Indigo Blush Lemonade
This is the party trick of the list and it is nothing but tea and lemonade. Dried butterfly pea flowers brew a deep blue tea that turns purple, then pink, the moment it meets lemon juice. Pour it at the table and let people stir their own.
What you'll need
- 4 cups water (960 ml)
- 2 tablespoons dried butterfly pea flowers, or 6 tea bags
- 0.75 cup sugar (150 g)
- 1 cup hot water (240 ml)
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice, about 6 lemons (240 ml)
- 2 cups cold water (480 ml)
- 1.5 oz gin or vodka (45 ml)
How to make it
Bring the water to a boil, take it off the heat, add the flowers and steep for 10 minutes. Strain and chill until cold. It will be a deep blue.
Stir the sugar into the hot water until dissolved. Add the lemon juice and cold water. Chill.
Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in 1/2 cup (120 ml) of lemonade.
Slowly pour 1/2 cup (120 ml) of blue tea over the ice. It will sit on top, purple where the two meet.
Hand over a spoon or straw. One stir turns the whole glass violet-pink.
Glass: Tall clear glasses. Garnish: A lemon wheel on the rim.
Chef's secrets
Dried butterfly pea flowers are sold with herbal teas and online.
The tea has very little taste of its own, so make the lemonade the way you like it and adjust the sugar there.
Good to know
Both the tea and the lemonade keep, separately, for three days in the fridge. Do not combine them until serving or the colour change is over before anyone sees it.