea after three years, just to see how it fares. I remember really enjoying it back then.

And yes, for taste alone it’s a no-brainer. There’s a hint of smokiness woven into a mouthwatering, sweet body, with a refreshing, minty throat and a soft, sweet aftertaste. Sweetness is a red thread throughout, much more than I remember from the sample 3 years ago. There’s also a some bitterness (very low in the Zini), - I find it sits beautifully with the rest of the aromatics, adding to an enjoyable aged complex taste rather than fighting it.

For endurance: the initial fullness slowly eases off after a few rounds, but the aftertaste holds up well throughout.

In terms of energy and body feel, it lands more in the factory range. Not outstanding, but solid.

So yes, hard to rate - for taste alone it’s wonderful, and great to drink - for depth, its solid.