Butterfly Pea Flower Wholesale

Independent sourcing note: We are an independent butterfly pea flower tea B2B sourcing desk — we curate verified Indonesian growers and tea makers and route your RFQ to a vetted partner; we are not the manufacturer, exporter of record, or freight forwarder. Butterfly pea is dried Clitoria ternatea flowers, graded by colour and moisture and also sold as petals, powder, and extract. Figures (MOQ, FOB per kg, lead times) are indicative ranges and vary by grade, season, and volume — final terms are by quote. Compliance (pesticide-residue limits, organic certification, food-contact, and import status such as EU novel-food, which is uncertain) is your responsibility to verify with the supplier and a licensed customs broker — this is general trade information, not legal or regulatory advice. We may earn a sourcing commission on referred orders (referral disclosure).

Butterfly pea flower wholesale means buying dried Clitoria ternatea flowers — or their downstream forms, powder and extract — in commercial quantities from a vetted trade source, typically on FOB terms from Southeast Asia. This page is the sourcing hub for that process: it maps your product-form decision, explains the grade tiers and indicative FOB price brackets, sets out MOQ expectations, and routes you to the right spoke page for each topic. Read it top to bottom once; use the section links to go deep on the part that matters most to your order.

One warning before anything else. If your destination is the European Union, stop at the EU novel-food section before you spend time on specifications. Marketing Clitoria ternatea as a food or tea in the EU is not currently authorized, and that fact should be the first thing any honest sourcing desk tells you.

What This Desk Does — and Does Not Do

Butterfly Pea Tea Wholesale is an independent sourcing and trade-information desk. We curate verified Indonesian makers and processors, publish sourced trade information with uncertainty clearly flagged, and route qualified RFQs to a vetted partner who quotes, contracts, and ships. We are not a plantation, a manufacturer, an exporter-of-record, or a freight forwarder. No one can pay us to change what we publish. If you use our free sourcing guidance and proceed with a partner through us, that partner may pay a referral fee at no extra cost to you.

The butterfly pea market is saturated with single-product sales pages, over-claimed health copy, and price lists presented as fixed when they are nothing of the sort. FOB prices in this category are negotiated privately; there is no published industry price board. Every number we give you is an indicative bracket, not a firm quote. That is not a weakness in this guide — it is the honest starting point for any real B2B conversation.

Choose Your Product Form First

The single biggest decision before you inquire on volume is the product form. It drives grade, price, MOQ, packaging, and which regulations bite hardest. There are four main forms in trade:

Whole dried flowers: Premium tier. Flowers are hand-picked fully open in the morning, dried at low temperature (industry practice targets 50–60°C to limit anthocyanin loss), and packed with minimal breakage. Visual integrity is the value driver: intact five-petalled blooms command a price premium in premium tea retail, hotel amenity kits, and cocktail garnish supply. Specs often read ≥90% intact flowers by visual count. This is the form with the highest per-kilogram FOB and the most sensitive handling requirements.
Broken petals / fines: Second tier, produced from breakage during handling or from deliberate grading-out of smaller or damaged flowers. Lower per-kg cost. Suitable for blending, extract input, and powder precursor. Color extraction yield can be comparable to whole flower if anthocyanin content is intact — it is the structural damage, not pigment loss, that reduces the grade.
Butterfly pea powder: Dried flowers milled to powder, used as a natural blue food colorant or ingredient in latte blends, baking premixes, and nutraceutical capsules. Typically sold on particle-size spec (mesh), color strength (absorbance reading at ~560–620 nm), and moisture content. Processing adds cost but removes bulk logistics friction for high-value buyers who need a shelf-stable, easy-to-dispense ingredient. See our butterfly pea powder wholesale page for form-specific detail.
Extract (water extract / anthocyanin concentrate): Most processed form. Water extraction of dried petals produces a liquid or spray-dried concentrate standardized to anthocyanin content. This is the form explicitly authorized by the US FDA as a color additive (21 CFR 73.69) for defined food categories. Color intensity per gram is highest here; price per kilogram of extract is substantially above raw flower. Minimum order volumes and lead times differ from bulk flower. Relevant for beverage manufacturers, confectionery, and US-market colorant buyers.

