Matcha and Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade

It’s National Tea Day and mixologist Josh Mcphail is whisking up his favourite brew. A matcha and butterfly pea flower lemonade, inspired by his days of working as a barista in Alicante.

Ingredients
Butterfly pea flower (or butterfly pea flower teabags work)
Matcha powder
Sugar
Lemons
Water (hot and cold)
Ice

Method

Butterfly pea flower infusion
Easy to make – you only need a small amount here as it’s used as a colourant rather than flavour.

1. Steep the flowers in hot water for 3-5 minutes (I use 2tsps of flower to 1 cup of water).
2. Decant the tea and chill in the fridge once cooled.
3. Set aside to combine later.

Lemonade
An essential part of this drink, it helps the layers of the drink to stay separate.

1. Make a simple syrup consisting of 1 part sugar to 1 part hot water (cup).
2. Make sure sugar is fully dissolved and leave to cool.
3. Juice the lemons (I used the juice of 1 lemon per serving).
4. Combine lemon juice with cooled simple syrup to make the lemonade.
5. Chill in fridge along with the butterfly pea flower infusion.

Matcha tea
Unlike the lemonade and butterfly pea infusion, be sure not to make the matcha up ahead of time. It’s best served to order.

1. Take your matcha and mix with cold water in a 1:7 ratio (1g matcha to 70ml water). I used 2g to 140ml of cold water.
2. If you don’t have a bamboo whisk, you can use an empty water bottle. Simply add the matcha and water and shake.

Matcha butterfly pea flower lemonade

1. Fill a glass with ice to the brim.
2. Pour the butterfly pea infusion in, filling around a third of the glass. The ice helps to highlight the beautiful blue tones here.
3. Top up to two thirds with lemonade. You’ll start to see the infusion change from blue to purple as you pour.
4. Slowly pour the matcha on top of the ice to create the layered effect.
5. Garnish with a slice of lemon and serve – remembering to stir before drinking.