Butterfly Pea Lemonade - Magic Purple Lemonade

This butterfly pea lemonade is not just a drink, it is an all natural pretty drink in purple. Served iced, this refreshing butterfly pea flower lemonade is truly a satisfying drink on a hot day.

The star ingredient in this recipe is butterfly pea flowers. They impart a lovely natural blue extract when steeped in water and are said to have many health benefits too. The natural blue extract of these pretty blue pea flowers turn into an equally lovely, natural purple hue when mixed with acidic substance and hence the magical purple color of this butterfly pea tea lemonade.

This butterfly pea lemonade is a very easy drink to make, and it only requires 4 ingredients - butterfly pea flowers, sugar, lemon juice and water.

Making it is also as same as making regular lemonade with simple syrup. You start with a butterfly pea simple syrup which is then added lemon juice and water to make the super refreshing, magic color-transforming blue to purple butterfly pea tea with lemon.

How to Make Butterfly Pea Lemonade

Ingredients

• Butterfly pea flowers (fresh or dried)
• Lemon juice (strained)
• Sugar
• Water

Preparing the butterfly pea syrup

1. Measure water into a small pot. Turn on the heat to medium flame and bring the water to a boil.
2. Once boiled, add the butterfly pea flowers. Turn off the heat.
3. Cover the pot with a lid and let the flowers steep in the hot water for 3 minutes.
4. Strain the butterfly pea tea to remove the flowers. Press the flowers to remove as much extract as possible and discard.
5. Return the concentrated tea back to the stove. Add sugar and turn on the heat to low.
6. Stir to dissolve the sugar. As soon as dissolved, turn of the heat.

Making the butterfly pea lemonade

1. Add the butterfly pea syrup into a glass pitcher.
2. Top it with the remaining water.
3. Add in the lemon juice. You will see the blue color of the butterfly pea flower tea changing to purple like magic as you add the lemon juice. Stir well.
4. To serve add ice cubes to drinking glasses. Pour the lemonade and enjoy!

Notes

What does butterfly pea lemonade taste like?

• This magic purple colored butterfly pea lemon tea tastes just like regular lemonade. The color purple is actually the chemical reaction of the blue extract of butterfly pea flowers.
• The extract does not contribute to any changes in taste to the lemonade and is mostly used for this nutritional benefits and its lovely purple or lavender color.

Can you replace white sugar with brown sugar in this lemonade recipe?

• Technically you can, and however, using brown sugar will alter the color of this purple lemonade as brown sugar then to make the lemonade brown.

How to adjust the level of sweetness of the butterfly pea lemon tea?

• This butterfly pea flower lemon tea recipe makes lemonade that is not too sweet, and has a more sourish taste to it. If you prefer your drink to be sweeter, you can always add more sugar.
• To add sugar after mixing the lemonade, simply transfer out about a quarter cup of lemonade into a small pot. Add the extra sugar to it and heat it up over low flame. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
• Once the sugar is dissolved, pour the sweetened lemonade back into the pitcher and mix well.

Can you use butterfly pea flower powder to make this drink?

• Yes, you can. For the recipe below, replace the dried flowers with about a quarter teaspoon of the flower powder. You can skip the steeping step in the recipe and mix the water, sugar and the powder together at once and boil them to make the butterfly pea syrup for the lemonade.

How long does the lemonade last?

• This butterfly pea flower tea with lemon is best consumed within 4 to 5 days. Keep it chilled in the refrigerator and do not add ice cubes to it until it is served.
• Adding ice cubes will result in the lemonade becoming diluted by the time it is served.

Like this butterfly pea flower lemonade recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

• Butterfly Pea Syrup - Easy Homemade Simple Syrup
• Lemonade Recipe - 3 Easy Methods
• Brown Sugar Lemonade - Flavorful and Refreshing
• Pretty in Pink Blueberry Lemonade
• Butterfly Pea Flower Drink
• Butterfly Pea Latte - Easy Blue Pea Flower Tea Latte

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my butterfly pea lemonade recipe.

And that is my super easy and delectable purple butterfly pea tea with lemon for you.

Enjoy!