Butterfly Pea ~ Tea & Medicinal Benefits
By Amy Lupton
Butteryfly Pea
Botanical name: Clitoria ternatea
Other names: Blue pea, Aparajitha, Asian pigeonwings
Plant Family: Fabaceae and sub-family Papilionaceae
Butterfly Pea is a perennial leguminous twiner vine, which originated from tropical Asia. This vine boasts beautiful blue purple flowers that are edible and quite medicinal. They have been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine and are slowly making their way into the apothecary shelves of folk herbalists in America.
Because this plant is a legume from the pea family, they will add nitrogen and nutrition to the soil for the surrounding plants when you grow them, so they are great as an additive to the corner of a container bed or garden. :)
At Liferoot we love edible flowers...they are such a colorful way to eat! (Check out our Edible Flower blog here)
The Butterfly Pea flowers are used in dishes and color confectionaries, as well as an edible/safe food coloring. They are quite popular in places such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.
Here in the US, the delicate flowers have made quite a splash as a fun blue tea. You can see them all over magazines and blogs, adorning the blue liquid from this fun flower.
Medicinal: It has a very soothing impact on the nervous, circulatory and psychological systems of the body. The flower is high in antioxidants and flavonoids which help stimulate collagen production, helping to promote skin elasticity. Diabetic conditions can be helped with this tea because of the flowers are high phenolic acid and phenolic amide which improve glucose metabolism.
Serving Pairings: We love this tea mixed with about 30% lemongrass for a wonderful lemon boost.
Preparation: 1-2 tsp per cup. Steep covered for 10 minutes.
Contains no caffeine.
