As Tom Cruise once said, “You complete me.” When it comes to food and beverage, that line rings truer than ever before. Together with any meal, there is wine, beer and even mineral water pairing etiquette. We search for the perfect beverage to enhance our tasting experience. In the light of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, we at Makansutra would like to revisit an old form of food pairing: Mooncakes with Chinese tea.

The origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival may be a little hazy to some of us (wasn’t a rabbit involved somehow? Maybe Alice in Wonderland enjoyed mooncakes at the Mad Hatter’s tea party?), but it’s definitely a season where we see bulging waistlines and a spike in our blood sugar levels.

Not that we are complaining. From snowskin mooncakes to the yam-filled Teochew-style ones, mooncakes are a tradition to be relished. The right type of Chinese tea will raise your level of enjoyment when consuming mooncakes, and we seek to revive this fast fading art of Chinese tea and food pairing. Makansutra sits down with tea master, Patrick Kang from the Tea Chapter Tea House to find out more about this match made in heaven.

“A good pairing of tea and mooncake should complement each other in taste and not overpower each other,” says tea master, Patrick Kang. Easier said than done, we reckon.

“We classify tea according to six colours – green, white, yellow, turquoise, red and black. Besides these six colours, we also have the more processed tea: the floral teas such as jasmine and osmanthus,” says Kang. “A good pot of tea should have a smooth taste and just like wasabi, the fragrance needs to shoot up your nose.”

Mooncake match-up #1 – Snowskin mooncake with white lotus filling and jasmine tea

“When it comes to mooncakes, snowskin mooncakes with white lotus filing are the ones with the lightest taste, without any overwhelming sensation. This taste blends well with jasmine tea or even green tea.” The floral fragrance of jasmine tea helps to bring out the flavour of the snowskin mooncake.

Mooncake match-up #2 – Teochew-style mooncakes with yam filling and Pu-erh tea

“Teochew-style mooncakes tend to be quite oily, and some are even deep-fried. I would recommend Pu-erh tea which is good for cleansing away the oil from your system.” Kang added that some benefits of this certain tea are that it is good for digestion, lowering cholesterol, blood sugar levels and also good for slimming purposes. “Usually our Pu-erh tea sells very well during Chinese New Year, Dumpling and Mooncake Festival too,” he said.

Mooncake match-up #3 – Mooncake with white lotus paste filling and eggyolk and heavy fermented oolong tea

“Mooncakes with the salted egg yolk have a stronger taste. For mooncakes with a strong taste, heavy fermented oolong tea is suitable. This type of tea has a smoky and woody fragrance and is ideal to pair it with food that has a strong taste.” For the typical mooncakes filled with white lotus paste without the egg yolk, he suggested pairing them with a light fermented oolong tea.

Mooncake match-up #4 – Contemporary mooncakes with alcoholic fillings and jasmine tea

“Floral teas like Jasmine are suitable for contemporary mooncakes which has hints of alcohol such as champagne and Bailey’s Irish Cream. As these mooncakes have a strong smell, it is good to pair it with floral teas which have an even stronger smell. The taste will be more balanced then.”

Makansutra celebrates Asian food culture with various platforms – managing food courts, food guides, events and consultancy. For more, click here.