Across China: Matcha mooncakes spice up Mid-Autumn Festival traditions

Staff members make matcha mooncakes at a food company in Jiangkou County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept. 3, 2025. (Xinhua)

GUIYANG, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- As matcha, a youth favorite, meets the iconic mooncake for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the traditional mooncake gets a modern makeover, gaining fresh appeal among young Chinese consumers.

In Jiangkou County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, the forest coverage rate reaches 77 percent. Nestled at the foot of Mount Fanjing, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the county is home to 160,000 mu (about 10,667 hectares) of tea plantations, one-fifth of which are dedicated to matcha production.

In the just passed September, local matcha companies in Jiangkou saw increased orders, with matcha mooncake producers operating at full capacity.

Inside a digitalized mooncake workshop of Guizhou Gui Tea Group Co., Ltd., the aroma of pastries filled the air, as workers in clean uniforms, masks and hairnets made matcha mooncakes.

"We've reduced the sweetness of traditional mooncakes and added the fragrance of matcha, which appeals to the taste of young consumers," said Zhong Jin, director of the general manager's office of the company.

A white paper released in 2023 by a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that China had become the world's largest matcha producer and consumer.

The company has been making matcha since 2017, and set up a high-standard matcha industrial park in Jiangkou County.

Today, Jiangkou has emerged as a global matcha powerhouse. In 2024 alone, the county sold more than 1,200 tonnes of matcha -- the highest in the country -- generating an output value of over 300 million yuan (about 42.2 million U.S. dollars). Its products have reached overseas markets, including Japan, the United States and France.

As matcha gains popularity, diverse matcha products are available on the market.

Leveraging this momentum, Guizhou Gui Tea Group made two new matcha mooncake products for the Mid-Autumn Festival this year. Within just one week of release, the two products' online orders exceeded 110,000 boxes.

As of Wednesday, the final day of the National Day holiday, the company has sold 200,000 boxes of matcha mooncakes. Zhong said that the products have proven to be immensely popular, resulting in a supply shortage.

The matcha boom also benefited smaller local producers. Since September, technicians and workers at a food development company in downtown Jiangkou have been dedicated to a matcha-flavored mooncake with gastrodia elata and ham. These entirely handcrafted mooncakes had a daily production capacity of 12,000 pieces.

Cen Defen, general manager of the company, said that they began preparing ingredients in August, and the orders surpassed 5 million yuan in just half a month. ■

This photo taken on Sept. 4, 2025 shows matcha mooncakes in Jiangkou County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua)

A staff member makes matcha mooncakes at a food company in Jiangkou County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept. 3, 2025. (Xinhua)