Tea Stained Easter Eggs
Yesterday the girls and I realized our egg basket was overflowing and it was time to dye some Easter eggs! Not feeling like dealing with carseats and grocery stores, we looked around our pantry for natural egg dye. Although neon easter eggs are fun, we liked this natural Easter egg look better. The process was fun too – we had no idea how the eggs would look with each dye we created.
We used several teas we had. My girls’ favorite herbal tea, Republic of Tea Hibiscus, which is bright pink, green tea, and black tea. We also made brew of turmeric powder.
You can even have a little tea party while you dye your eggs. My girly girl loves caffeine free pink tea. I’ll share that biscotti recipe later!
Our favorite natural homemade dye turned out to be the turmeric, which produced yellow eggs. Coffee created chocolate colored eggs, and the pink hibiscus tea ended up making grey/blue eggs! We dyed brown eggs, rather than white, since our chickens lay brown eggs. We did cheat and use a cup of water with a few drops of blue food coloring in it for those blue eggs. I wasn’t happy with the color the green tea imparted – the green pictured above was the result of a dip in the blue + turmeric. The trick is to get your dye very dark by either simmering it down or using a little water and a lot of coloring agent (tea, coffee, turmeric).
Natural Dyed Easter Eggs
6-12 hard boiled eggs (white or brown)
1 tablespoon vinegar per color of dye
1 cup of water per color
very strongly colored tea, coffee, juice, or red wine (yes, I used red wine too for purple eggs!)
2 tablespoons dried turmeric for yellow
raw chopped beets simmered in the water for pink
raw red cabbage chopped and simmered in water for blue
For more natural color ideas check out this post on Better Homes & Gardens.
Simmer or microwave tea bags in one cup of water. Let steep until very darkly colored. We used 2 teabags per cup of water. Stir in vinegar. Brew a cup of very dark coffee if using coffee (I used instant to save the good coffee). Simmer turmeric in water until disolved and richly colored. Simmer beets in water if using. Add eggs to bowls of dye and refrigerate until eggs have reached desired hues. We left them in for 2 hours.
I really like this idea, and I love tea! and using tea bags for dyeing Easter eggs is a great idea!
I love the idea of using teas as a food coloring – and let's get real, Republic of Tea is kinda my favorite. EVER 🙂
Love it! I have dyed our brown chicken eggs over the last few years and they turn out so fun because they can make the color a lot more vibrant!
Happy Easter! (Early) 😉
I love this idea, the colors are so pretty!
Great idea!
Those turned out beautifully! And that's awesome you used stuff you had on hand and they look so vibrant and bright!
Oh my gosh I love this idea. and I have tons of teas!!!! Doing this with my girls
What a great idea! I can't wait to dye eggs with my little guy this week!
Such a great post, Marina—I would definitely do this if I were home for Easter, but I'll be in Florida with my dad.
You are SO creative, Marina!!! I just love these Easter eggs…love the natural look and color!
Oh my, now why didn't I think of this!!! This is great!
what did you use for the green color? I love it.
Thanks Sandra! That green one my daughter dipped in blue quickly and then let sit in the turmeric.
I love it! My son can't have any dyes so I am gonna use this for Easter. We had already purchased chlorophyll (found in plants which gives it the green color)for St. Patty's Day to color our icing. It gave it a beautiful emerald green coloring. Thanks so much for the tips!!!
Danielle
Genius! I have been wondering for years how to dye eggs naturally without too much effort. Thank you for this! Happy Easter!
These colors are gorgeous. So natural.
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