Butterfly Pea Tea (Blue Pea Flower Tea)

Blue Butterfly Pea Tea (aka Blue Flower Tea) is a simple herbal drink that tastes like green tea and has numerous health properties. This pea flower tea is super easy to make at home, and you can enjoy it chilled or warm!

What is the Butterfly Pea Tea aka Blue Pea Flower?

Clitoria ternatea, also known as Aparajita, Butterfly pea, Asian pigeonwings or Blue pea, is a flowering plant that bears white and blue flowers. It's a commonly growing creeper in India ( and in some South East Asian countries) in our gardens and in the wild too!

What are the Health Properties of the Blue Pea Flower?

All parts of this plant are used for medicinal purposes in Ayurveda. It's widely used in the Panchkarma treatment - for detoxification and balancing all the doshas.

It helps improve memory and learning and reduces stress.  Alleviates internal inflammation due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Great for enhancing digestion and helping with the absorption of nutrients. Blue tea flower tea is also full of antioxidants and protects against free radicals. Studies have also shown that this tea may increase collagen production and skin elasticity, which would give them excellent anti-aging properties.  Lowering blood pressure, strengthening the respiratory system, and relieving general pain, are a few of the other healing properties of this plant.

Color Changing of the Blue Butterfly Pea Tea

It also has another magical property, add a few drops of lemon juice to the tea and watch it go from blue to a mesmerizing purple!

The Blue Butterfly Pea Tea tastes pretty much like green tea, best described as "earthy".  We enjoy it, unsweetened,  warm, and cold (though these days iced is my preference). I also like to make a little infused water concoction with the tea, a few slices of cucumber, and a teaspoon of saunf or fennel seeds. Fennel seeds further aid digestion and keep the bloating at bay.

Keep the pitcher in the refrigerator and enjoy chilled glasses throughout the day.

Many of the south-east Asian countries, use this as a natural food color too. Though I haven't personally tried any of the dishes myself, I'm happy to experiment a bit a bring some to this blog. If you don't have fresh blue pea flowers available for making this tea, you can easily order it online. Or maybe you can grow the plant in your garden or balcony. Please do check with your local nursery if you can get the seeds.

More Easy Homemade Tea Recipes

• Peach Iced Tea
• Watermelon Iced Tea

Recipe

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Blue Pea Flower Tea

Natasha Minocha

Blue Butterfly Pea Tea (aka Blue Flower Tea) is a simple herbal drink that tastes like green tea and has numerous health properties. This pea flower tea is super easy to make at home, and you can enjoy it chilled or warm!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Drinks

Cuisine Asian

Servings 2 Servings

Calories 16 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 cups Water
• ▢ 5-6 Dried or fresh blue pea flowers
• ▢ 1 tsp Honey Optional
• ▢ 1 tsp Lemon juice Optional

For the infused water:

• ▢ 4-5 slices Cucumber
• ▢ 1 tsp Fennel seeds/ Saunf

Instructions

 

For the Tea:

• Bring the water to a boil. Pour over the dried or fresh flowers. Steep for about 10 minutes, till the water turns blue.
• Add some honey and lemon juice if you like. Its great warm, but I really liked it unsweetened and cold. Enjoy!

For the Infused Water:

• Add a teaspoon of saunf/ fennel seeds to the water. Let it come up to a boil. Proceed to make the tea. Once the tea is cooled, add cucumber slices. Refrigerate the pitcher. Enjoy chilled!

Nutrition

Serving: 1 ServingCalories: 16kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 0.3gFat: 0.2gSaturated Fat: 0.01gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.01gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.1gSodium: 13mgPotassium: 40mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 12IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 0.2mg