If you are unsure which form your application requires, use our enquiry form and describe your end use. We will route you to the right partner profile and avoid the round-trip of quoting the wrong product form.

Grade Tiers and Quality Specifications

Butterfly pea flower has no formal ISO or Codex grading system. That is not a gap unique to this crop — most dried herbs and botanical ingredients trade on industry-norm descriptions rather than legally codified standards. What follows is how the market actually works, based on trade practice.

What Separates Premium from Standard

Color is the first and most visible signal. Deep, uniform blue with no browning or fading indicates high ternatin content — the polyacylated delphinidin anthocyanins responsible for the flower’s signature color and pH-reactive behavior. Browning is almost always a drying artifact: excessive heat or prolonged sun exposure degrades anthocyanins before the flower is even packed. A supplier who cannot tell you their drying method and temperature range is a supplier whose color consistency you cannot predict lot to lot.

After color: flower integrity, foreign matter, and moisture. Premium whole-flower grade is commonly specified at ≥90% intact flowers, ≤1–2% stems/leaves/foreign matter, and moisture content at or below 10%. Standard food-grade material runs to ≤12% moisture; anything above that is a mold risk in storage, especially in a hygroscopic product shipped in non-airtight cartons. Water activity ≤0.6 is the defensible target for shelf stability — this is inferred from general dried-herb practice, not a butterfly-pea-specific published standard, but it is the figure careful buyers use as a contract benchmark.

A comparative view of the grade tiers:

Grade	Typical Specification	Common Use	Indicative FOB (USD/kg)
Premium whole flower	≥90% intact, moisture ≤10%, deep uniform blue, ≤1% foreign matter	Specialty tea retail, hotel amenity, cocktail garnish	10–20 (organic/select) / 8–15 (standard-origin Thai premium positioning) / 8–12 (Indonesia standard)
Food-grade whole flower	≥80% intact, moisture ≤12%, acceptable color, ≤2% foreign matter	Blending, retail tea, food ingredient	6–12 (Indonesia/Vietnam)
Broken petals / fines	Broken, moisture ≤12%, no mold/off-odor	Extract input, powder precursor, low-cost blends	6–10
Powder (milled)	Particle size (mesh spec), absorbance at 560–620 nm, moisture ≤8%	Colorant, latte blend, nutraceutical	By specification — typically above whole flower on weight basis

All price ranges above are indicative FOB brackets derived from sparse public listings and analogous herb trade data. They are not firm offers. Actual prices depend on volume, certification, origin, season, and the specific producer’s positioning. Request a live quote — that is the only number you can actually buy against. See our FOB price guide for a fuller treatment of what moves the number.

QC Tests to Demand Before You Commit

This list applies whether you are buying 100 kg or a full container. Ask for it from any supplier, not just ours:

Moisture content and water activity (aw)
Microbiological panel: total plate count, yeast and mold, Salmonella absent/25g, E. coli absent/25g
Multi-residue pesticide screen by LC/GC-MS/MS — especially important for smallholder-sourced material without organic certification
Heavy metals: lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury by ICP-MS
Mycotoxin screen if storage conditions or origin are uncertain
Color strength: absorbance reading at ~560–620 nm, plus a simple pH-change response test (drop of lemon juice should shift blue to purple/pink)
Botanical identity: HPTLC or LC-MS anthocyanin fingerprint for high-value lots; DNA barcoding where species verification is critical
Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from an accredited third-party lab, with batch number and production date

A seller who balks at any of these is worth walking away from. A good Indonesian maker in this category will supply CoA, GMP or HACCP documentation, and batch traceability as a matter of course. If they cannot, they are not ready for export volumes.

