Moon Cakes & Tea Pairing

[TeaZero]

Hi all, today it's Mid-Autumn festival in China, and some of you may know that the Chinese will enjoy moon cakes together with Family. Traditional moon cakes are round and symbolise 'reunion'.

Are you familiar with moon cakes? If so, do you pair moon cakes with tea? We would love to hear your thoughts.

For those, who're having moon cakes for the first time, this can be a good tea pairing guide:
Moon cakes & tea pairing

[Bok]

For me any roasted oolong, Hongcha or otherwise “dark” tea will do. Usually I prefer a coarser grade when pairing with food, as the good tea’s finer nuances will be lost and wasted among the food.

The better way for me to enjoy a good tea is to wait a bit after eating and then make tea.

[Ethan Kurland]

For me any roasted oolong, Hongcha or otherwise “dark” tea will do. Usually I prefer a coarser grade when pairing with food, as the good tea’s finer nuances will be lost and wasted among the food.

The better way for me to enjoy a good tea is to wait a bit after eating and then make tea.

Brought this old thread up because Leofox reminded me of the season--thank you Leo. I went to Boston's Chinatown yesterday & bought moon cakes. Don't know the name for what I have but believe there are lotus seeds in it as well as other seeds & finely chopped nuts. Paste is not easily defined, not too sweet, & ultimately is very enjoyable though it was so strange for me when I first ate mooncakes around the age of 40, now the word "exotic" is a better descriptor.

I agree w/ Bok about what type of tea to drink while eating; so, I drink my dark red oolong from Thailand which is somewhat like free tea offered when eating dim sum at a restaurant. Eating mooncakes about twice a year, as I do, is enough times for me; nonetheless, they please me greatly. I buy enough to have some daily for about a week.

[Balthazar]

Lotus (both white and "normal") are a favorite filling here too, along with red bean. Coming around to the salty egg yolk addition too, which I didn't dig in the beginning.

We only eat mooncakes on and around the mid-autumn festival, limiting the consumption by making it an annual event helps keep it a special treat. Which reminds me I have to finish the last two cakes before this year's mooncake window closes.

Another vote for pairing with roasted oolong btw. A classical profile qianliangcha or a simple dian hong work really well too.

[Ethan Kurland]

Winter melon, white sugar, dextrose, maltose, wheat flour, wheat flour, peanut oil, egg yolks to make a wonderful mooncake, enjoyed best taking big bites that always include some of the 2 yolks in the middle of each large mooncake.

I started pairing w/ Dong Pian from last winter. This was a mistake since the dong pian deserves full attention & the mooncake is special enough===so, I searched for this thread then took out my Thai dark oolong for the pairing I used a year ago.

Not too late to get mooncakes & Chinese markets have the expensive boxes at buy 1 get 1 free! Cheers

[aet]

I ate them all before even holiday started . I can't eat the Yunnan ones which has dry beef pieces mixed with some sweet stuff in it and all surface is kinda oily. So my wife buys for me the cantoneese style. Vendor asked her if she is buying it from some non local perosn coz seems like locals don't lke those.
Most of the time I pair it with shu or Liubao.

[Bok]

It is very hard to find good moon cakes, most are way to heavy, oily, sweet or the texture is just one dense block of something... but if you find that magical, balanced one, with light skin crumbling away when you bite it to reach the rich, yet fluffy insides – then it can be heaven.

That said, I prefer Sun-Cake, a Taichung specialty. The only instance I can tolerate Osmanthus flavour (Guihua). Delicious! Equally full of fat that needs generous washing down with tea