Known for their brilliant blue hue, earthy flavour, and health benefits, butterfly pea flowers are commonly used to brew a herbal tea called blue pea tea. So, today, we want to show you how to make this soothing drink from scratch in just a few minutes!
Also known as blue pea or Asian pigeonwings, butterfly pea is native to South and Southeast Asia, where it’s praised for its health benefits in traditional Ayurvedic medicine.
Butterfly pea flowers are traditionally used to brew a delicate blue tea and as a natural food colourant for rice dishes and desserts.
The wonderful flowers have a striking blue colour because of the high concentration of blue-violet pigments called anthocyanins — just like the ones that make blueberries blue!
These blue pigments are powerful antioxidants responsible for the many health benefits of these exotic flowers: aid in weight loss, better blood sugar control, and healthier skin and hair.
Brewing a nice cup of blue pea tea is a great way to reap these health benefits. And it’s also so nice to sip such a colourful tea!
To make blue tea from scratch, you’ll need just water and culinary butterfly pea flowers, usually sold as dried flowers at Asian food stores. But if you can’t find them there, then you can easily get them online!
When you steep the flowers in hot water, the blue pigments dissolve in the water, giving you a vibrant blue tea.
And how does the tea taste? Lightly floral, sweet, and fresh, with subtle earthy notes. So, unique!
The more flowers you use or the longer you leave them to infuse, the darker and stronger the blue pea tea will be.
So, the cool thing about making butterfly pea tea is that you can give it a different shade of blue every time!
In the steps below, we’ll give you two options: one to brew a light blue tea and one for a dark blue tea.
These two options also come handy when you want to use butterfly pea tea in recipes, not just for sipping.
The dark blue tea option works great as an all-natural colourant for blue drinks, bakes, and desserts.
We use it all the time in our butterfly pea recipes like this magic lemonade, blue bubble tea, and Thai blue sticky rice — give them a go!
Okay, time to put the kettle on and make this wonderful blue pea tea together!