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Tea Leaf Eggs

Appetizer 🧄Breakfast 🍳Side Dish 🥗Snack 🍿 Chinese 🇨🇳 High-Protein 💪Vegetarian 🥦Clean Eating

Tea Leaf Eggs are hard-boiled eggs gently cracked and steeped in a fragrant bath of black tea, soy sauce, and warm spices like star anise, cinnamon, and clove. The marbled whites soak up savory-sweet notes with a hint of citrus and licorice, perfect for snacking, lunch boxes, or a festive platter. Expect a balanced, aromatic flavor that deepens as they rest.

  • Prep10 min
  • Cook2 hr 45 min
  • Serves10
  • DifficultyEasy
Tea Leaf Eggs
  1. 1

    Put the tea, cinnamon, star anise, five-spice, cloves, ginger, peppercorns, licorice, orange peel, rock sugar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce into a large saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes.

  2. 2

    Meanwhile, gently tap the hard-cooked eggs to crack the shells all over. The soy sauce will seep into the cracks and tint the egg white.

  3. 3

    Add the eggs to the simmering liquid and cook for 30 minutes, then take the pan off the heat and let the eggs sit in the liquid for 2 hours off the heat.

  4. 4

    After 2 hours, drain the eggs, chill them, and peel.

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