Mid-Autumn Festival: Pairing Tea With Mooncakes

During the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) in China, families come together to celebrate the full autumn moon. As with many Chinese traditions, food takes center stage, and mooncakes are the highlight of the festivities.

Mooncakes are best enjoyed with a cup of tea, but choosing the right pairing can elevate the experience. While there’s no traditional tea specifically meant for mooncakes, the growing variety of fillings and flavors makes selecting the perfect tea even more important. The right match can complement the richness of the mooncake and enhance every bite.

What Are Mooncakes?

Mooncakes are small pastries, usually baked and filled with sweet or savory fillings. There are various regional pastry crust styles, each with several traditional fillings, including red bean paste, jujube paste, lotus seed paste, bean paste with salted duck egg yolks, five kernels or mixed nuts, as well as meat and ham.

Besides the classic fillings, some newer flavors like taro and pineapple have quickly become favorites. There are also more unusual options, such as chocolate, coffee, durian paste (especially in Southeast Asia), lava custard, and even ice cream.

Most traditional baked mooncake crusts are firm and slightly oily, while snow-skin mooncakes are soft and chewy. You can also find crusts that are flaky like puff pastry, and even modern jelly mooncakes. Learn more about the tradition of mooncakes and the history behind them here.  

Mooncake and Tea Pairings

Pairing tea with mooncakes is a fun way to enjoy both classic and new flavors. In this guide, we’ll look at how to match teas with popular mooncake fillings, and also consider some special crusts that could affect your choice.

Sweet Paste Mooncakes

Mooncakes filled with red bean paste, green bean paste, or lotus seed paste pair perfectly with intense black teas, such as Keemun or unsmoked Lapsang Souchong. To balance out the excessive sweetness, try nutty Longjing green tea, a mellow white tea such as Bai Mu Dan, or a lightly oxidized oolong tea, like Tie Guan Yin. These teas also pair well with the more modern taro paste mooncakes.

A. Chaozhou (Teochew) Style, Sweet Paste Mooncakes 

Chaozhou-style mooncakes are a regional specialty with a crust similar to puff pastry. They are usually filled with black or green bean pastes and are pan-fried or deep-fried instead of baked or steamed. This gives them a unique taste and texture. Their rich but delicate flavor goes well with ripe pu erh, chrysanthemum, or osmanthus tea. 

B. Snow/Ice Skin, Sweet Paste Mooncakes

These non-baked mooncakes come from Hong Kong and have a sticky glutinous rice crust. They can be filled with anything from classic lotus seed paste to chocolate, matcha, or even ice cream. Depending on the filling, you may need to keep them in the fridge or freezer. For these cold mooncakes, try a cold brew of your favorite tea, especially green teas.

Meat Mooncakes

If you’re enjoying savory, meat-filled mooncakes, choose a strong tea with a balanced flavor, like roasted oolongs. Da Hong Pao or Dan Cong oolongs such as Zhi Lan Xiang and Mi Lan Xiang work especially well.

A newer and trendy filling is Yunnan ham with rose petals, which goes well with black tea made from oolong cultivars, like Yellow Rose Lapsang Souchong or Qilan black tea. If you have plain ham fillings, you can also try aged white tea, which can add depth and help cut through any greasiness.

Duck Egg Yolk Mooncakes

The salted duck yolk gives the mooncake a savory and rich character. Black teas with a sweet, caramel-like aroma, such as Yunnan Gold and Jin Jun Mei, can help balance out the richness of the yolk.

Five Kernels Mooncakes and Sesame Paste Mooncakes

The traditional five-kernel filling is made with a mix of chopped nuts and seeds held together with maltose syrup, while the sesame one is typically made with black sesame seeds. These rich, oily, and nutritious mooncakes pair well with the earthiness of ripe pu erh tea.

Custard Lava Mooncakes

Custard lava mooncakes have become popular in recent years. Their creamy, egg yolk filling melts in your mouth, making them a rich treat. A light black tea like Jin Jun Mei can balance the custard’s richness, while ripe pu erh or chrysanthemum tea can help if they feel too heavy.

Matcha Mooncakes

With the matcha trend skyrocketing, it’s no surprise to see matcha-flavored mooncakes. The grassy, slightly sweet, and mildly bitter taste of matcha pairs nicely with toasted teas, such as buckwheat tea, or with jasmine green tea.

Fruity Filling Mooncakes

As there are many different new fruit fillings for mooncakes, such as pineapple, durian and coconut, you can pair them with herbal teas, like chrysanthemum flowers, or fruity blends with apple pieces. You can also try green teas and jasmine green teas to enrich the experience.

Chocolate Mooncakes

For these sweet mooncakes, try an aged pu erh to balance the depth of the chocolate or a nice Dian Hong tea to add more creaminess.

To Summarize: Which Tea to Choose?

Here we summarize some guidelines for the best pairing:

1. Green and light oolong teas suit bean paste and snow-skin mooncakes.
2. Stronger black teas balance sweet fillings, while lighter ones pair with rich salted yolks.
3. Ripe pu erh and chrysanthemum cut the greasiness and pair with oily or fried crusts.
4. Roasted oolongs are ideal for meat and other savoury fillings.
5. White teas, jasmine teas, and herbal teas complement delicate or fruity flavors.