Food - Drink
Blue Cocktails Are Popping Up At High-End Bars. What's Even In Them?
By LISA CURRAN MATTE
In a departure from the blue cocktails of yesteryear like the super-sweet Blue Hawaii, today's most popular blue-hued cocktails offer a more subtle flavor profile.
Most blue cocktails’ color is due to a touch of Blue Curaçao, an orange-flavored liqueur that’s naturally clear, with artificial food coloring added to produce a striking tone.
If you’re not feeling the food coloring, more natural options for blue cocktails include ingredients like blue butterfly pea flower tea powder, blue matcha, and blue spirulina.
Blue butterfly pea flower tea is made by brewing the ground indigo-colored petals of the blue butterfly pea flower, and it brings earth tones to the flavor profile of cocktails.
The FDA recently approved blue spirulina, a superfood derived from blue-green algae, for use in coloring alcoholic beverages, so it may start to become more popular in cocktails.