Recipe Note from Cecelia Chiang:
These beautiful marbleized eggs are the ultimate snack food. They’re nutritious, can be served warm or cold, are portable, and best of all, are easy to make. But not only are they perfect for a picnic, they’re quite elegant on a platter at a buffet. When I was a girl, they were sold on every Beijing street corner by vendors, but I thought some of the best ones were sold as snacks at the opera house. Today, I still make them at home to have in the morning with my congee. When my son, Phillip, and daughter, May, come to visit with their families, they always seem reassured to find tea eggs waiting for them in the refrigerator waiting for them.

Recipe Note from Lisa Weiss:
It’s not necessary to use expensive black tea leaves, or even loose black tea – Cecelia prefers Lipton’s tea bags – but whatever kind of tea you use, make sure it’s fresh and doesn’t smell musty. I save eggs that have been in my fridge and are close to their pull date for hard boiling because I find “old” eggs much easier to peel. You want to keep the shells on the eggs after they’ve been cracked, but if a few shells fall off, it won’t effect the flavor of the eggs, just their appearance. Be very, very gentle when tapping the shells with the spoon. Cecelia’s way of cracking the shells is much more efficient, but then, she’s been doing this recipe forever. I found that I had more control if I lifted an egg out of the water and a slotted spoon and then tapped it gently all over with a teaspoon.

Put the eggs in a large saucepan with enough water to cover them by 2 inches and bring to a boil over high heat. reduce the heat to medium, add the tea bags and salt, and cook for 15 minutes. Using a metal spoon with a long handle, make fine cracks in the shell of each egg by gently tapping the surface several times, trying to keep the shells intact. Pour in the soy sauce and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the pan and continue to cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, leave covered, and let the eggs soak in the liquid for about an hour, or until they are darkly colored. You can test them for color by carefully removing one of the eggs from the pan and peeling off a bit of the eggshell. If they’re too light, let them sit longer, testing them after 30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs to a plate and discard the liquid. The eggs can be peeled and served at this point, or refrigerated in a covered container in their shells for up to 4 days.