Mid Autumn Festival is a celebration of great cultural significance for many Asian cultures. Although commonly associated with Chinese culture, festivities occur across regions. It is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. The moon is observed to be the biggest and brightest around this day. Traditions of the Mid Autumn Festival surround the theme of gathering and thanksgiving, giving rise to common practices such as dragon dancing, shangyue (赏月) and having mooncakes.
Folktales and Myths surrounding Mid Autumn Festival
There are many different folktales and stories that have been passed down relating to the festivities. One of the most widely shared is the tale of the Moon Goddess,Chang E. Another tale describes how mooncakes played a significant role in overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty.
In Singapore, consuming and gifting mooncakes during this season to friends and relatives is a regular occurance. Traditionally, mooncakes are baked with a lotus paste filling. In the present day, snowskin is another common form of mooncakes. The latter has more flavour options. Both variations are often shared as one can easily overindulge. Aside from sharing, pairing the mooncakes with tea is another effective way to balance the heavier textures and flavours.
The complexity in creating tea infused mooncakes lies in highlighting the taste of the teas as other ingredients, with their own flavours are added into the mixture. Without delving into the chemistry of things, the balance of ingredients is crucial to ensuring a favourable texture for the filling as well.
Haflong Tea’s 2023 Snowskin Mooncakes
Haflong Tea is excited to announce our Mooncake Series for 2023! This year the collection will feature two distinctly different flavours binded by similar themes, both drawing inspiration from Chinese culture. Creamy interiors packed with tea flavours enwrapped within a thin snowskin exteriors.
The collection is now out!
Osmanthus Oolong: The Osmanthus Flower blooming season coincides with the eighth month of the lunar calendar. In the folktale of Chang E, the osmanthus trees were grown on the moon. We could not pass on infusing our Osmanthus Oolong tea in the mooncakes.
Bite into this pale green snowskin mooncake and you will find Osmanthus flowers scattered throughout. This not only provides texture but creates bursts of a floral scent. The oolong tea cuts the natural sweetness of the chilled delight and creates a fine and exquisitely balanced flavour.
Safflower Safari: Safflower is an ingredient found in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Haflong Tea’s Safflower Safari combines safflower with rooibos, rosehips and honeybush to create a fruity and sweet tisane with an aroma reminiscent of berries.
A fruit-like sweetness with a touch of citrus packed into a chewy yellow snowskin. The bold counterpart to the Osmanthus Oolong snowskin, the Safflower Safari mooncake is a unique flavour.
Mooncake and tea has been an inseparable combination as the tea helps to cut the intense flavours. For the Haflong Tea 2023 Mooncake Collection we have paired the above two flavours with a premium green tea – Jasmine Dragon Pearl. Shaped like huge pearls, these leaves undergo rigorous and calculated processes to develop a brew that is fragrant, smooth with subtle notes of underlying sweetness. Not only does the taste compliment the mooncakes perfectly, the name of the tea is apt for the festival. Dragon Dance is a popular sighting during this time and the acrobatic and versatile dance mimics the actions of a dragon chasing after a pearl.
Preorder for the collection is now open!
For more information, contact us at info@haflongtea.com.
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