General Photography

What do you get when…

Here’s a question which you might not have thought of before (I know I hadn’t!) – What do you get when you cross an egg with a tea bag? Answer: A very brown tea-flavored (?) egg!

Tea Egg

When I saw Echo placing tea bags in a pan with half-a-dozen or so eggs I though she had gone mad for a second or two until it was explained to me that this was a common Chinese specialty prepared by boiling eggs in tea. The theory goes that the tea seeps through the cracked shell, thereby flavoring the egg and giving it a marbleized appearance. Here’s what they turned out like:

Tea Egg

The taste is certainly interesting and not at all unpleasant but it’s not something I’d want to eat everyday. From what I’ve gathered this term Chinese/Japanese cooking in general is a lot more healthy (lots of vegetables etc) and hence they don’t have any of the obesity problems the West are facing right now – coined the ‘meat-ball’ condition by my friend, and aptly so I think!

You can find instructions for cooking your own tea eggs (cha ye dan) here.

Author

Originally from the UK, David is designer and wanderer currently based in Kamakura. Prior to this, he lived in China and longs to explore more of this vast and varied land. He started Randomwire in 2003 to chronicle his travels and occasional musings. Feel free to drop him a line.

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