茶叶蛋 (cháyèdàn) · tea egg

Measure Word

一个茶叶蛋 gè

Meanings

1 tea egg

Made with

About the dish

A hard-boiled egg simmered and then soaked for hours in tea, soy sauce and spices with its shell cracked, so the white comes out marbled brown. Salty, with a light anise taste. Sold in the shell at stalls and shops.

Usually contains egg

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

便利店里永远有一锅茶叶蛋在煮。

Biànlìdiàn lǐ yǒngyuǎn yǒu yì guō cháyèdàn zài zhǔ.

There's always a pot of tea eggs simmering at the convenience store.

HSK 5

早饭我买了豆浆和一个茶叶蛋。

Zǎofàn wǒ mǎi le dòujiāng hé yí gè cháyèdàn.

For breakfast I bought soy milk and a tea egg.

Tips

culture

Cooked with tea leaves, soy sauce and spices like star anise and cinnamon, 茶叶蛋 sits on hot racks in every Chinese convenience store. In 2011, a Taiwanese TV panelist claimed mainlanders were too poor to afford them - the resulting 茶叶蛋 meme still gets trotted out online whenever cross-strait stereotypes flare up.