The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and we all know what this means. Mooncakes. Lots and lots of mooncakes. Eating mooncakes as you are celebrating the Mooncake festival will certainly make you feel happy and satisfied, particularly if you are there with family and friends. And where there’s food, there are drinks as well.
The thing about mooncakes (and any other type of food, for that matter) is that they can have their taste heavily influenced by the drink you associate them with. Match them with the right tea or wine and their taste will be intensified and delicious. Make the wrong match and even a delicious mooncake might end up tasting less desirable. You just need to learn how to pick the right drink.
Tea Pairings For Mooncakes
Having tea has always been the default beverage to pair with mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, it can be a mind-boggling task given the number of tea choices out there.
Here are the best pairings that you may want to try out:
Green Tea With Lotus Seed Paste Mooncake
The lotus seed paste mooncake with baked skin is the most commonly sold mooncake. Given the nature of the filling, it can be very sweet and if you eat a lot of it, it can get too much at some point. This is why you may want to pair it with some green tea.
It will balance out the sweetness in your mouth, and it can also improve your digestion. Green tea can also prevent glucose from staying too long in your system.
Peppermint Tea With Snowskin Mooncake
People with a sweet tooth will often try many varieties of sweet and creamy snowskin mooncakes. A good way to enhance the taste and to balance things out would be to serve the mooncakes with some peppermint tea.
It’s a great caffeine-free alternative and the tingling aftertaste will certainly have you asking for more.
Osmanthus Tea With Durian Mooncake
The rich, bittersweet and complex filling is encased in a silky, powdery snowskin beloved by durian fans. Freshly made durian mooncakes taste best served cold right out of the fridge. This pairing is perfect for a tea made from the lightly floral osmanthus flower.
The durian mooncake goes well with this tea due to its sweet and savoury taste. To lighten this decadent treat, simply simmer some osmanthus flowers in water and drink.
Oolong Tea With Red Bean Mooncake
Red bean mooncakes are starting to gain popularity due to their full flavour and slight tanginess. A great match for this would be a highly oxidised oolong tea. Mixed with just a bit of honey, it will bring your taste buds to a new dimension.
Black Tea With Jujube Paste Mooncake
When you eat a type of heavily sweet mooncake such as the jujube paste mooncake, you need to somehow balance the tastes out. In this case, a great alternative would be to try it out with black tea.
Not only will it create a taste balance in your mouth, but it will also help your body’s glucose metabolism like green tea.
Wine Pairings For Mooncakes
If you are looking for a little more buzz than tea, a glass of wine can always be a nice addition to the table. However, to intensify the taste of the mooncake, you need to pair it with the right wine.
Here are some suggestions:
Pinot Noir With Lotus Seed Paste Mooncake
As mentioned earlier, lotus seed paste mooncakes can be very sweet, to the point where they might feel cloying after a while. This is why a good idea would be to pair it with a glass of young Pinot Noir, as its refreshing palate and strong cherry and berry characteristics can cut through the sweetness of the mooncake.
Champagne With Salted Egg Yolk Mooncake
Some of you might prefer mooncakes that come with a salted egg yoke embedded inside. This is why you might want to pair them with a glass of champagne.
With its dry and acidic bubbliness, the Champagne is able to cut through the heavy tasting mooncake and invigorate your taste buds for the next bite.
Gewürztraminer With Snowskin Durian Mooncake
Snowskin durian mooncakes are quite popular in Singapore due to its creamy, bittersweet durian filling. It is recommended that you pair these types of mooncakes with a Gewürztraminer, as its refreshing acidity and fruity aromatic taste will balance the durian flavour.
Chenin Blanc with Green Tea Snowskin Mooncakes
Tea-infused mooncakes have grown quite a bit in popularity, particularly those infused with green tea. That being said, since the mooncakes can be on the rather bitter side, you may want to pair it with a semi-sweet glass of Chenin Blanc.
Tangy and refreshing, it combines the tastes rather deliciously in your mouth.
What’s Next?
With the pairings done, there is only one thing left for you to do, enjoy the festival!
Get your favourite mooncake, pair it with the right tea and wine and get into the mood of celebrating with your loved ones.
Also, don’t be afraid to come up with your own pairing with other beverages like coffee and whiskey. Your imagination might surprise you!
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