Eating tea eggs in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, herbal tea shops like the one shown above are common. A bowl of herbal tea sells for about HK$7. The locals just drink it, standing on the pavement outside the shop. And pay when finished.

In most of the herbal tea shops, they also sell “tea eggs”, which you will see simmered in a rice cooker filled with spiced tea. As they have been soaked overnight, the shells are cracked to allow the flavors from the spice tea to leak in.

Though I often pass herbal tea shops, and see these cracked-shell eggs simmering in the soy sauce-like spiced tea, I have not been motivated to try just one.

But today, I finally had my first taste of the tea egg. I tell you, it tasted really good. Though the eggs are called tea eggs, don’t be fooled, they do not taste tea at all. That is all I can say.

So if you are visiting Hong Kong, try go for the tea eggs. It costs HK$3 for one, and HK$5 for two. Not every tea shop sells tea eggs though.

My tip is that, don’t go for the herbal tea，which you probably won’t like.  Go for the tea eggs.