Monday, October 13, 2014

Tea Alchemy: Butterfly Pea Herbal Infusion


A friend generously shared with me this butterfly pea tea,  a treasure she brought back from Thailand. It's a fun tisane with a bit of fascination.  I thought it would be good for this month of magic!  

To start, the tea brews up in this lovely cobalt blue color.  The taste is, well, a bit legumey but not unpleasant.  Just an unusual flavor for my Westernized taste buds.    





Presto/Chango....When you add a little citrus (in my case, lemon juice), magic ensues!  The herbal tea transforms from the cobalt blue to this lovely aubergine color.  I also preferred the flavor of the brew with a splash of lemon. 




Butterfly Pea herbal tea is known botanically as Clitoria ternatea.  It has been used for Ayurevedic medicine for a very long time and is also used in Southeast Asian cooking as a food coloring.

Have you ever seen this magic herb brewed into tea?

8 comments:

Antiques And Teacups said...

I was so sorry I missed your presentation! But at least I got to post about it!
Love the cobaly blue infusion. How fun!
Ruth

Ana said...

Lovely!

Snap said...

Magic indeed. No, I haven't seen it before. I know so little about Ayurevedic medicine, but try to learn more. It's on my never ending list!

Ginger said...

What a pretty and interesting tea. It would make a nice experiment for children.

Teafan said...

Wow, great images and looks like fun!

Rosemary said...

This one is new to me - and doesn't the color and the magic trick just grab your attention!

Marilyn Miller said...

No, I haven't seen this. Not sure I could drink the blue, but the change of color is fascinating and more appealing color to sip. I have not heard of this, thanks for the education!

Nicholas said...

Wonderful article, so fun to hear about other people's views on tea and culture. I have been living with a family of tea farmers in Xishuangbanna Yunnan in Southwestern China, the birthplace of tea. The first tea the world ever had is what we now call Puer tea, raw Puer. After spending much time with this family, I have been able to share this tea with folks. The culture, the love, and the way this tea makes you feel is incomparable and the tea is all from one family, one farm. Definitely just would love to chat about tea sometime if you want to write me. www.MistyPeakTeas.com happy to send out any samples as well. Anyone tried Raw Puer tea? The green kind?