I'd Love to Sell Them That Expensive. Don't Worry, I Won't.

Walk past Fosetter on De La Gauchetière and you'll see the tea egg poster by the door. Carmen, who owns the shop, explains what goes into them.

One time I saw some short videos saying tea eggs were already selling for fifteen dollars each in the United States. I'd love to sell them that expensive too. But don't worry, I won't. Think of it as a chance for everyone to spend just a little and try our good stuff.

Our own recipe

We make the tea eggs ourselves. It's our own recipe.

First we take old-style rock sugar and use it to stir-fry the tea leaves. Because you're frying them, they get a slightly burnt taste, like a crème caramel. That caramel flavour.

Then we add two kinds of tea. One is West Lake Longjing. The other is Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka. A usual shop might use only one kind of tea. Longjing is fragrant, and the Sri Lankan tea is pure. Put the pure and the fragrant together and you get a really good taste.

Where the recipe came from

I once took part in a milk tea competition, so we have a little understanding of how tea tastes and what colour it should be. I can't call it research. But the blend we worked out turned out to suit tea eggs, and it just came together perfectly.

Eight hours, so order ahead

We also sell them to star-rated hotels, because we're a supplier to star-rated hotels.

If you want some, you need to order in advance. Once they're cooked, they have to steep for eight hours. You can't just put them in, cook them and sell them right away. Then they don't have that flavour.

Ask about tea eggs at Fosetter, 78 Rue De La Gauchetière Ouest, in Montreal's Chinatown. While you're there, have a look at our herbal teas, or read more about the shop.