{
    "id": 1004758,
    "title": "Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained",
    "slug": "butterfly-pea-blue-tea",
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    "url": "https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/",
    "modified": "2026-04-06T06:47:00+01:00",
    "excerpt": "A caffeine free flower infusion that brews vivid blue and turns purple with lemon. The guide to the viral drink.",
    "content_text": "Butterfly pea (blue tea), in summary: A caffeine free, colour changing flower tisane: genuinely fun, mild, over claimed for health, and emphatically not blue lotus.\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/\nThe colour-changing blue drink all over social media is butterfly pea flower tea. This sits at the centre of the novelty cluster beside blue tea vs blue lotus.\nLast reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in May 2026.\nGeneral information, not medical advice; novelty botanicals vary in evidence and regulation. Check current local rules and speak to a pharmacist if pregnant, medicated or unsure.\nBlue tea is not blue lotus \nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/\n\nButterfly pea (blue tea)Blue lotus\n\nPlantClitoria ternatea flowerA different plant entirely\nEffectCaffeine-free, colour-change, mildMildly psychoactive\nSafety / legalityHarmless fun in normal amountsVariable, evolving legal status\nWhy it mattersThe photogenic party trickMust not be blurred with blue tea\n\nWhat it is, and the colour trick\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for What it is, and the colour trick, Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/Butterfly pea is an infusion of the dried blue flowers of Clitoria ternatea, botanically a tisane rather than true tea and naturally caffeine-free, see what counts as tea. The viral appeal is the colour: it brews a vivid blue from natural anthocyanin pigments, and adding lemon or any acid shifts the pH so it turns purple to magenta in front of you, genuine chemistry rather than an additive. On taste it is mild, earthy, slightly woody and fairly neutral, which is precisely why it is usually sweetened, paired with lemongrass, ginger or fruit, or used in cocktails, lattes and as a natural blue colouring: the flavour is the supporting act and the colour is the star, so treat it as a base and a spectacle rather than a standalone flavour tea.\nThe benefit claims, and the blue-lotus safety point\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for The benefit claims, and the blue-lotus safety point, Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/It contains antioxidants and has a long traditional Ayurvedic use, both true, but the mood, memory and anti-ageing claims circulating online are early and overstated, typically resting on concentrated-extract laboratory work that does not translate to a cup of flower infusion, see claim scepticism. So enjoy it and do not medicalise it: a pleasant, harmless, caffeine-free, photogenic drink with no special powers in cup form, low-risk in normal amounts with the usual sensible caution around pregnancy, medication and concentrated extracts. The single most important point is that this is not \"blue lotus\", an unrelated, mildly psychoactive plant with variable, evolving legal status that trend content routinely conflates with the harmless blue butterfly-pea drink, see blue tea vs blue lotus.\nHow to use it\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for How to use it, Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/Steep the dried flowers in hot water, strain, then split a glass and add citrus to one half for the colour show; it is excellent over ice and as a natural blue base for lemonades and mocktails, see the iced-tea method. The fuller what-it-is, health and brewing treatment is the companion butterfly pea flower tea guide.\nWant to actually buy a good one?\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Want to actually buy a good one?, Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/A genuine butterfly-pea flower infusion is worth buying over a faded one. Browse the herbal and fruit infusions or the full tea shop. As everywhere on this wiki: buy on the cup and the description, never the marketing, check the per-cup price, and remember free UK delivery is over \u00a335.Browse the tea range\nReference noted\n\nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for Reference noted, Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/\n\nEFSA Scientific Opinion on the Safety of Caffeine (2015)\n\nFrom the curatorteas \u00b7 The cup you finish is the right cup. Skip the variety until that one is sorted.\nNovelty-tea readingBlue tea vs blue lotusWhat counts as teaBlue matchaFact-checking tea TikTok \nSource: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Butterfly Pea (Blue Tea), Explained. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/butterfly-pea-blue-tea/\nMore from the tea wiki\n\nGreen tea\nBlack tea\nOolong tea\nWhite tea\nHerbal tea\nCaffeine in tea\nHow to make tea properly\nLoose leaf vs teabag",
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