Drinks
This hardly counts as a recipe, but we promise that the taste and the color are profoundly wonderful. We first tried this all natural Catskills artisan hand blended azul (blue in Spanish) iced tea at the Shou Sugi Ban House in Water Mill, New York. Guests who visit us from Memorial Day to Labor Day are greeted with pitchers filled with this magic tea that gets its mesmerizing cerulean blue color from its base of blue butterfly pea flowers. It is fragrant, lemony, and mixed with a melange of three healing botanicals—Blue Butterfly Pea Flowers, lemon verbena, and lemongrass. With a squeeze of lemon lemon, lime, or tangerine, the tea turns an amethyst violet purple shade. Packed with antioxidants and vitamin C, this conversation-starting herbal tea will keep you hydrated and happy all summer long.
Ingredients
- Azul Tea
- Water
- Ice Cubes
Directions
- Fill a large tea ball with 4 tablespoons Azul Tea leaves.
- In a medium pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil.
- Turn off the heat, cover, and let the tea stand for 30 minutes.
- Let it cool in the refrigerator.
- When ready to drink, pour over ice.
Kitchen Notes
Ice cubes made with this tea are a refreshing and gorgeous marine blue that may be added to water, seltzer, or gin for color. The tea keeps for five days in the refrigerator. If the blue color is preferred, refrain from adding citrus to the tea or it will most definitely turn purple.