2003 Chen Yuan Hao Manzhuan - Wacky Water

Brandon Kendall

16 Jul 2025 — 5 min read

2003 Chen Yuan Hao (CYH) Manzhuan

This article was written first, there is a second tasting entry I consider the more "true" entry with corrected water. Moving forward, tasting notes will again be normal. Here is that article:

Here is the kettle descaling process I did to get back to "good water" (the water used is the same for both tastings, the medium it was boiled in needed reset vigorously)

Now, the original entry:

Context:

I have not posted a tasting since my water went awry recently. It has been my main focus and my main pain. I have strong reason to believe the base water I was using changed and as such, threw off the mix for the 5 gal drum this was brewed from. Please understand this review will be slightly thrown, while surprisingly still somewhat aligned with other critical reviewers thoughts. I will update as I know more.

From trade, larger sample of 110g (1/3 cake), TWL origin collected in Germany. Probably my 5th time having. I believe I did taste this once or twice before a couple years back as well.

Parameters:

~5g (ever so slightly less than normal, trying out a bit less on avg)
1960's 67ml Hongni teapot
Empirical Water Glacial

Visuals:

Leaf is really nice, obviously. Not too much to say, quality, unbroken, somewhat middle-sized grade from appearance.

Dry Heat:

Bready, dark brown breads, pleasant.

Wet Heat:

Some fruitiness comes in that I don't think will / ever does make it to the cup, as far as this tea goes at least. Fruitiness in the realm of HP Brown Saucy Fruity fruitiness.

Steeps:

Good body, good texture, lingering mouthfeel. Tongue coater this one, like putting on a cozy sweater for the tongue. Not a big flavor-forward tea this one. Feels almost like the tongue feel is coming from very subtle astringency that almost retracts the surface buds of the tongue enough to create a smoother layer...idk, maybe malarky there.

Slightly sweet, slightly bready, nothing 'strong' or 'full' in presence. Not delicate either necessarily. Almost a tang 🍊 note on the nose in the pot now, not though, if that makes any sense. Not like a sweet and sour tang we'd experience.

I won't call it retro cause I'm half cheating and reading MattCha and MGault after and while having middle steeps. I'm getting vibes of talc, chalk, oily texture descriptions from them and a lot of emphasis on body and mouthfeel more so than taste, so I'll call myself sane there.

I guess I want to remember more flavor, but I really don't. I'm hearing from the other reviewers woody, resinous maybe, berry jam, melon...all sorts of things that I get maybe why a different water would emphasize those and tease them out but I'm really just heavily associating Manzhuan in my head with breadiness. Like, Manzhuan is almost synonymous to me with breadiness, but then I've had some Yibang with some of that too and I guess I'm not so sure now.

Middle steep of 2003 Chen Yuan Hao Manzhuan, solid orange color. — *The soup holds a nice and solid orange gradient through the mid-steeps*

Yeah - after about 7 steeps, here's where I'm at on this:

Punchline:

This is a case of mismatched expectations, that's all. It's a good tea, it really is.

The mouthfeel is great and very enjoyable. The taste is subtle but present, just different than I thought it would be. The aromas are there, and if the bready character I was anticipating was anywhere, it was in the opening aromas, but that left the building right after steep 1.

I'd drink it again. I'll drink through most of the 110g I have on hand. I'd happily test it out in different conditions like pots and waters. I won't seek out more. I probably wouldn't want more in subsequent trades.

It's nice overall, and is primarily a texture tea.
It's pleasant.
Is it worth $4/5/600? No, not to me.

Have you seen my tasting process walkthrough? Check that out here: