"The Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival is the second most important holiday of the year in China," said Moonraker's owner Maria Holt. "It's a holiday celebrated in most east Asian cultures – in Singapore it's a children's holiday, and it's also celebrated in Japan. I've heard it described as 'Chinese Thanksgiving' because it's all about friends and family."
And feasting, too, and of course, drinking tea.
Stop by Moonraker Tea Shop on Thursday, October 1st to taste traditional mooncakes, the special treat that Chinese people enjoy for the holiday. October 1st is date of the Harvest Moon, the month's first full moon (there's be a second, the Blue Moon, on Halloween!). The moon will be officially full at 5:05pm, though we won't see it rise until 7:22pm. Moonraker Tea Shop will be open late – 11am until 9pm – for tea and mooncakes.
Mooncakes can be savory or sweet. The filling is surrounded by pastry and pressed in a mold to form intricate, beautiful designs.
"I ordered the traditional lotus seed with egg yolk," Maria explained. "I chose the white lotus because it's sweet. The yolk in the middle is supposed to be the moon."
She showed me a package of "mixed nut with ham" mooncakes and another with traditional red bean paste flavor.
"I'll also have mooncakes with custard filling for the less adventurous," she laughed.
Maria will serve up free samples of the mooncakes with Chinese and Japanese green teas and fresh pears – both important elements of a Moon Festival meal. And of course the shop will be decorated with Chinese lanterns, which will also be available for purchase. (Maria found reusable nylon lanterns.)
On the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival evening Chinese families gather with friends outside to stargaze and moongaze while they enjoy their holiday treats.
Moonraker is putting together "Stargazing Kits" for sale; the kits include a blanket, tickers for 2 hot or iced teas, a box of cookies, and a star chart of the night sky all bundled up in a canvas string backpack. You can grab one to enjoy the harvest moon at the beach...
Moonraker is located in Spencer's Market, where it opened in 2018. In 2019, Maria expanded the shop into the former Roxy's Antiques space – and then it was flooded in Hurricane Dorian. After extensive repairs and delays due to COVID-19, Moonraker opened for the 2020 season on July 21st.*
"I've always loved tea," Maria said. "When I went to college, I met people from the mid-East and Asia, and they told me, 'oh, no, don't use that tea bag' and introduced me to real tea."
Maria also credits the once-popular mall store Teavana for helping her learn about tea blends. Starbucks bought the brand, starting serving it in their stores, and closed the Teavana locations much to American tea-drinkers' dismay. (Americans drink more coffee, but worldwide, tea is the second most popular thirst-quencher after water.) Speaking of Starbucks, Maria used to work at one and says, "I was the tea person." We commiserated about coffeeshops not really knowing how to brew a proper cuppa.* She also worked at a locally-owned tea shop in her hometown on Pittsburgh, PA and learned more about the fine art of the world's best drink. She's interested in tea ceremonies from diverse cultures, and plans to master the samovar over the winter.
With two undergraduates degrees in Art History and Classics & Antiquities, Maria was "struggling to find a real job and working three jobs and interviewing for three months" when her mom reminded her of her dream of opening a tea shop of her own.... on Ocracoke?
Maria's family were longtime visitors to Ocracoke and her mom, Charlene, likes to keep an eye out for real estate deals. Along with her parents, Maria purchased the Moonraker building (one of three sections of Spencer's Market), which includes the retail space and a condo above where Maria lives along with her mom, dad Bill, and brother Grant who come and go, floating between Pittsburgh (where they have rental properties) and Ocracoke.
Charlene and Grant help out in the shop, and Bill "passes through. He fixes things," Maria said. "It's a family business, but I'm the head honcho."
Maria sources her loose leaf tea from all over the world, buying from U.S., U.K., German, Canadian, and Chinese companies. She tries to find organic teas when possible. Some of Moonraker's teas come blended, but some of the blends are Maria's creations. Tea is available by the ounce, and customers are welcome to create their own blends from black tea, green tea, and spaces and favors from jars that line the walls. I am partial to the Fig Cherry and Fig Berry blends, which were served at the 2019 Fig Festival.
Maria will also brew a cup for you on the spot, hot or poured over ice. Add sugar, honey, or fancy maple syrup for your sweet tooth.
In addition to tea, there are, of course, tea accessories: tea balls and tea cups and tea pots and tea pitchers and teaspoons. Also, the amazing electric kettle that every tea drinker needs. And tea condiments: honey, maple syrup, condensed milk. And tea accompaniments: Walker's shortbread cookies, Scottish chocolates, British biscuits (cookies), scone mixes, and old-fashioned candies.
There's also an eclectic assortment of foodstuffs and gift items including gourmet spices, exotic Kit-Kats (wasabi-flavored!), candles, soaps, essential oils, and craft cocktail mixes. For special 2020 fun there's a dumpster-fire magnet and Corncrake Island*** stickers.
Moonraker is open most days 11am–6pm. Mail order is available from their website at moonrakerteashop.com.
*In the interest of full disclosure, I need to say that my daughter, Mariah, started working at Moonraker this summer in her first job that she got to choose for herself. (She also crews on the Windfall II, but she's Shanghai'd into that.)
**I am also a tea person. I love tea, hot or cold. It's the elixir of the gods. It is good at all hours with all foods for all occasions. And besides, I hate coffee. I hate the smell of it brewing. I hate the smell of it on others (yes, I can tell you've been drinking it.) I don't let anyone drink coffee out of my tea mugs because it lingers. I've had exactly one cup of coffee in my entire 53 years and it was thirty years ago when some friends were trying to sober me up in a bar and it tasted so wretched I had to sweet talk the bartender into adding Bailey's so I could choke it down, which didn't exactly help my situation. Note: Maria did not disparage coffee or its drinkers. That's all me.
***Ask the Weather Channel...
