Lychee Jelly Dessert You Will Love

This refreshing, fruity lychee jelly dessert gains its depth of flavor from coconut milk, but let’s talk about the color. Butterfly pea flower tea gives a lavender hue to this tasty dessert!

People frequently use lychee jelly as a treat, in beverages (similar to boba tea or bubble tea), as a topping for other desserts like frozen yogurt, or simply as a snack.

What is lychee jelly made of?

The lychee juice used in this recipe is the liquid from canned lychees once you strain out the fruit. I found canned lychees at my local Asian Pacific market. According to Google, some Walmarts carry it, but mine did not.

This lychee jelly gains its solid form from agar agar powder, which comes from red algae. That makes this dish vegan. I found my agar agar powder at my local Asian Pacific market as well, or you can buy it online from Amazon. (If you can’t find agar agar powder and don’t need it to be vegetarian, you could substitute gelatin.)

I used coconut milk for a contrasting layer. This is a popular combination. You could substitute coconut water for a milder flavor if you prefer, or skip this step altogether.

Finally, for my twist on this dessert, I used butterfly pea flower tea to dye the coconut milk layer lavender and add some delicate, fruity-floral flavor.

What does lychee jelly taste like?

Lychees (and the jelly made from their juice) are very sweet and very floral. This fragrant fruit tastes a bit like how jasmine smells, only sweeter.

If you don’t want the coconut to overwhelm the flavor, you certainly don’t need to bother with the layers. You can make just lychee jelly (like the cup above). You could even use just the blue tea for a more vibrant and delicately flavored contrasting layer.

What does butterfly pea flower tea taste like?

This tea boasts a magical purple color, but is it tasty? Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to try it on its own, so I bought a blend. Yes, this tea pictured above is delicious!

Butterfly tea flower tea (sometimes called blue tea) has a grassy aroma – very fresh and a little earthy. It is made from a the flower petals of the butterfly-pea, a plant native to Thailand and common in Southeast Asia.

Plain butterfly pea flower tea is deep indigo blue. People generally describe it as earthy, or occasionally woody. Once you add citrus (like lemon juice), it changes to a vibrant purple.

I bought Harney & Sons Indigo Punch, which includes apple pieces, rose hips, lemon peel, lemongrass, and raspberry and honey flavorings in addition to the blue blossoms.

This blend tasted very fruity, a bit floral, and almost candy sweet with a little sugar added. Once it cooled a bit, the grassy notes came out more. It reminded me a little of green tea, and was overall very pleasant.

You can find more info and brewing instruction on the Harney & Sons website, as well as buy it directly from the source.

If you’re more comfortable buying from a company you’ve done business with before, their Indigo Punch tea is also available on Amazon.

Lychee Jelly Ingredients

Before you begin, you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups of lychee juice from canned lychees (Two 8 ounce cans will give you enough. One can was about 1 1/3 cups, so you will have lots of extra with two or you can make a smaller batch with one. Save some of the fruit to serve with the dessert once it’s complete.)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup butterfly pea flower tea (I used Harney & Sons Indigo Punch)
• 1 1/2 tsp agar agar powder, divided (3/4 tsp for each flavor – again, you could use gelatin if you don’t need it to be vegetarian)

• Two saucepans with lids
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Can opener
• A whisk – if your pans are nonstick, here is a silicone coated set.
• A large spoon – flatter spoons work better for this than really deep spoons, but if you only have deep spoons, just pour the liquid over them extra slowly and they should work just fine.
• Molds for your final product – I used a 9 x 9 glass casserole dish, and some small plastic cups for the overflow, but feel free to break out the decorate jello molds if you have them, and yours will look much fancier than mine.

How to make lychee jelly

1. To begin, make the blue tea. I used 1/2 cup of boiling water with one tea sachet and brewed for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Blend and cook your different flavored layers

1. After that, place the lychee juice and 3/4 tsp agar agar powder in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the powder first, and then heat it up to a boil.
2. Once the mixture comes to a boil, immediately turn down the heat to the lowest setting and let it calm down to a simmer. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the liquid out and pour it into your mold for the first layer. Set a timer so the first layer sits undisturbed for 5 minutes. Cover the remainder of the lychee blend and leave it at a simmer.
3. Next, in a separate pan, combine the coconut milk, blue tea, and 3/4 tsp agar agar powder. Again, stir in the powder first, then bring it to a boil on a separate burner. Once it boils, immediately turn it all the way down to a simmer.

Layer your Lychee Coconut Jelly Dessert

1. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the lavender liquid and cover the rest.
2. Then, slowly and gently pour the coconut mixture over the back of a spoon onto the first layer of lychee jelly so the hot liquid doesn’t break through the bottom layer. Once the second layer has all been gently poured, set your timer for another 5 minutes.
3. Once the time is up, create a third layer with the lychee juice, again pouring slowly over the back of a spoon. Allow that layer to set for another 5 minutes, then repeat with a fourth layer of coconut flavored jelly.
4. At this point, I didn’t have enough for anymore full layers, so I used some little cups to make single serve lychee jellies. Upon reflection, they probably would have looked better had I done the bottom third or so with coconut and a top layer of lychee jelly.
5. Once the final layer has cooled for 5 minutes, place your dessert in the fridge overnight or for at least four hours. Serve and enjoy!

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Variations on this Lychee jelly dessert

You can add layers of jello in any flavor you think would go well with lychee. Try rose water, coconut water instead of milk, pomegranate juice, orange juice, vanilla extract in syrup, Prosecco, etc. Just use the same proportions of liquid to agar agar powder in a separate pot.

For a more delicate, floral flavor, you can reverse the proportions of the coconut layer. Use 1 cup blue tea, and only 1/2 cup of coconut milk.

Feel free to include whole lychees, chop them up first, or use brighter fruit for a contrasting color, like raspberries or pomegranate arils.

Have fun with the shapes. I used a very simple pan, but since many people put lychee jelly in drinks (similar to boba tea) you could use a silicone ice cube tray.

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I hope you enjoy this lychee jelly dessert!