Blue Latte – The Trendy Butterfly Pea Flower Recipe

Butterfly Pea Latte is a real eye-catcher and is currently becoming a trend drink. With its intensely bright blue color, this drink is capturing the hearts and Instagram feeds of foodies. But what makes the butterfly pea latte so special and why is it attracting so much attention? In this article, I will introduce you to different recipes and variations of the Butterfly Pea Latte.

What is Butterfly Pea Latte?

Butterfly Pea Latte is no ordinary drink; it is a visual experience. Made from the bright blue flowers of the butterfly flower (Clitoria ternatea), a plant native to Southeast Asia, this drink first enchants with its stunning color. The flowers of this plant are rich in antioxidants and are traditionally valued in Ayurvedic medicine for their many health benefits. When lemon juice or another acidic ingredient is added, the tea transforms its color from a deep blue to a vibrant purple.

In a separate article I summarized Everything you need to know about the health benefits and preparation of Butterfly Pea Tea.

Making a Butterfly Pea Latte is a simple but artful process that combines hot water, dried butterfly pea flowers and milk – animal or plant-based. The result is a smooth, slightly sweet drink that can be enjoyed with or without added sweetener. Not only is it an eye-catcher in photos, but it also offers a gentle, calming effect that makes it a perfect drink for any time of day.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of dried Butterfly flowers*
• 250 ml boiling water
• 1 teaspoon honey or another sweetener of your choice (optional)
• 250 ml milk (cow’s milk or a plant-based alternative such as almond, coconut or oat milk)
• Spices to taste: vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger
  
  
• Ice cubes (optional for a cold version)

Preparation:

1. Prepare tea:

• Place the dried butterfly pea flowers in a teapot or heat-resistant container.
• Pour 250 ml of hot water over the flowers. Leave the tea to infuse for around 5-10 minutes until the water has turned a beautiful blue color. The longer the tea steeps, the more intense the color will be.
• Strain out the flowers or pour off the tea.
• Sweeten the tea to taste with honey or another sweetener.

2. Froth the milk:

• Heat the milk in a saucepan or in the microwave, but do not let it boil. If you prefer a cold version, you can skip this step.
• Optional: As the blue tea has little flavor of its own, you can season the milk to taste. How about a pinch of grated ginger, cinnamon and cardamom? Vanilla sugar is also a good sweetener.
• Use a milk frother to froth the milk until it is light and fluffy.

3. Combine:

• Pour the butterfly pea tea into a large glass. For a cold version, add ice cubes at this point.
• Carefully pour the frothed milk over the tea to create two layers. The blue and white layers look particularly impressive.

4. Serve:

• Stir the drink before drinking to get the beautiful light blue color that is created when blue and white mix.
• Enjoy your Butterfly Pea Latte!

Ideas for more color variety

Is blue too boring for you? How about a bright pink or purple? The blue Butterfly Pea Flower Latte changes color when acidic ingredients are added. You can take advantage of this in the Butterfly Pea Latte recipe. You can add lemon juice to the tea until it has reached the desired color.

Alternatively, you can use the Butterfly Pea flowers together with Hibiscus flowers * to infuse. This gives your Butterfly Pea Latte an intensely tart taste. But be careful: add the hibiscus flowers carefully. Just 2-3 flowers are enough for one glass. You should also leave the tea to infuse for a maximum of 5 minutes to prevent it from becoming too sour.

Refining Blue Latte with Roses

To give your blue latte a particularly sweet and flowery note, I have another tip for you: You can use Rose petals* to make a wonderfully fragrant tea. Brew the rose together with the butterfly pea flowers. You can use 3-4 heaped teaspoons of rose petals.

Butterfly Pea Latte with a Caffeine Kick

Blue Latte is caffeine free by nature. Nice, but you need your regular caffeine kick? Then simply add caffeinated tea or espresso to your Butterfly Pea Latte…

Espresso

If you are a coffee lover, you can of course add an espresso to your blue latte. Even if it won’t look quite as bright blue, it will definitely taste good. Once you have prepared the espresso, stir it into the milk mixture and then pour it into the glass before adding the blue tea.

White Tea

If you’re often here at Your Tea Garden, you’ll know that we naturally prefer tea for our caffeine fix. In this case, it also blends in better visually with the blue tea than coffee. White tea is ideal for this. Its very subtle coloring gives the blue of the Butterfly Pea full scope to unfold. We want to combine the mild, earthy-sweet taste of the blue drink with the smooth sweetness of the white Silvery Needle (Yin Zhen) tea. Because Silvery Needle Tea* consists only of the buds of the tea bush, it has a particularly high caffeine content; often even higher than that of coffee.

As the white tea only needs 2-3 minutes infusion time and the blue tea 5-10 minutes, you should prepare both teas separately. Detailed Instructions for preparing white teas can be found here. We can keep it simple for the Butterfly Pea latte: Leave half of the boiled water to cool for 2 minutes so that it is around 80 degrees. Now pour the hot water over 1-2 heaped teaspoons (2-3g) of white tea and leave to infuse for 2-3 minutes. Once you have drained the tea or skimmed off the tea leaves, you can mix it with the other half of the Butterfly Pea Tea. This combination can also be enjoyed wonderfully without milk.

Tips:

• For a vegan version of the butterfly pea latte, you can use any type of plant-based milk. Almond and coconut milk are particularly popular as they give the drink a slightly nutty or tropical flavor.
• Experiment with different sweeteners to discover different flavors. Agave syrup, maple syrup or stevia are good alternatives to honey.

This simple recipe is easy to adapt and is perfect for offering your guests something unique and healthy or for treating yourself. You can find Butterfly Pea Flowers on Amazon*