Butterfly Pea Lemonade

5 from 1 vote

This purple butterfly pea lemonade is an all natural drink. Served iced, this refreshing flower tea with lemon is perfect treat on a hot day.

Prep Time10

Cook Time5

Total Time15

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Asian

Servings: ml

Calories: 804kcal

Add 200ml room temperature water into a small saucepan.
Turn on the heat and bring the water to a boil.
Turn off the heat and add in the butterfly pea flowers.
Cover the pot with a lid and let the butterfly pea flowers steep in the hot water for 3 minutes.
Take off the lid and strain the water. Press the flowers with the back of a spoon to remove as much butterfly pea flower extract as possible. Discard the flowers.
Pour the strained tea back into the saucepan.
Add sugar and turn on the heat to low.
Stir occasionally until the sugar is all dissolved.
Bring the butterfly pea syrup to a boil and turn of the heat.
Pour the syrup into a pitcher or jug.
Top it with the remaining 1300ml cold or chilled water.
Next, add the lemon juice. The butterfly pea flower juice will turn purple as soon as you add lemon juice to it.
Stir the lemonade. Keep it refrigerated until ready to be served.
To serve the butterfly pea lemonade, add ice cubes into a drinking glass and pour the lemonade. Garnish with the lemon slices.

Before juicing the lemons, it helps to roll them on your kitchen counter with your palms by applying some pressure. This will soften the skin and loosen the pulp inside the fruit, making it easier to juice the fruits.
You can also juice the lemons and in advance and freeze the juice. For easy use, you can pre-measure the lemon juice and freeze in separate containers (like ice cube trays) so that all you need to do when you want to make the lemonade is pop a few lemon juice cubes into a glass, add the butterfly pea syrup and water and stir until the lemon juice cubes are dissolved.
You can also make the butterfly pea syrup in advance and keep it refrigerated.

If it is not sweet enough, pour out some into a small pot, add some more sugar and heat it up on low heat. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and mix the sweetened lemonade into the remaining lemonade. Mix well and serve.
If you find the lemon taste not sufficient, add more lemon juice in increments of 1 tablespoon. Mix well after each addition and do a test taste to make sure you do not over-add lemon juice.

Soda water, club soda or sparkling water can be used to substitute the cold water (the second part) to make a fizzy lemonade.