Purple Cane

Purple Cane — Malaysia’s first tea arts house, which has been around for 25 years — collaborated with OpenRice to co-host a not-to-be-missed event for tea aficionados.

Through invitations 45 OpenRicers joined the afternoon inspired by all things tea, including Purple Cane’s famous tea mooncakes.

It was an honor to have mooncake master, chef Kong, share with this group of curious gourmands what goes into making a good mooncake.

“Let’s get dirty!”: Chef Kong was stirring together a very wet “dough” (more like a batter, actually) with his hand. Quite challenging if you are not used to it. When it comes to mooncake-making (and for just about anything else in life), persistence and patience will pay off.

Not as easy as seemed: After taming down the sticky mass, chef Kong divided it into even pieces, which would then be rolled into thin, flabby disks for shaping into mooncakes.

The final touch: Each disk of dough was wrapped around a palm-size ball of lotus paste and pressed into a custom-made wooden mold so they would be printed with intricate design before being glazed and baked.

Now, time for a crash course in mooncake-making. Four OpenRicers were chosen to take part and make their first ever mooncakes under chef Kong’s guidance.

Hard at work to learn from a master.

“Heh, not too shabby …”

“Oh, I didn’t know I can actually make mooncakes!”

Perfect!

“Hmm, how is this supposed to go?”

Joy and laughters were shared while making their first mooncakes.

“Okay, I can flip it over …”

“I GOT IT!”

While the mooncakes were baking, a tea arts workshop was put together so that precious knowledge could be shared — how tea is produced; what happens during the fermentation of tea leaves; what is and how to make good tea; tips on tea-drinking.

An OpenRicer even had the opportunity to refine her tea-brewing skills under a master’s guidance.

Purple Cane’s top-quality Longjing Green Tea (龍井綠茶) was used for the demonstration. The OpenRicers got to sip on one of the world’s finest as brewed by a tea master.

They were even treated to moreish tea mooncakes from Purple Cane — the first of its kind in Malaysia — which complemented the tea experience. According to a number of them, albeit their first taste of the tea mooncakes, these dainty festive pastries were perfect on their own, with just the right sweetness.

Clockwise, from top right: Cantonese-Style Mooncake with Pu’er-Lotus Paste (蓮蓉普洱茶月), Cantonese-Style Green-Tea Mooncake with Pandan-Lotus Paste (金翡翠綠茶月), Cantonese-Style Green-Tea Mooncake with Pure Lotus Paste (蓮蓉綠茶月), Cantonese-Style Green-Tea Mooncake with Black Sesame-Lotus Paste (黑芝麻綠茶月), Cantonese-Style Bamboo-Charcoal Mooncake with Rose Tea-Lotus Paste (黑玫瑰竹炭花茶月), Cantonese-Style Green-Tea Mooncake with Red (Azuki) Bean Paste (豆沙綠茶月).

There were also crispy taro chips, a fabulous side, to snack on.

To cap the afternoon with a lovely note, each OpenRicer walked away with a RM15 Purple Cane cash voucher and a one-off member’s privilege for that day.

Some even bagged home goodie bags — each contained two tea mooncakes and an exquisite OpenRice mug cap — through the lucky draw.

And how could we forget these brave OpenRicers’ first mooncakes. They got to share their fruits of labor with loved ones at home!

The OpenRicers were happy to have made it to the MakanVenture. The workshops took them behind the scene of mooncake-making and world-class tea-brewing unlike anything else they had had before.

It was a fruitful afternoon, indeed!

Interested in joining our next MakanVenture? Sign up here and be chosen!