Mysterious Cambodia and a cup of… blue tea

There is a place on Earth where nature embraces civilization, ancient beliefs and traditions merge with the jungle, we are in Cambodia and the incredible spectacle of the Ta Prohm temple opens before us. The temple, built around the twelfth century, is not abandoned but can be visited and conquers us with its wild and mystical beauty. Towers in the shape of a human face, bas-reliefs and buildings are framed by strangling ficus trees, majestic and strong trees that slowly creep into the ravines, cracks, pass over the roofs and swallow stones witnessing a distant past. Among the various decorated tables that have survived the erosion of the elements, there is one that still fascinates those who observe it and inflames the minds of scientists. It is a bas-relief depicting what looks like a stegosaurus, an animal that lived in the Jurassic period and that could not be found at the time of the civilization that erected Ta Prohm. Could it be a wild boar or a rhino? We ask this ourselves, while with a smile we turn and leave this great little mystery open. So let's bring some charm and mystery to our home too, enjoying a typical herbal tea from this land ... the butterfly pea!

Butterfly pea is a herbal tea obtained from dried flowers of the Clitoria ternatea plant and has the particularity of being blue! This is thanks to anthocyanins, antioxidant substances that give blueberries the blue color, too. Anthocyanins also make the herbal tea anti-inflammatory, able to counteract the action of free radicals and with an analgesic affect (Oguis et al, Front Plant Sci, 2019). Butterfly pea is found in the best-stocked and online stores. Bring a cup of water to the boil, remove from the heat and wait a minute before adding 2 teaspoons of herbal tea, leave to infuse 5 minutes, then filter. Do you want to know one last magic tip? Try squeezing a little lemon juice into the blue herbal tea and it will become of a beautiful bright purple color!