Cha Ye Dan (Tea Eggs)

Name: Cha Ye Dan (Chinese Tea Eggs)
Prep time: PT0D0H0M
Cook time: PT0D0H24M
Total time: PT0D0H24M
Yield: 8
Ingredients: ½ cup soy sauce; ½ cup sugar; ½ tsp. fennel seeds; ½ tsp. black peppercorns; 8 cloves; 2 cinnamon sticks; 2 star anise pods; 1 Tbsp. loose-leaf smoked tea, such as lapsang souchong; 8 large eggs

Cooked in a flavorful marinade of soy sauce, star anise, and cinnamon, these marbled beauties are a favorite everyday snack in China and Taiwan.

Makes
8
Time
25 minutes, plus marinating

PHOTO: MURRAY HALL • FOOD STYLING: THU BUSER

By SAVEUR Editors

Updated on January 15, 2025

As beautiful as it is delicious, this popular snack, called cha ye dan, is made by boiling eggs, gently cracking their shells, and simmering them in a fragrant brew of black tea and spices—cinnamon, star anise, whole cloves. The tea imparts a sweet flavor that carries right through to the yolk and a sepia tint that lends an antique, marbled look to the white. Home cooks, chefs, and street vendors across China and Taiwan have their own takes on the centuries-old recipe: some add soy sauce to the brew, others up the sweet and spicy quotient by mixing in sugar and peppercorns. No matter how they’re made, they have pride of place on our table.

Featured in the SAVEUR 100 in the January/February 2012 issue.

Ingredients

½ cup soy sauce
½ cup sugar
½ tsp. fennel seeds
½ tsp. black peppercorns
8 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise pods
1 Tbsp. loose-leaf smoked tea, such as lapsang souchong
8 large eggs

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Instructions

Step 1

To a small pot, add the soy sauce, sugar, fennel, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the tea, and set aside to steep for 10 minutes. Pour the marinade through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl. Keep warm.

Step 2

To a medium pot, add the eggs and enough cold water to cover by ½ inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, remove from the heat, and set aside until the eggs are soft-boiled, about 5 minutes. Drain the eggs and crack the shells all over but do not peel. Return the eggs to the pot along with the marinade. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add 2 cups of ice. Allow the eggs to cool in the marinade before removing the shells and serving.

To a small pot, add the soy sauce, sugar, fennel, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the tea, and set aside to steep for 10 minutes. Pour the marinade through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl. Keep warm.
To a medium pot, add the eggs and enough cold water to cover by ½ inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, remove from the heat, and set aside until the eggs are soft-boiled, about 5 minutes. Drain the eggs and crack the shells all over but do not peel. Return the eggs to the pot along with the marinade. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add 2 cups of ice. Allow the eggs to cool in the marinade before removing the shells and serving.