Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Associate. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases made using the links in this post at no additional cost to you. I was unable to find out who first created this recipe. I created this particular recipe based on trial and error from other recipes of butterfly pea tea out there. My children were my taste testers. 😊
This delicious, beautiful, color changing sweet tea is sure to be the highlight of your kid party this summer. Butterfly pea flowers have a special property that makes them great pH indicators. The flowers’ pigment changes color depending on the pH of whatever it is mixed with. You can make this sweetened tea up to 3 days in advance.
Makes four 16 ounce iced filled glasses of tea.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of water
- Small handful of dried butterfly pea flowers
- ½ cup of sugar
- 4 – 16 ounce glasses filled with ice
- Juice from 2 lemons (1/2 lemon for each glass of tea)
Instructions:
- Boil 4 cups of water (we used a teapot).
- Transfer the boiling water to a pyrex or heat resistant bowl or measuring cup. Add the dried butterfly pea flowers to the hot water.
- Let the flowers steep for about 5 minutes. The longer it steeps the darker blue the tea will become. Remove the flowers.
- To sweeten it up, add the sugar to the hot butterfly pea tea. Mix the sugar until it dissolves fully. If you do not plan to serve it immediately, place the sweetened tea in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to serve, pour the sweetened tea in each ice filled glass.
- This is where the magic happens! Let children pour the lemon juice into their glass of butterfly tea. The lemon juice will change the tea’s color from dark blue to a beautiful purple because of its high acid level.
- Drink and enjoy!
Check out my YouTube page for the video on how to make it!
Bonus: To create a more dramatic color change, first pour the light yellow lemon juice into the glass, and then pour the dark blue sweetened butterfly pea tea over top. Watch as the colors change from yellow to purple almost instantly.
Do you want to try other experiments? Check out my STEAM Experiments page for more ideas!
Enjoy!
Kristen
