Hard-boiled eggs, their shells cracked in a marble pattern, simmered for 1–2 hours in a master broth of tea, soy sauce, star anise, cassia, Sichuan pepper, and dark soy sauce — the tea and spice compounds infusing through the cracked shell into the egg white, producing a marbled, brown-tinted egg with a complex, slightly smoky, tea-and-spice flavour. Tea eggs are sold from large pots at convenience stores, train stations, and market stalls throughout China — among the most ubiquitous of all Chinese street foods.
**The eggs:** Hard-boiled to a firm yolk (10 minutes in boiling water). While still hot: crack the shells by gently rolling on a hard surface, or by tapping with the back of a spoon — producing a network of cracks across the entire shell surface without removing the shell. **The simmering broth:** - Oolong or black tea: 3 tablespoons (brewed in the water). - Dark soy sauce: 3 tablespoons. - Light soy sauce: 2 tablespoons. - Star anise: 3 pieces. - Cassia: 1 stick. - Sichuan pepper: 1 teaspoon. - Rock sugar: 1 tablespoon. - Dried chilli (optional): 2. **The two-stage infusion:** 1. Simmer the cracked-shell eggs in the broth for 1 hour. 2. Turn off the heat. Leave the eggs in the broth for a further hour. 3. Alternatively: refrigerate in the broth overnight — the longer infusion produces a more deeply coloured and flavoured egg. **The marble pattern:** When the shells are removed after infusion: the egg white shows a network of brown lines where the broth penetrated through the shell's cracks. The depth of colour in these lines indicates the infusion time — pale brown after 2 hours, deep brown after overnight infusion.
Fuchsia Dunlop, *Land of Plenty* (2001); *Every Grain of Rice* (2012); *Land of Fish and Rice* (2016); *The Food of Sichuan* (2019)