Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs/茶葉蛋

As a kid, I didn’t really care for hard-boiled eggs. They were bland, and the yolk was dry and crumbly.  As fun as our yearly Easter egg decorating marathon was, there was always a half dozen boiled-beyond-redemption eggs to deal with afterwards.

Tea Leaf Eggs however, were a different story. Eggs boiled for hours in a heady mixture of tea and soy sauce, the were earthy and salty, and so pretty with their crackled pattern. My grandmother and mother would make big batches and leave them in the fridge for us to snack on.  

Despite all of the infused flavour, there was a small part of me that still hated the egg yolks. Dry, and boiled to that grey-green stage, they were only salvageable with liberal amounts of soy sauce.

So imagine how clever I felt when I realized that I could break from tradition and make a soft-boiled Tea Leaf Egg! A quick Google search showed that many people already had the same idea, which left me feeling a little less clever. At the same time however, I was relieved to know that others shared my yolk-aversion. 

Because the boiling time is a lot shorter, it’s a little trickier to get the intense marbling effect seen in traditional Tea Leaf Eggs, but they still taste wonderful. Yolk and all.

Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs/茶葉蛋

6 to 8 soft boiled eggs
4-6 cups water
6 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 star anise
3 tablespoons black tea (or 2 teabags), I used Pu-Erh tea/普洱茶
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon brown sugar

 1. Soft boil your eggs until the yolk is just barely set using your favourite method, such as:

                -Bring eggs covered with cold water to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes

                -Drop cold eggs into a pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes

                -Steam your eggs for 6  minutes in a little bit of water, as seen in this video that is currently making the rounds

2.  Rinse the eggs under cold tap water until cooled.

3.  Crack the egg shells all over by tapping on a cutting board or with the back of a spoon. Don’t be shy. You want big cracks so that the tea and soy sauce can get in to flavour and stain the egg white. The more cracks in the egg shell, the more intricate the pattern. However, tap too hard, and you’ll get a big dent in the egg white, and you’ll also run the risk of having the egg shell fall off.  Set the eggs aside while you prepare the broth..

4. Add fresh water (about 4-6 cups, or enough to cover the eggs, depending on the size of your pot), light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise, tea leaves, cinnamon, and sugar to a medium pot. Boil for 15 minutes to release all the flavours.

5.  Remove from heat and add the eggs. Cover and let them steep until cooled. Transfer eggs and mixture to the fridge and let it steep for at least one day. The longer the eggs soak, the better the flavour. Eggs can keep this way for up to a week.

Tea leaf eggs are considered a street food or snack, so most people just peel and eat. You can eat them cold or re-heated in the tea/soy mixture. Sometimes, I cut them in half and add them to a bowl of ramen noodles.