Butterfly Pea Flower Tea with Orange Juice
How to mix orange juice with blue tea so you get a healthy drink that looks like a sunset
If you are looking for a stunning, all natural AND delicious beverage, mixing butterfly pea flower tea with orange juice is for you.
In this post you’ll learn how to make a simple drink it’s sure to impress your friends and family.
And best of all, you can get this mocktail without added sugar and with less calories than straight orange juice!
How to make naturally blue or purple drinks
You may have seen eye-catching photos of blue or purple drinks floating around the internet.
They are often made with butterfly pea flower tea, a herbal infusion that changes its color based on the pH of whatever it’s mixed with.
Butterfly pea flower tea comes from the flowers of the plant Clitoria ternatea, also known as Asian pigeonwings.
It’s native to South and Southeast Asia and has been used for centuries in the folk medicine and as a natural coloring ingredient for dishes in Southeast Asia.
Butterfly tea is blue or turquoise depending on how concentrated it is.
When you add something acidic to it, as lemon or lime, it turns purple.
No, butterfly flower pea is a caffeine-free herbal tea.
You can make a blue infusion steeping the dried flowers (or tea bags) in hot water or cold brewing them in room temperature water.
There are also pre-made butterfly pea powder that you can mix into food, liquid, or sprinkle as a topping.
What happens when you mix orange juice with butterfly flower pea tea?
When you mix citrus fruit with butterfly pea flower tea, the color of your drink turns purple.
However, if you simply mix orange juice with blue tea, the color of the drink turns a shade of brown, similar as the color you would get when mixing orange and blue paint.
Actually, if you use a strong colored butterfly pea tea, your drink will almost get the color of a coke drink, so it may be a good alternative for the little ones (if they ask for it; if not, it isn’t actually a pretty color).
The good thing is, it tastes good: the flavor of butterfly pea tea isn’t really noticeable when mixed with orange juice, so the result is a slightly watered down orange juice, naturally sweet with a mildly sour flavor.
However, the optic is not what you’re going for if you’re trying to make a drink that looks blue or purple.
How to make the layers
Most beverages with layers are made with alcohol or added sugar.
But there is a simple secret to making a spectacular sunset-looking, orange and purple beverage.
The key is adding ice cubes.
Fortunately, you only need ice when assembling the two liquids.
That means, even if you don’t like ice chilled drinks, once the orange juice and the tea are layered in the glass, you can remove the cubes afterwards so your drink isn’t so cold when you drink it.
I think most people prefer their drinks slightly chilled, but if you are like me and you prefer room temperature beverages, that’s an option.
It probably looks better with ice because there remains more room for color gradation, so you may have 3 colors: orange-purple-blue, whereas when removing the ice, you’ll “only” have orange and purple.
On the other side, the more ice, the more watery your juice will get, so both options have up and downsides and it’s for you to decide which one works better for you.
Tips
- Use preferably a high glass – this helps make thick layers so they look better.
- Homemade, freshly squeezed orange juice works best because it has some pulp so it’s heavier. But you can also use store-bought 100% natural juice.
- If you don’t want your drink so cold, you can carefully remove the ice cubes with your hands or a spoon after assembling.
How to make orange juice with butterfly pea flower tea
Time needed: 4 hours
How to mix butterfly pea tea with orange juice to make a layered drink
- Make the orange layer
Fill your glass with orange juice up to its 1/3 -1/2.
- Add ice
Staple ice cubes until you fill the rest of the glass
- Pour tea
Slowly pour your butterfly flower tea over the ice.
The tea will remain on top.
- Serve
You can serve as is or carefully remove the ice cubes: unless you stir or shake, the liquids will remain separated.
Bellow you can see the exact recipe I use, but you can adapt the amount of liquids depending on the dimensions of your glass, because it’s more about volume.
Natural orange sunset drink recipe
Equipment
- 2 tall glasses
- ice tray
- cup
Ingredients
- 1-2 tsp. butterfly pea flower or butterfly pea flower tea bag
- 1 Cup water
- 1 Cup orange juice (approximately the juice of 4 oranges)
- 1-2 Cups ice cubes
Instructions
- Prepare the blue tea:A) Steep the butterfly pea tea in fresh boiled water. Remove them after 10 minutes and let cool for a couple of hours orB) Soak the tea in room temperature or cold water for 4 hours or over night (you can cold steep at room temperature or in the fridge)
- Add orange juice in a glass until it’s filled to a third or half.
- Add ice cubes until the glass is full
- Slowly pour blue tea over the ice (it also works if the tea is still slightly warm).
- Serve as it (no stirring!!!) or remove the ice cubes carefully with your hands or a spoon if you don’t like ice chilled drinks.
Notes
Nutrition
Although assembling butterfly pea with orange juice needs some finesse (you may want to try it for yourself once before serving it to guests), when it comes to flavor, you can’t really go wrong.
And with the little ice trick, the orange juice and butterfly pea tea will balance each other out perfectly to create a beautiful sunset color.
Give it a try for yourself and see how stunning non-alcoholic, all natural drinks can be!
Incredible beautiful!
I love how this combination looks, almost magical!
Thank you!!! I am so happy you like how orange juice looks with butterfly flower pea tea!