Ingredients:
- 2 oz alcohol of choice (vodka, or a mild gin work best)
- 1 Tablespoon of ginger or lemon zest syrup (see recipe below) or you can use simple syrup
- 1 oz lemon or lime juice
- 3 oz of brewed butterfly pea flower tea, cooled
Directions:
Fill a tumbler with ice, and add the butterfly pea tea and alcohol. Mix. Separately, combine the syrup and lemon juice in a shot glass. Add mixture from shot glass into tumbler while stirring. Watch what happens!
Syrup preparation: Combine 3 oz. honey, agave or white sugar with 3 oz. water into a microwave safe container. Grate in 2 Tbs of fresh ginger or 1Tb fine lemon zest (or try with both!). Microwave until just below boiling, and cool. Strain if desired.
Butterfly tea preparation: Pour 8-10 oz boiling water to the tea bag, and steep to desired richness of color. The darker the tea, the less dramatic the color change, but it is fun to experiment and all of the possible colors are very striking!
Nonalcoholic preparation:
Use lemonade instead of the vodka, syrup and lemon/lime mixture.
The source of the dramatic effect is due to a natural, harmless compound named anthocyanin. It is an excellent pH indicator and very fun to use in your drinks! As hydrogen ions from the lemon juice are poured into the blue liquid, they bind to the anthocyanin base and change the arrangement of electrons in the compound. This changes how the molecule interacts with visible light and thus changes the color.