To create colour-changing drinks, you need dried pure butterfly pea flowers, tea and dried or fresh flowers if you live in South East Asia. When steeped in water, the butterfly pea flower turns the liquid blue. Add in some lemon juice, and the drink’s acidity increases, causing the colour to fade from blue to purple to pink. If you add some baking soda to the drink, it becomes less acidic and turns bluer. The tea or the flowers can also infuse alcohol; usually, the process takes overnight to a few days. The most suitable spirits for infusion are the clear ones, as the colour-changing effect will be the most visible with them. Another important thing about the Butterfly Pea Flowers is that it doesn’t change or add a taste to the drink; it is only for theatricals.
This type of drink is best done or served in front of customers as the main focus is on the presentation, especially the visual effect. It can not be done in advance and achieve the same result. Also, besides the flowers, the acidity modifier, lemon or lime, is the next most important ingredient as it determines the colour change. Usually, it is poured last, but that depends on the drink you are making.
Caipirinha is one of my favourite drinks, so I wanted to include a recipe for Mango Caipirinha, a trendy Brazilian-flavoured drink.
Color-Changing Mango Caipirinha
Using butterfly pea flowers to change the drink's color.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz Cachaça
- Butterfly pea flowers- a few flowers will be enough
- 15 oz water
- Mango fruit
- 1 lime
- fine cane sugar
- Splash of Soda water
Instructions
- I infused the water with butterfly pea flowers and kept them in for about an hour.
- Strain the water.
- Pour into a container or ice cube tray and put it in the freezer. The shape is unimportant as we will make crushed ice later.
- Peel the mango and cut it.
- Put in the blender with a little bit of water. Blend until you are smooth and not too thick pure.
- Pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze it.
- Once the puree and the tea are frozen, we need to make crushed ice using a blender, muddler, etc. Don't mix the two coloured ice cubes, though; we need them to keep the drink separate.
- Put the Mango ice first, about 1/3 of the glass in an old-fashioned or any taller glass.
- Add the Blue Ice on top of it, no higher than 2/3 of the glass.
- For the Drink.
- Cut the lime into eight quarters and put them into a mixing glass.
- Add 2 bars, spoons of sugar, a splash of water, and a muddle to extract the juice.
- Pour in the Cachaça and stir everything with ice.
- Strain slowly over the ice, and you will see the ice slowly changing to purple and pink.
- The colour change will depend on the amount of acidity in the mixture.
- Top with a splash of soda water and stir slowly.
- Add on top some of the remaining butterfly pea flowers and crushed ice.
- Serve with a straw.
Just ice, not drink
Final drink with Alcohol, lime and soda, stirred.
The top image of the post is what the colors look like before the drink is stired.
Notes
It is best done in front of the customer by infusing the alcohol with butterfly pea flowers; the second layer of ice can be plain white crushed ice.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
1Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 372Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 29mgCarbohydrates: 87gFiber: 16gSugar: 61gProtein: 12g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.
I am really inspired together with your writing talents and also with the format in your weblog. Is that this a paid topic or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s uncommon to look a nice blog like this one today..
Thank you.
This site is my breathing in, very fantastic style and design and perfect articles.
Keep functioning ,impressive job!
Thank you.
very useful
impressive