Years back I reviewed BlueChai, which was pure butterfly pea flower tea that steeps up blue, but turns pinky purple when lemon is added. Since then, butterfly pea flower tea has been popping up more and more, and it is easier to find online. More and more tea sellers are making blends with it and coming up with neat teas.
Adagio Teas sent me an exclusive tea – Bella Luna Blue – which they only sell when there is a second full moon in a calendar month, aka blue moon. The next blue moon is March 31, 2018. Strangely, there are 2 blue moons this year (Jan 31, 2018) and after that, there is one in 2019 and 2020. Bella Luna Blue is a herbal tea of butterfly pea flowers, lemongrass, and blueberry flavoring.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaves are to what I expected – butterfly pea flowers and big hunks of lemongrass. Unexpectedly, the tea smells like blueberry crumble.
I used a lot of tea as my mug is huge and this tea is light. I think I used more tea than recommended too. I ended up with 6 grams of tea for a 500ml mug, steeped in boiling water for 7 minutes.
Of course, this tea is all sorts of photography fun. Bella Luna Blue steeps up a deep dark blue, most impressive in glass.
Tasting of Adagio Teas’ Bella Luna Blue Herbal Tea
The main flavor is the lemongrass. Butterfly Pea Flowers are pretty light on flavor on their own, so along with the lemongrass there is a background of herbal floral sweetness. I don’t get much of the blueberry flavoring. As is Bella Luna Blue is fine to drink, especially if you like lemongrass.
A common thing to do is to add lemon to butterfly pea flower tea. The colour changed from dark blue to magenta!
With lemon, the herbal note dropped, taken over by lemon. If you are careful with the amount of lemon added, it will just accent the lemongrass. Too much lemon, and you have tart city.
Sweetened: I added a bit of light agave syrup, my go-to sweetener. Now I can taste the blueberry! It straight up tastes like a blueberry lemonade. As this tea cools, it gets better and better. With some added ice cubes, this is a killer iced tea. It is more refreshing, sweet blueberry lemon flavor.
Comments
First off, Adagio Teas’ Bella Luna Blue is a limited time exclusive tea. If you like the sound of this, get it ASAP. It goes on sale March 31st, 2018 for a limited time.
Bella Luna Blue, in my opinion, tastes best with lemon, sweetener, and iced. On its own, it is heavy lemongrass and you don’t get the blueberry notes. It would be a fun tea for a bbq or picnic. I would also give this tea to kids, they would love it, and it is a lower sugar option.
Despite all the oolong and puer I drink, I actually drink quite a lot of herbal iced teas in the evenings when I don’t want caffeine. Bella Luna Blue is pretty good, I’ll drink the whole bag through the spring and summer. I am sad this tea is limited edition, I would like to see it stick around and more butterfly pea flower teas come out.
(tea provided for review | affiliate links)
