By bizn_fun 
Others in India have spotted the commercial opportunity.
“When you infuse the flower in hot water, it turns blue, and when you squeeze lemon into it, it turns purple. That felt magical,” says Nitesh Singh, who is based just outside Delhi.
Like Reddy, he thought that the flower had much more potential in India.
“It was here for thousands of years, but nobody knew it could become clean, healthy food,” adds Singh.
So, in 2018 he founded Blue Tea, hoping to grow an Indian brand, with Indian butterfly peas. To start with, it did not go well.
“Initially, we had to import because we couldn’t find good quality flowers in India. The flowers here had fewer petals, and once sun-dried, nothing would remain. We needed a flower with more pigment, more petals, to retain colour after drying.”
Over the past seven years, Singh has been working with farmers to raise the quantity and quality.
Having started with five farmers, he now works with 600 across the country.
“Training and quality control are the biggest challenges,” he says.
Plucking the flowers is a key part of the process. It’s a job that is predominantly done by women.
“Their hands are softer, and they instinctively know how to pluck delicate flowers without damaging the plant. So, women are trained in how to identify the flower for plucking,” says Singh.
Once harvested, the flowers have to be dried, which also has to be done with care.
“Temperature control is extremely important for drying this flower – one mistake and you lose its value,” he says.
Farmers do some of the drying before the flowers arrive at Blue Tea, where the moisture is checked and further drying is done.
“We use very mild temperatures for a longer time. If the heat is too high, the flower burns and you lose its medicinal quality and colour,” says Singh.