Butterfly Pea Flower (Aparajita) — the blue that changes colour

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⊹ Community voices

What the community murmurs.

5/557 reviews, including 55 left on our Etsy shop

All reviews (57) →

Wowzers! first time trying this flower as a tea and my oh my I feel amazing spiritually and mentally. such a beautiful tea to sip on while sitting in the Sun. also wanted to thank you for the free gifts they are always wonderful.
AfroYoYo
Daily · left on our Etsy shop · 11 September 2024
Amazing as always thank you I love this tea so much the colour the flavour the smell of the dried flowers are amazing. thank you.
AfroYoYo
Daily · left on our Etsy shop · 11 April 2025
I am amazed by the color of this infusion, it is just magnificent and the taste is fine and delicate. THANKS
Nathalie
Daily · left on our Etsy shop · 28 February 2024

Read Aparajita through your world

The page reads from the daylight side: the ordinary morning, the cup, nature that wants to help us.

✦ Aparajita · in one breath ✦

The poetic chemistry of the goddess Durga — the flower that changes destinies.

Signature INFUSEIntensity · scored out of 10

Intensity · scored out of 10
creative everyday		9/10
blue sacred feminine		9/10
Medhya-mind		8/10
blue bath		10/10
poetic chemistry		9/10

Register Aparajita the invincible, the flower that changes destiny, indigo blue that turns pink, Medhya category · Ayurveda — Medhya · Sri Lanka

⊹ The path of the plant

Essence

The whole page is read through this lens.

⊹ CHAPTER II · ESSENCE ⊹

A magical blue flower, for beauty, creativity and clarity.

Poured into hot water, she releases a fabulous royal indigo blue.

Aparajita is a "beauty teacher" on many levels. In a bath, a dye or a watercolour, she carries creativity and sensitivity: she helps our creative souls express themselves with ease and clarity.

Since ancient India, she has been placed in the Ayurvedic Medhya category, the "medicines of clear memory and strong intellect".

Aparajita is close to Devi Durga, goddess of motherhood, of protection, of courage and of war. A flower of honour, she speaks of independence and of moving forward.

In ancient Hindu astrology, blue flowers are said to carry the power to move and change your destiny.

The design of her flower evoked, for the one who named her in the West, the form of a yoni — hence her Latin name, Clitoria ternatea.

Mixed with other plants that change the pH, Aparajita turns your water to shades of green, violet or pink. It's yours to play with — more or less lemon juice to begin.

𖮸𖮸𖮸

For those who want creativity to take its colours back.

Tradition

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⊹ CHAPTER III · TRADITION ⊹

Sanskrit — Aparajita means "the invincible" / "the never-defeated": a- (negative prefix) + parājita (defeated). It is the form of the goddess Durga in her absolute victory, standing on the lion, many-armed and armed — not to conquer, but to protect. The flower that carries her name inherits that quality: she is offered to those who are going through an ordeal. Not as a remedy, but as a reminder — not being defeated is not the same thing as winning.

The flower is offered to Durga in the Durga Puja (navaratri, the Hindu autumn), at the Saraswati Puja (goddess of knowledge and of the arts), and at the Shiva Puja — Shiva loves that deep blue that evokes his third eye, the point where consciousness gathers before unfolding.

The Shankha — the sacred conch. The curved, pointed corolla of the flower evokes the cosmic conch of Vishnu, the Panchajanya: when Vishnu blows into it, the universe vibrates in the primordial sound. Hence her other name — Shankhpushpi, conch-shaped flower — and her link to right speech and to the memory of texts.

Medhya Rasayana — Aparajita is classed among the Ayurvedic rejuvenating plants dedicated to the mind, supporting *buddhi* (intellect), *medha* (memory), *dhi* (understanding), *smriti* (deep recall). The Charaka Samhita cites four classical Medhya Rasayana — Brahmi (Bacopa), Mandukaparni (Gotu Kola), Shankhpushpi and Guduchi; Aparajita belongs to that noble circle.

Other regional names: Anchan (Thai), Bunga Telang (Malay), Pewarna alami (Indonesian — literally "plant colouring").

