Colourful, exotic and refreshing, this Butterfly Pea Bubble Tea is a delightful twist on the classic Taiwanese boba tea. It’s dairy-free and vegan, and since it’s made with blue pea tea instead of black tea, it’s caffeine-free too!
Bubble tea is a cold drink that originated in Taiwan. Also known as pearl milk tea, it consists of tea mixed with milk and sugar syrup. This mixture is served in tall glasses with a base of cooked tapioca pearls (boba) and covered with ice.
Our recipe includes the 4 common ones Boba tea Ingredients: cold tea, milk, sweet syrup and tapioca pearls. But we’ve swapped out the classic Chinese black tea for homemade butterfly pea tea and blended it with dairy-free coconut milk.
Butterfly Pea Flower or Blue Pea Flower is a bright blue flower native to Southeast Asia, particularly popular in Thailand and Malaysia.
Fresh, dried, or powdered butterfly pea flowers are great for making colorful desserts, like this blue sponge cake; sweet rice dishes, like this Thai blue sticky rice; and magical drinks, like this color-changing lemonade. And of course blue boba tea.
Just a few flowers can give your recipes an all-natural blue hue and a floral, wheaty, and earthy flavor that’s similar to matcha but not as bitter.
For the butterfly pea tea, you can use either dried butterfly pea flowers or butterfly pea powder. They’re both available online, but you can also find them at your local Asian grocery store.
For the butterfly boba tea, steep the flowers in hot water until a deep blue tea is formed, allow to cool and stir in the coconut milk from the can. Finally, serve the blue milk tea in tall glasses with boiled tapioca pearls and ice.
The result is a deliciously sweet and creamy drink with a refreshing coconut flavor and grassy notes of butterfly pea flowers. And when you’re done sipping, you can snack on these chewy tapioca pearls – so fun and delicious!
Time to gather the ingredients and make this wonderful Butterfly Pea Milk Tea together!
And if you’re looking for a different exotic flavor for your next bubble tea, check out this Passion Fruit Bubble Tea or the Purple Ube Boba Tea. You will love them!