A cup of Gayo Mountain coffee is not a type of coffee that you can easily find in your local coffee shop. 

At Otsukimi house party, we made Gayo Mountain coffee and served with Japanese sweets.

Otsukimi (お月見) which means “moon viewing” (also known as the Japanese Harvest Moon Festival or Japanese Mid-Autumn Festival) is a celebration dating back to the Heian period to honor the harvest moon which takes place on the 15^th day of the eighth month of the traditional Japanese calendar (between September and October of the modern Gregorian calendar).

Many people in Japan celebrate this occasion by holding a party to gather and watch the moon while serving food and drink, which traditionally include; dango (rice dumplings), taro (sweet potatoes), kuri (chestnuts), sake (rice wine), etc.

Tsukimi dango are stacked together and displayed on a small altar along with other offerings to pray for abundant harvest  and good fortune.

Dango is so easy to make.  Add water to Dango powder and mix with your hand until the dough is nice and smooth.

Roll the dough and make bite size balls.  Cook the dough until they float.

We dropped dango in Zenzai (sweet red bean soup.)   Coffee and Japanese sweets go well together!

Photos: tom_shira

Myoi’s Gayo Mountain ￥770 per 100g