Butterfly Pea Lemonade
Butterfly pea flower tea and lemon — the deep blue shifting to vivid pink when citrus is added, Thai and Malaysian cuisine using the flower for centuries.
- 1 tbspbutterfly pea flowers(dried)
- 4 ozhot water
- 1½ ozfresh lemon juice
- 1 ozsimple syrup(to taste)
- 2 ozsparkling water(optional)
- lemon wheel and edible flowersgarnish
- 1Steep butterfly pea flowers in hot water for 5 minutes.
- 2Strain and let cool completely.
- 3Fill a glass with ice.
- 4Add simple syrup and lemon juice.
- 5Pour blue tea over - watch it change to purple.
- 6Top with sparkling water if desired.
- 7Garnish with lemon wheel.
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Butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea) is a tropical plant native to Southeast Asia whose vivid indigo-blue flowers produce a natural dye that has been used in Thai, Malaysian, and Burmese cuisine for centuries to color rice, desserts, and beverages. The flower's dramatic color-changing property — shifting from deep blue-purple to vivid pink or violet when exposed to an acidic ingredient like lime juice or lemon — made it a sensation in specialty coffee shops and cocktail bars when it gained mainstream Western visibility around 2015. A lemonade made with butterfly pea flower tea performs a live color-change in the glass when the citrus is added, creating an interactive visual experience that proved enormously popular on social media. The flower is also being studied for potential antioxidant properties, adding a wellness appeal to the visual drama.
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