Tea Eggs

Chinese Tea Eggs (茶葉蛋)

A classic Chinese street snack: hard-boiled eggs gently cracked and steeped in a fragrant brew of black tea, soy sauce and warming spices, producing a beautifully marbled pattern and savoury flavour throughout the white.

Prep

5 min

Cook

20 min

Total

25 min

Serves

6 eggs

Difficulty

Easy

Recipe ingredients

• •6 whole (6 large) eggs, room temperature, to reduce cracking when added to hot water
• •500 ml (2 cups) water, plus more to cover eggs if needed
• •20 g (⅔ oz) black tea leaves, loose-leaf black tea such as Lapsang Souchong or Keemun, or 4 tea bags
• •60 ml (¼ cup) light soy sauce, use a Chinese light soy (生抽), not dark sweet soy
• •15 g (1 tbsp) dark soy sauce, optional, for deeper colour and richer flavour
• •2 whole star anise
• •1 piece cassia or Chinese cinnamon stick, about 5 cm
• •2 whole cloves
• •1 piece (1 inch) fresh ginger, slightly smashed, about 3 cm
• •10 g (2 tsp) rock sugar or regular sugar, optional, balances the saltiness
• •5 g (1 tsp) salt

Steps

1. 1 Place the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan and cover with cold water by about 2 cm. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, then reduce to medium and cook for 9–10 minutes so the yolks are just fully set with no grey ring.
2. 2 Drain the eggs and immediately transfer to a bowl of cold water or run under cold tap water for 2–3 minutes until cool enough to handle. This stops the cooking and makes peeling easier if you choose to peel later.
3. 3 Using the back of a spoon or the flat of a small knife, tap each egg all over to create a network of fine cracks in the shell. Do not press so hard that large pieces fall off — you want the shell to stay in place so the pattern develops in the white.
4. 4 In the same saucepan, combine 500 ml water, black tea, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce (if using), star anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes so the spices infuse.
5. 5 Add the cracked eggs to the simmering broth. Top up with a little extra water if needed so the eggs are at least 90% submerged. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes so the eggs absorb the flavour and colour.
6. 6 Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and refrigerate the eggs in the broth for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight (12–24 hours) for the deepest, most pronounced marbling. The longer they steep, the stronger the flavour and the darker the pattern.
7. 7 To serve, lift an egg from the broth, peel it carefully so the marbled pattern is preserved, and eat warm or cold. Strained leftover broth can be reused once: reboil with a little fresh soy and tea, then steep a new batch of cracked eggs.