Color Changing Blue Butterfly Pea Tea with Mint

Color Changing Blue Butterfly Pea Tea made with mint is a sweet iced tea recipe that tastes delicious and can be used in many ways!

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This butterfly pea tea recipe tastes good on it’s own but can be mixed with all sorts of ingredients to change the flavor and the color!

Butterfly pea flower tea

This basic homemade butterfly pea flower tea recipe is very simple to make and it actually tastes good!

Simply butterfly pea flowers and fresh mint leaves steeped with hot water and sweetened with sugar. It’s delicious as is served hot or over ice. And can also be used in many ways to make many different butterfly pea drinks.

I was introduced to the color changing effects of butterfly pea flowers years ago. By a friend who simply brewed a cup of tea then asked me to watch as she poured lemonade in the cup.

I was in awe as the color changed from rich blue to bright magenta before my eyes.

I was hooked and knew at one point I’d write some butterfly pea recipes with this amazing ingredient.

Butterfly pea is a wildflower vine native to tropical Asia when expanded, the flowers resemble a butterfly. But it’s actual name Clitoria ternatea came from its resemblance to something else entirely. Just starting to gain attention in the West this magical flower is common throughout Southeast Asia and used in everything from noodles to candies.

How butterfly pea flowers color change

Butterfly pea flowers change color because of pigments known as anthocyanins. Anthocyanins change color based on the acidity of their environment and are commonly found in fruits, vegetables, and flowers, like blueberries, red cabbage, hydrangeas and butterfly pea flowers.

Anthocyanins can create a whole range of beautiful colors depending on the acidity of its environment, or it’s pH.

The pH scale is a measure of how acidic or basic something is, ranging from 0 – 14. The lower the number on the pH scale, the more acidic. And the higher the number, the more basic or ‘alkaline’. With a measure of 7 being completely neutral.

Lemons and limes are the most acidic foods with a pH of around 2-3, and will produce the most color change. Oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, peaches, pears, strawberries and blueberries are all slightly less acidic with a range from 3-5.

Hibiscus flowers or hibiscus tea is also acidic and also have color changing anthocyanins.

Kombucha is acidic, with a pH of around 3. Seltzer or sparkling water is acidic with a pH of 3-4. Tonic water, which is seltzer with the addition of quinine, is very acidic and will change the flavor drastically.

Club soda is a little different. It starts as seltzer, but during the manufacturing process a small amount of an alkaline mineral salt, like table salt or baking powder, is added, making it alkaline.

Butterfly pea flower tea benefits

The wide range of butterfly pea flower tea benefits means there’s even more to love about than just it’s color changing power. A still relatively undiscovered superfood butterfly pea flowers have long list of anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative health benefits. The claims range from the treatment of hair problems, skin diseases, headache and indigestion. And it’s even traditionally used as an ancient Ayurvedic memory-enhancing, stress-reducing, antidepressant brain tonic. *

*Sources: Gupta, Chahal, & Bhatia, 2010) (B, J, & P, 2018)

Ingredients

• Butterfly pea – Buy dried flowers online or substitute tea bags or even butterfly pea powder which are also readily available online. You can even find butterfly pea flower seeds to grow your own butterfly pea flower plant.
• Fresh mint leaves – butterfly pea flowers don’t have a lot of flavor on their own so the mint leaves add a necessary punch of flavor. Use fresh or dried spearmint. Or substitute spearmint tea bags or loose leaf mint tea.
• Granulated sugar – Feel free to substitute your favorite sweetener instead like raw sugar, simple syrup, stevia, honey, etc. But different sweeteners may affect the overall color based on their acidity.

Step by step instructions

1. Bring water to boil.
2. Place butterfly pea flowers, mint leaves and sugar in a large heatproof bowl. The sugar is added to the mixture while still hot to easily dissolve the sugar before the mixture cools.
3. Once boiling pour hot water over butterfly pea flower mixture and allow to steep uncovered, or covered with a paper towel, for 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, fill a large heat proof pitcher with ice and set a mesh strainer over the top.
5. After butterfly pea tea mixture has steeped for five minutes carefully pour through the mesh strainer into the pitcher of ice to cool and remove the mint and butterfly pea flowers.

6. Store butterfly pea tea refrigerated until ready to use.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Yield

This butterfly pea tea recipe yields roughly 8 cups, or 64 ounces, of iced butterfly pea tea.

How to store

Stored refrigerated iced butterfly pea flower tea is best enjoyed within 24 hours. But can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

How to use

Serve this butterfly pea tea recipe as-is over ice. The minty, floral flavor is light and refreshing especially on a hot day. Or use the color changing blue tea as base to make different butterfly pea drinks.

Add plain or flavored simple syrup and fresh fruit or fruit purees. Try blueberry butterfly tea, blackberry tea, rhubarb, raspberry, ginger or even peach!

Or mix the tea with lemonade, limeade, orange juice, hibiscus tea, vanilla extract, cinnamon powder, almond extract, rose water, ginger ale, sparkling seltzer water, etc. All of which will change the acidity and turn it into a color changing tea.

From blue to purple and pink.

You can even add coconut milk, sweet cream or milk to butterfly pea tea to make a butterfly tea latte. Serve it hot as a blue latte or cold as an iced butterfly tea latte.

Use the butterfly pea tea to make a mojito inspired color changing butterfly pea mocktail. Or a color changing butterfly pea flower cocktail with rum.

However you use it you’re going to love this color changing Butterfly Pea Tea with Mint!

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