Butterfly Pea Simple Syrup Recipe (2024)

By Timo Torner/ Last updated on December 4, 2023

Butterfly pea flower syrup is a brilliant way to add color and a little magic to your mixed drinks. The dark blue floral syrup reacts with acidic elements, which turn the deep blue liquid into a bright pink.

Color-changing co*cktails have been taking over social media by storm. Seeing a dark blue colored co*cktail turning bright pink doesn't cease to fascinate people.

This Butterfly pea simple syrup is dark blue in its natural color and sweet and slightly floral in taste. It's an excellent way to sweeten and color co*cktails or non-alcoholic drinks like soda water or citrus juices.

About the Ingredients

To make this colorful simple syrup, you only need two ingredients. One of them can be a little bit pricey, though:

• Butterfly pea flowers- Dried butterfly pea flower is often used for making tea. You can find it in Asian supermarkets or ordersome online. Alternatively, you can also use fresh flowers or use powder extract.
• Sugar- Regular caster or granulated sugar is our preferred choice, which is also what we use to make regular simple syrup. It's affordable and neutral - and that's what we need with the subtle floral notes of butterfly peas.

What is Butterfly Pea Flower?

The scientifically correct name for the butterfly pea iscl*toria ternatea. Its origin is in Asia, where it is also known as Asian pigeonwings or blue peas.

Over the years, the name butterfly pea became more common as it surely is the most catchy one. In Southeast Asia, butterfly pea has been used for brewing tea and as a natural food coloring for a long time. In India, it is even considered a holy flower. Hindi often use itfor offeringsto an image of a god, the so-called puja rituals.

Health benefits

Besides being a mood enhancer, the butterfly pea flower provides several other health benefits. For instance, stress relief, lower anxiety, reduced fatigue, and raised energy levels. [1]

Due to its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, Spas and massage parlors often serve tea from the blue flower after a treatment.

How does it taste?

Butterfly pea flower simple syrup is often used in tea or syrup. It has a very subtle yet earthy flavor with wooden notes, similar to green teas. Overall, it's relatively neutral and won't affect the taste of your drink overly much.

Why does it change color?

The color-changing effect of Butterfly pea flower syrup is caused by changing the pH. By adding acidic ingredients, like citrus juice, to co*cktails, lemonade, to tea made with butterfly peas, they will change their color from dark blue to pink.

But you can also achieve other shades. Depending on the pH, the color can range from pink, violet, blue, and green to yellow. [2]

For those interested in chemistry, the blue color indicates a pH of 7. By increasing the acidic level, the color will turn to violet at pH 4, and ultimately pink at pH 1.

If you do not increase the acidity but create o more alkaline solutions, the color can turn green at pH 8 and yellow at pH 11. You won't see butterfly pea drinks in green or yellow because the necessary alkaline solutions are almost impossible to achieve with edible ingredients.

Butterfly Pea syrup in drinks

In co*cktails, you can use it as an alternative to simple syrup. That won't affect the overall flavor of your drink, but it will add an interesting color effect to it.

Used in an acidic drink like a Gin Sour co*cktail, it turns bright pink. If you use it to sweeten an Old Fashioned, the tint will remain dark blue to purple due to the lack of acid.

In Northern Thailand, they have a traditional recipe called Nam Dok Anchan: butterfly pea flower tea mixed with honey and (usually) a lemon on the side. [3]

More floral syrups

• Hibiscus syrup for co*cktailsis perfect for Rum-based drinks.
• Elderflower simple syrupis an elegant floral syrup that is a great substitute for St Germain in low-ABV co*cktails.
• Lavender syrup for co*cktailsadds a gentle floral touch to your mixed drinks.

Frequently asked questions