Butterfly Pea Flower Cocktail

A dramatic Spring cocktail with major wow factor thanks to the magical color changing power of Butterfly Pea Flowers! These beautiful blue flowers are native to Asia but can be found and purchased easily in dried or powdered form online stores like Amazon. They are traditionally used to make a deep blue tea with a light and delicious floral flavor which is known for many health benefits. In this cocktail the cooled blue tea is combined with vodka, fresh lemon juice, butterfly tea simple syrup, and a splash of elderflower liqueur to make the most refreshing vodka tea lemonade with a floral twist! If you want to enjoy the magical color fade and flavor without the alcohol this can easily be made as a mocktail instead by simply leaving out the vodka and liqueur. The color magic unfolds once the fresh lemon juice is poured into the mixture and meets the peaflower tea causing the indigo blue to fade into a bright purple! I like to use part of the tea mixture to make blue peaflower ice cubes to use in this drink which not only keeps it from being watered down but also preserves some pops of the deep blue color throughout the drink once the liquid turns color. So mesmerizing to watch and delicious to sip this colorful drink is sure to be a hit with your guests and guaranteed to steal the show at any cocktail party. 

Makes: 2 large cocktails
Inactive Time: 30 minutes for simple syrup to cool/2 hours to freeze tea if making pea flower ice cubes
Active Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces vodka
  • 4 ounces lemon juice
  • 4 ounces sweetened butterfly pea simple syrup, cooled, recipe follows
  • 2 ounces elderflower liqueur
  • Splash of seltzer
  • Butterfly pea flower ice cubes, optional
  • A few additional dried butterfly flowers for garnish, optional

For Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Ice Cubes:

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon dried butterfly pea flowers

For Butterfly Pea Tea Simple Syrup:

  • 1/2 cup reserved butterfly pea flower tea (from above ice cube recipe)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • Additional 1 tablespoon of dried pea flowers, optional

Directions:

For Butterfly Flower Tea Ice Cubes:
Bring two cups water to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat, add in the dried pea flowers and let sit a few minutes until liquid turns a deep blue. Remove pea flowers and save for simple syrup. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the tea into a container to cool, then pour into ice cube tray and freeze a couple of hours.

For Butterfly Flower Tea Simple Syrup:
To reserved 1/2 cup blue tea in the saucepan add 1/2 cup of sugar, bring back to boil over medium heat, stir until sugar is dissolved then remove from heat. Add reserved blue flowers back into mixture and a couple fresh if desired to deepen the blue color. Remove and cool.

For Cocktail:
Divide a few ice cubes between two highball glasses. Pour in 2 ounces vodka and 2 ounces cooled butterfly simple syrup in each glass. Add elderflower liqueur (if using) to fresh lemon juice and add half the mixture (1 ounce liqueur and 2 ounces lemon juice)to each glass. Then get lost in the mesmerizing color fade as the blue fades into bright purple layers! Top with a splash of seltzer water and stir. Add in a slice of fresh lemon and a sprinkle of dried butterfly pea flowers on top.

Enjoy the magic!


Enjoy this recipe or have questions? Feel free to leave a comment!

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