Kitchen Recipe Collection
Tea Eggs (Cha Ye Dan)
The ubiquitous Chinese convenience store and street snack. Hard-boiled eggs with beautifully marbled whites, steeped in a savory, aromatic broth of black tea and whole spices.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 60 min
- Total
- 70 min
- Servings
- 6
- Difficulty
- easy
- Cuisine
- Chinese
Ingredients
Scaled for 6 servings
- 6 large eggs
- 3 tbsp black tea leaves (Pu'er or Keemun preferred, or 2 black tea bags)
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (for color)
- 1 piece rock sugar (or 1 tbsp brown sugar)
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 2 strips dried tangerine peel
- Water
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
- Spoon for cracking
Instructions
- 1
Boil Eggs
Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil for exactly 6 minutes.
- 2
Ice Bath
Remove the eggs and plunge them into an ice bath for 5 minutes. (Do not discard the water in the pot).
- 3
Crack the Shells
Using the back of a spoon, gently tap the eggshells all over until they are completely covered in fine cracks. Do NOT peel them. The cracks are how the marinade enters.
- 4
Prepare Broth
Return the cracked eggs to the saucepan with the water.
- 5
Add Spices
Add the black tea leaves, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rock sugar, star anise, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and tangerine peel.
- 6
Simmer
Bring the liquid to a boil, then immediately turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
- 7
Steep on Heat
Cover and simmer very gently for 1 hour. This infuses the eggs with flavor without boiling them to rubber.
- 8
Turn Off Heat
Turn off the heat. Do not remove the eggs.
- 9
Long Steep
For the best flavor and deepest marbling, let the eggs steep in the cooling liquid in the fridge overnight (at least 12 hours).
- 10
Serve
Remove an egg from the liquid.
- 11
Peel
Peel the shell off. You will reveal a beautiful, brown spiderweb marble pattern on the egg white.
- 12
Enjoy
Eat cold or gently warmed up as a savory, protein-packed snack.
Cooking Tips
- The longer you steep them, the better they taste. Street vendors will leave them simmering gently in massive vats for days.
- Do not use green tea, as it becomes overly bitter when boiled for a long time. Black tea provides the right color and earthy flavor.
Variations
- Quail Tea Eggs: Use quail eggs instead for bite-sized, adorable marbled snacks, adjusting the initial boil time to 3 minutes.
Nutrition Estimate
80 calories · 7g protein · 1g carbs · 5g fat · 0g fiber per serving
