Butterfly Pea Flower Matcha Lemonade

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A pretty, color-changing layered iced matcha green tea lemonade made with butterfly pea flowers that turns the drink from blue to purple.

Matcha lemonade butterfly pea tea

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Butterfly Pea Flower Tea

Butterfly pea flowers comes from a plant in Southeast Asia and it’s been used there for centuries to add a bright blue color to food like rice and it’s steeped in water for drinking as an herbal tea.

Butterfly pea tea isn’t technically a tea, but an infusion. For something to be a true tea, the leaves must come from a different plant, the camellia sinensis. Only leaves from the camellia sinensis is real tea.

To make butterfly pea flower tea, the flowers with its bright blue petals are steeped in hot water to create a vibrant blue color. Honey or sweeteners can be added to the drink and it can be prepared hot or cold.

The fun color-changing part of the drink is from the butterfly pea flowers. The flowers are a vibrant deep blue when steeped in hot water but when lemon is added, it changes color to a jewel-tone purple.

The more lemon juice is added, the more purple the tea will become.

RELATED: Arnold Palmer (Iced Tea and Lemonade) Recipe

Butterfly pea flower tea photo

Where to Buy Butterfly Pea Flower Tea

You can buy butterfly pea flowers from Harney & Sons and from Amazon.

When buying from Amazon, make sure to check the ingredients that the flowers aren’t mixed with lemongrass.

If you want easy to use butterfly pea flowers in tea bags, they sell those too on Amazon. I’ve used them and they’re easier to use than the loose flowers.

RELATED: Iced Tea with Lemon Verbena Honey

Butterfly pea flower tea photo

What Does Butterfly Pea Tea Taste Like?

It tastes earthy, almost woody. It’s not a really pleasant taste that makes me want to drink it on its own. This also explains why they sell butterfly pea tea with lemongrass to add a bit of a different flavor.

For this recipe, the matcha and the lemonade are the dominant flavors and masks the butterfly pea tea flavor.

Butterfly pea flower tea photo

What I Used to Make Butterfly Pea Flower Matcha Lemonade

Butterfly pea flower tea photo

How to Make Butterfly Pea Flower Tea

To make the blue tea, steep the butterfly pea flowers in hot water for about 3-5 minutes. The longer you steep, the darker the blue the tea will get.

I wanted a really deep blue color so I added 2 teaspoons of the butterfly pea flower to a cup of water.

The tea will be hot, so give it time to cool so it can be added to an iced drink.

The butterfly pea tea can also be made ahead of time and stored and chilled in the refrigerator with the lemonade.

Butterfly pea tea matcha photo

How to Make Matcha for Iced Drinks

When I first used to make iced matcha drinks, I used to use the traditional method of preparing matcha using a matcha bowl and bamboo whisk.

I WAS DOING IT WRONG.

I have a much easier and better method of making matcha for cold drinks that has been a game-changer.

Take a wide-mouth water bottle and pour in cold water, then matcha. Tighten the lid and give it a good 10 second shake. Done.

Really? Yes, really.

No clumps and you don’t need to wait for the matcha to cool.

RELATED: Matcha Lemonade

Matcha Lemonade Butterfly Pea Tea

How to Make Matcha Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade

After the lemonade, butterfly pea tea and the matcha have been made, it’s time to build the drink!

I’m going for the layered effect with the butterfly pea tea at the bottom and the matcha sitting on top.

First, I pour in the butterfly pea flower tea in a cup with ice. It’s such a pretty blue. Fill the tea about a third of the cup.

RELATED: Barley Tea

Matcha Lemonade Butterfly Pea Tea

Butterfly pea flower tea lemonade matcha photo


Next, the lemonade goes in. You can see the color start to shift from blue to purple.

Add enough lemonade to fill 2/3 of the cup.

RELATED: Iced Matcha Watermelon

Butterfly pea flower tea lemonade matcha photo

Once the lemonade goes in, there’s hardly any blue left.

RELATED: How to Make the Best Iced Tea (Cold Brew It!)

Butterfly pea flower tea lemonade matcha photo

And finally, the matcha layer. The jewel tones are gorgeous together.

Who knew purple and green would be such a pretty combo?

Matcha Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade Tips

  • Sugar is the key in keeping the bottom layer and the top layer separate.
  • When ready to drink, make sure you mix the layers together so you can get the sweet and sourness from the lemonade with the matcha.
  • Don’t use boiling hot water for the flowers or the matcha. The water should be hot, but not full boil hot.
  • The lemonade and the butterfly pea tea can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator but don’t make the matcha ahead of time.
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Matcha lemonade butterfly pea tea
4.70 from 20 votes

Butterfly Pea Flower Matcha Lemonade

By: Jee Choe
A color-changing layered matcha lemonade made with butterfly pea flowers that turns the drink from blue to purple.
Yield: 2 drinks

Ingredients 

LEMONADE INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 lemon

BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER TEA INGREDIENTS

MATCHA INGREDIENTS

  • 2 teaspoons [matcha]
  • 1 cup cold water

Instructions 

  • Make Lemonade
  • Make simple syrup by adding sugar and water into a saucepan and bringing it to a boil.
  • Lower heat to simmer until sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Take off heat and let cool. Stir in lemon juice.
  • Make Butterfly Pea Flower Tea
  • Steeping butterfly pea flowers in hot water for 3-5 minutes. The longer you steep the flowers, the darker the blue the tea will be. Discard flowers. Let cool.
  • Make Matcha
  • Into a wide-mouth water bottle, pour in cold water then matcha. Close lid and shake for 10 seconds.
  • Assemble Drink
  • In two glass cups filled with ice, pour in the butterfly pea flower tea about a third of the way for each cup.
  • Pour in the lemonade until it reached 2/3 of the cup, then finally top each cup with matcha.
  • Stir before drinking.

Video

Notes

  • There will be more lemonade than needed for the recipe so you can store the rest in the refrigerator.
  • The lemonade and butterfly pea flower tea can both be made in advance and kept cool in the refrigerator.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Drinks
Tried this recipe?Mention @ohhowcivilized or tag #ohhowcivilized!

About Jee Choe

Welcome! I'm a certified Tea Sommelier and a self-proclaimed bubble tea and iced tea master. I'm all about making tea EASY and DELICIOUS.

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7 Comments

  1. I’m confused on the layered part. How does the sugar keep it from mixing it? I tried this recipe and i couldn’t get it to layer.

    1. Hi Porscia, the bottom layer should have sugar in it (the lemonade) to help the top layer separated. Make sure there isn’t sugar in the matcha you’re using.

  2. Oh, I LOVE this! I mix my blue matcha and green matcha in the mornings….but I have always done it hot. I will need to do this once summer is here! Thank you for the inspiration!

  3. Hi there,
    Thanks for the recipe. I love matcha & I happen to grow butterfly pea flower in my garden. I’m definitely gonna try this. Thanks again 🙂