Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Recipe
Today we are making a Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Recipe! Have you seen this mystical blue-purple drink with color-changing properties all over social media? Perhaps at a bar when you ordered that bright purple drink (and had no idea what was in it)?
So this ingredient is not too common in North America from what I’ve seen, but I came across it a few times and was intrigued as to where the vibrant colors of the drinks were coming from. The color change seemed to be all natural food coloring, and not from additional chemicals. After some searching, I found what I was looking for – butterfly pea powder!
The Butterfly Pea Plant
The butterfly pea plant is a blue flower, found in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. Because it’s native to those areas and they’re edible flowers, people began to use the dried butterfly pea flowers in an herbal drink.
If you add citrus into the tea – a squeeze of lemon juice, grapefruit juice or lime juice – it starts to turn a deep blue color, then purple, as compared to the regular blue color given by the blue pea flower (due to the pH level change). So cool, right?
Nam Dok Anchan
So there is a drink made of simple syrup which uses these crushed flowers with optional sweetener and citrus juice (or even mint, cinnamon and other spices) called Nam dok Anchan, native to Thailand. It’s pretty easy to make, but it might not be easy to find these dry or fresh flowers all around the world.
Butterfly pea flower leaves are easier to find online and get it shipped to where you live. It’s quite difficult to find this ingredient at your local grocery store in person otherwise! I bought a bag of it online. The leaves themselves, or a bag of the powdered leaves, have a beautiful blue color that comes from the natural flower petals of the butterfly pea flower.
Health Benefits
Using Butterfly Pea for healing isn’t a new thing. This dates back centuries ago with roots in Ayurvedic medicine. Healers in Southeast Asia would use this plant for all its amazing properties! So aside from the rich blue color imparted on *everything this wonderful flower touches*, it has tons of health benefits.
This includes being rich in antioxidants – which helps to prevent free radicals, lowers oxidative stress and keeps you looking young! Along with this, these flowers are also rich in anthocyanins, which restore the skin’s collagen, contain anti-inflammatory as well as analgesic properties (which helps to relieve pain), helps to boost cognitive function, improve heart health and more, all while containing a ton of Vitamin C!
Let’s get onto the recipe! It can be had hot or cold (for the tea lovers, you can do both)! Since the weather is warming up here we’ll be making an iced tea version. You may also see this drink made into a hot tea, a blue butterfly pea tea latte, a coconut milk bubble tea flavor and more!
Why You’ll Love This Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Recipe
Magic Lemonade: This is such a fun drink to make with children (little kids love magic tricks!), for friends and family, or for a party!
It’s definitely the prettiest drink I’ve ever seen, and it will be one that everyone will remember (while your guests have fun adding lemon slices and watching the color change in their drink)!
Substitutions
Xylitol: This is an alternative to white sugar. Do not substitute with any dark sweeteners, such as brown sugar, since the color will not be as transparents. You can substitute with another granulated white sweetener that has a similar sweetness. Do not use erythritol though, as the sweetness level is much higher than sugar and it has a “cooling taste” in the mouth.
Lemon Juice: Use grapefruit juice, lemon juice or lime juice – all freshly squeezed.
Water: Use soda water instead of regular water. Fizzy water for a party would work better than plain water!
More Drink Recipes You’ll Love
Pomegranate & Rosemary Mocktails
Orange & Mango Summer Slushies
If you make this Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Recipe (Nam dok Anchan)
Equipment
- Large Saucepan
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (64g) xylitol
- ⅓ cup of (84mL) room temperature water
- 2 tbsp butterfly pea flower leaves
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 cups (1000mL) room temperature water
- 4 cups (480g) ice
- agave nectar if desired for extra sweetness
Instructions
- To make the sugar syrup, add the xylitol (or white sugar) and ⅓ cup water to a wide saucepan over low heat. Bring to a boil, constantly stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Then turn off the heat and allow it to cool for around 7-10 minutes.
- Once it has cooled down, you can use it in the drink.
- To prepare the drink, boil the water in a large saucepan, then turn off the heat. Add the tea leaves, stirring them around and pressing them against the sides of the pot for a few minutes, to get the color out.
- Let the tea sit for 10 minutes in the hot water. Then strain the tea through a sieve into a pitcher, to remove the extra leaves.
- Add the sugar syrup and an optional amount of lemon juice at this time, giving it a good stir. If you don't add in any lemon juice, the color will stay blue. By adding in more lemon, juice, it will start to turn purple! See the "Color Change" section below.
Cold Tea
- For cold tea, allow this tea to come to room temperature, then place it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Once ready to drink, stir the tea around (the sugar will settle to the bottom) and add the ice cubes into the pitcher.
For the Color Change
- This can be done in either hot or iced tea. To make it purple, add in the lemon juice, 1 tsp at a time into each cup and stir. The more lemon juice, the more purple it will become. You can do it this in each cup separately if you want to control the color, or do it all in one pitcher before pouring it over top of the ice.
- Once the cups are ready, do a taste test and stir in some agave nectar for additional sweetness, if desired.
- Give it a stir and serve!
Notes
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Storage
- Store in a pitcher covered with plastic wrap for up to five days in the refrigerator.
