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Butterfly pea flower tea is an herbal drink made from dried butterfly pea flowers steeped in water.
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It’s caffeine-free.
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Comes from a plant called clitoria ternatea that’s native to Southeast Asia.
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The flowers are deep blue in color with a tinge of purple that colors and flavors the water.
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The color goes from blue to purple when the pH level changes. Adding something acidic like lemon juice changes the color. It’s like magic!
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Contain antioxidants which helps to protect your body from cell damage.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
TO MAKE HOT BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER TEA
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Filtered water
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Teapot with strainer
My go-to teapot for making herbal tea.
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Electric kettle with temperature setting
A must for all tea drinkers.
TO MAKE COLD BREW BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER TEA
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Filtered water
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Teapot with strainer or cold brew pitcher
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Ice
STEP 1: Boil water.
If you’re using an electric kettle with temperature setting like I do, set it to 208°F, otherwise you can just use boiling hot water.
Boil extra water so that you can use it to warm up the teapot.
STEP 2: Warm up teapot.
When the teapot is warm, the tea won’t cool down as fast while it’s brewing.
STEP 3: Put butterfly pea flower tea into teapot and add hot water.
The minimum steep time for herbal tea is 5 minutes. You can steep for longer without the tea getting bitter unlike green tea.
STEP 5: Strain butterfly pea flowers and pour hot tea into a teacup.
You can add lemon slices into your drink and watch the color change from blue to purple
HOW TO MAKE ICED BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER TEA
My favorite way to make butterfly pea flower tea is iced with a lemon. And the best way to make it iced tea is to cold brew it!
Tea Sommelier’s Tip: If you make cold brew often, get a cold brew pitcher which comes with an infuser. It makes it super easy to make iced tea.
You can steep in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
STEP 3: Strain out butterfly pea flowers and pour tea into a cup.
Ice is optional with cold brew tea.
To make your butterfly pea flower sweetened, use simple syrup since it’s the easiest to incorporate into your cold tea since it’s a liquid.
Once you’ve made the tea, add some lemon juice or lemon slices to see it change color.
BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER TEA TIPS
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Butterfly pea flower tea isn’t as tricky to make as black or green tea in that it doesn’t get bitter if you brew it for too long.
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Butterfly pea flower tea on its own doesn’t taste too great so be sure to add lemon or honey to change the flavor.
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Use butterfly pea flower and lemonade to make a pretty and great-tasting drink.
I don’t love the taste of butterfly pea flower tea. It tastes earthy and woody. It’s definitely pretty to look at but it tastes bleh. I never drink it on its own.
Nope, there’s no caffeine in butterfly pea flower tea.
Loose butterfly pea flowers are the best quality. Tea sachets are good to OK quality and tea bags are the lowest in quality.
Butterfly pea flower tea is made from the clitoria ternatea plant, not the camellia sinensis so it’s not a real tea. All herbal teas aren’t real teas. Real tea is tea made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. Black, oolong, green, and white tea are all real or true tea.