Tea Leaf Egg

茶叶蛋

Missed Taiwan's tea leaf eggs so much! They are so delicious, we bought them from 7-11 convenience store everyday while we were holidaying in Taiwan in April 2024. I followed the recipe from this youtube and cooked 10 instead of 20 eggs.

Ingredients:

10 eggs

50ml soy sauce

20g rock sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 types of tea leaves (1 lipton tea bag and 1/2 teabag of wu long cha 乌龙茶 tea leaves)

2cm cinnamon stick

2 star anise

Method:

1. Put eggs in a pot and fill with sufficient water to cover the eggs. 

2. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat to low and boil the eggs for 20 minutes. 

3. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and set aside the eggs in the pot (do not drain the water) for 20 minutes.

4. After 20 minutes, drain the water and use a spoon to crack the eggs by giving each egg a light tap on the round end, followed by 3-4 taps on the side of the egg. This is to create the marbled effet and to allow the flavors from the tea soup to infuse the eggs. 

5. Put the cracked eggs into the same pot and add the tea soup ingredients (soy sauce, rock sugar, salt, tea leaves, cinnamon stick and star anise). Add water until it just covers the eggs.

6. Bring to a boil, then boil over low heat 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let the eggs soak in the tea soup for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, boil the tea soup for a final 20 minutes. Turn off heat and the eggs are ready to be eaten!