Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs

Please note that the Chinese "dark/black" soy sauce is VERY different than the "light/regular" one. The dark soy has a sweeter flavor, while giving the color to the egg. It's not salty at all. So the "regular" soy sauce is actually the wrong one to use.

I fudged a bit and only used water, soy, Wort. sauce and tea leaves. Make sure the cracks in the eggs break the thin membrane between the shell and the egg otherwise you won't get the marbling.

This is one of those suprising recipes. You read it and think it just can't taste good, but it turns out remarkably well. I ommitted the black soy sauce since I don't know the difference. I let the eggs soak at least overnight in the refrigerator. I peel, slice lengthwise and place yolk side down on my most elegant glass platter. The appearance is of delicate marble eggs. Even kids love the taste. I call them 1000 year old eggs after the traditional Chinese dish...not the same at all, but they look antique!

I love tea eggs! What I usually do is that I just throw the eggs in with the sauce in the initial boil and simmer for a few hours, and just let it marinate in the fridge in a container until I want to eat one. I also save the marinade for the next batch of tea eggs I want to make. I also found that adding a small amount of sugar makes it taste better. And in general, to prevent the egg from cracking in the beginning, it is best to let the eggs come to room temperature.

I love Chinese tea leaf eggs. Always takes longer to make than you'd think though. This version is okay but search around for other versions on the internet for other spices to put in.

I totally forgot to buy the anise pods, so I had to use anise extract that I had on hand. They still turned out WONDERFUL and I can't wait to make more. I can't stress using the black soy sauce over the regular enough. They are totally different flavors and if you just use double the regular soy sauce the eggs will probably end up being overly salty.

How can you argue with success? I took them to a large group potluck today, and when I brought them in the hostess carried them around to show every guest, even before placing them on the table. Almost everyone who saw them came to me and asked how I did it--including several of the children! I, personally thought they needed a tad of salt.

I have read a lot about these not being good and about it being to salty. Soy sauce is just like making cheese; curds and whey. The whey is the soy sauce and the curds get turned into miso. This is not exact but close enough. The point being that like cheese or wine there are a LOT of soy sauces out there. Find a good one or get some miso and add water if you can't find the type you like to make better soy sauces.

I LOVE THIS RECIPE. I AGREE THAT YOU HAVE TO BREAK THE MEMBRANE TO GET THE MARBLED EFFECT. I CAN'T FIND BLACK SOY SAUCE, BUT USED ALL REGULAR SOY SAUCE. I'LL TRY OMITTING THE SALT, I THOUGHT THEY ARE A BIT SALTY. I'M GOING TO TRY USING EARL GREY TEA NEXT TIME, SINCE IT'S MY FAVORITE TEA. I THINK THIS MIGHT GIVE THE EGGS AN INTERESTING FLAVOR. I'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW THEY TURN OUT.

Way too salty, and I had to keep on adding more water. If I ever make these again, I will definately add less salt, and put more water to start off with.

Wonderful flavor! I omitted the star anise (didn't have it) and used only black vinegar. No soy or salt. Threw in 2 Orange-Spiced Black Tea bags and let the eggs marinate for a week. EGG-CELLENT recipe! I will definitely be making these again... in larger batches!

These looked very very pretty, but the flavor was not at all good. Fun to do but I won't be making them again. Thanks anyway.

We loved these. The second time we made them we experimented a little by substituting a mix of memmi, potsticker sauce and a touch of rice vinegar instead of soy sauce and now my boyfriend is practically addicted to these.

These are so WONDERFUL!!!!!

I didn't have the patience to boil the entire concoction for 3 hours. Instead, I boiled it just long enough for the eggs to be cool enough to handle. Then I cracked the eggs and put them in and simmered for about 30 minutes. I did let them soak in the sauce overnight and stored them in the fridge that way, taking them out one by one only when we were going to eat them. Also, I found the recipe could be a little saltier for our taste. Otherwise, this recipe is quite yummy. The flavor is meant to be subtle, so it's not for everyone. But my husband loves it.

One of my favorites!

followed it exactly but turned out much too bland.

Very easy and delicious!! :)

These turned out lovely. When I first peeled them, the crackles were a very light color, but I noticed that after a couple of hours, the color deepened. I guess oxidation lent itself to some beautiful results! It's not very flavorful, but my family enjoyed it nonetheless.

Beautiful and delicious - eve thoughI made the mistake of using regular soy sauce instead of black.

very nice recipe. Mine did not come out with a ton of flavor, but they were BEAUTIFUL! A bit labor intensive for something without a huge punch of flavor but certainly something nice to take to a party.

Pretty to look at. A lot of work.

i have made these for years and love them, adding the anise, cinnamon and lemon was great.

The patterns that emerge on these eggs are beautiful and unique they have a very interesting taste, too. I'm glad I remembered this recipe in time for Easter. I think my young daughter will enjoy cracking the shells and then eating the eggs later!

Here is how to make black soy if you can't find it. 3/4 C yield. 1/4 C water, 2/3 to 1 C dark brown sugar,1/2 C soy sauce. Reduce to a glaze.

Very good recipe. My girlfriend and I have made tea eggs twice now and kind of merged this and the other recipe from this site. The first batch was a bit too salty, but this new batch is fantastic!

Quite bland. I know the taste is supposed to be subtle but there was really no discernable taste. I followed the recipe almost exactly (used orange zest instead of tangerine). I can see using this recipe to make deviled eggs - they would be beautiful.

An excellent recipe for traditional style tea eggs! I like the addition of the Black soy sauce. I have always used five-spice powder in mine instead of anise pods, but this is wonderful.

I made a smaller batch of two eggs, but the tea mixture ran out of liquid and burned into the pot. Maybe if I did it according to recepie, it would have turned out better.

My husband came back from Hong Kong and wanted me to make him tea leaf eggs. I never heard of them but, sure enough, AR had a recipe. Followed recipe, with no changes, and they turned out wonderful. He loves them and they're a breeze to make. Highly recommend! Thanks AR for coming to my rescue.

I love these eggs! I used to eat one every morning when I lived in China! This recipe is a good one, but I'm finding it hard to recreate the exact flavor of the eggs. I also didn't use the black soy sauce because I couldn't find it anywhere, but i added in some sugar to counteract the saltiness of the recipe. Although I didn't actually think they were as salty as some people seemed to think. I'm made these twice now and I will definitely continue to make them in the future. They are a nice change from regular hard boiled eggs. Now all I need is some pickled bamboo and rice porridge and I'll be back in China!

Beautiful and delicious - eve thoughI made the mistake of using regular soy sauce instead of black.