South-East Asian cooking. In Thailand, *nam dok anchan* — a blue butterfly-pea tea, served cold with lemon and honey, sometimes lifted with ginger — is drunk at the markets; the lemon there turns the blue to pink-violet. In Kelantan (Malaysia), *nasi kerabu* is a rice dyed night blue by the flower, served with grilled fish, fresh herbs and sambal: blue there was the colour of nobility. A plant of playful everyday chemistry, where care and feasting go together. In Europe, the dried flower is not authorised as a food (Regulation (EU) 2015/2283): INFUSE sells it for colour, bathing and dyeing.

Preparation

⊹ CHAPTER IV · PREPARATION ⊹

INFUSE offers Aparajita as a powder (50 g), for colour: bath, dye, watercolour.

The blue bath

Stir a few spoonfuls of powder into a bowl of hot water until dissolved, then pour into the bathwater
The indigo blue spreads; a dash of lemon turns it pink-violet

Dye and colour

Ink and watercolour: stir a pinch of powder into a few drops of hot water — a blue to paint with
Fabric, paper: a hot dye bath, left to soak in; lemon and bicarbonate shift the shade

Play with the chemistry of the colour.

With lemon: the blue turns pink-violet (acidification of the pH)
With hibiscus: magnificent red shades
With bicarbonate of soda: turquoise green

*Tradition typically uses the whole dried flowers placed in hot water — same chemistry, same blue.*

Non-food use.

Suggested ritual

Aparajita is a plant of playful creativity. Writing circles, art workshops, brainstorming sessions, watercolours — she accompanies the moment when you let the colours appear.

A simple ceremony: prepare the blue before the creative work, split it into three bowls — lemon in one, bicarbonate in another, nothing in the last — and look at the three colours before beginning. Paint with it at the end of the session: when the colour has infused, so has the work. With a child, it is the workshop of poetic chemistry: the flower hides nothing, she shows.

⊹ FREQUENT QUESTIONS ⊹

We answer.

What is butterfly pea flower (Aparajita)?

Butterfly pea flower is the indigo blue flower of Clitoria ternatea, a climbing liana from Southeast Asia. In India she is called Aparajita, the invincible. Infused in warm water, she releases a deep blue that turns pink as soon as lemon is added.

What are the uses of butterfly pea flower?

In South-East Asia, she colours drinks, rice and pastries. In the European Union, where the dried flower is not authorised as a food, INFUSE offers her for colour: blue bath, dye, watercolour. Ayurveda ranks her among the Medhya, the plants traditionally dedicated to clear memory and intellect. Her signature remains beauty, colour and play.

How do I prepare a butterfly pea blue bath?

Stir a few spoonfuls of Aparajita powder into a bowl of hot water, then pour it into the bathwater: the indigo blue spreads. A dash of lemon turns it pink-violet. In Thailand, the same flower makes nam dok anchan, a blue tea with lemon; INFUSE sells it for non-food use.

Why does butterfly pea blue change colour?

Because of anthocyanins, pigments whose structure rearranges according to pH. In a neutral medium the flower is blue, in an acid one (lemon, vinegar) she turns pink, in a basic one (bicarbonate) turquoise green. The same water, three colours according to what you give it.

Can you drink butterfly pea in Europe?

In the European Union, the dried flower of Clitoria ternatea is not authorised as a food under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods. In 2022 EFSA raised safety objections linked to its cyclotides, and the European Commission closed the authorisation application on 12 February 2026. INFUSE therefore sells it for colour, bathing and dyeing.

Aparajita and Shankhpushpi, are they the same plant?

The name Shankhpushpi (conch-shaped flower) designates, according to Ayurvedic lineages, either Clitoria ternatea (Aparajita) or Convolvulus pluricaulis, two distinct plants. INFUSE works only with Clitoria ternatea, the blue flower. Verify the botanical identity before any purchase elsewhere.

All questions

Is butterfly pea suitable during pregnancy?

As a precaution, avoid it during pregnancy. When in doubt, while breastfeeding or on anticoagulant treatment, ask a healthcare professional for advice.

Where does INFUSE's Aparajita come from?

Our flowers come from Sri Lanka, wild-harvested by a small family business that also cultivates lotus and water lilies in vast marshes.

⊹ Chapter · Questions ⊹

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