The EU Novel-Food Wall — Read This Before Ordering for Europe

This is the most important compliance fact on this page, and most sourcing guides in this space either bury it or skip it entirely.

Clitoria ternatea used in foods — including herbal teas — is classified as a novel food in the European Union and is not currently authorized for sale as a food or food ingredient in EU member states. The authorization path was attempted: a traditional-food notification was filed, EFSA raised safety objections (reference EN-7084), and the European Commission terminated the authorization procedure (Commission Decision C(2026)776). Active enforcement has followed: RASFF notifications have been filed against butterfly pea tea shipments, including from Austria (2025.0444) and Belgium in 2024 against Cambodian-origin flowers. Belgium has reportedly recalled butterfly pea teas from retail.

What this means practically: if your destination is any EU member state and your buyer is putting this product in a food or beverage context, you are currently operating outside the legal framework. Supplement use may differ by member state, but that is jurisdiction-specific and uncertain — you need advice from a lawyer or regulatory consultant in the destination country, not a sourcing desk. We will not route EU-food inquiries without a clear compliance plan from the buyer’s side. This is not us being cautious — it is us not setting up a buyer for a customs seizure or a recall.

For US-bound volume: the regulatory picture is substantially more permissive. The FDA approved butterfly pea flower extract as a color additive exempt from certification (21 CFR 73.69) in 2021, with approved uses including beverages, yogurt, candy, confectionery, and several other defined food categories. The dried flower/tea itself is traded as a conventional food (herbal tisane) by many US brands without apparent enforcement action, relying on safety history and GRAS principles. Buyers should confirm current 21 CFR category coverage with their regulatory advisor and avoid disease or health claims that could trigger drug classification. Compliance is the buyer’s responsibility.

MOQ Tiers and What They Mean for Your Order

Minimum order quantities in this category are not fixed industry rules — they are producer decisions, and they vary. Here is what you realistically encounter:

Sample / trial: 0.5–5 kg. Almost all credible makers offer samples, sometimes free or at cost. Non-negotiable before any volume commitment. See our sample ordering page.
Small wholesale: 20–50 kg. Accessible for smaller brands, initial launches, and reformulation testing. FOB pricing at this tier is typically at the top of the bracket; freight efficiency is poor (you will likely air-freight).
Serious B2B / FOB tier: 100–500 kg. Where sea-freight economics start to make sense and where most producers begin to negotiate on price. You are usually talking cartons of 10–20 kg net, palletized, FCL or LCL.
Container volume: 500 kg+, up to FCL capacity. A 20-foot FCL is estimated at roughly 3–5 MT of dried flowers (dried flowers are volume-limited cargo, not weight-limited — bulk density is low, around 100–150 kg per cubic metre, similar to dried chamomile or hibiscus). A 40-foot container carries roughly 6–10 MT. These are estimated ranges from analogous herb cargo; no butterfly-pea-specific published figure exists. Confirm with your freight forwarder against the specific packing configuration.

For private-label retail (retail pouches, pyramid tea bags, OEM runs), MOQs are typically expressed in retail units rather than kg — hundreds to thousands of SKU units per run, depending on the contract manufacturer. See our private-label and OEM page for the full breakdown.

Ready to discuss volume? Use our enquiry form or reach us directly on WhatsApp at +62 811-3982-3875. Include your target form, volume, destination, and any certification requirements, and we will match your inquiry to a vetted maker and get back to you with a route-to-quote.

Indonesia as a Sourcing Origin

Thailand dominates the butterfly pea flower trade by reputation. It has the longest documented cultivation history, government herbal-product promotion, and strong brand recognition with Western buyers. That brand premium is real and it shows in Thai FOB pricing — Thai premium positioning typically runs USD 8–15/kg for select whole flower, while top organic Thai grades reach USD 10–20/kg.

Indonesia is a significant but secondary origin. The species is well-adapted to Indonesia’s pantropical belt — the plant grows vigorously between roughly 20°N and 24°S at altitudes up to 1,600 m, requires annual rainfall near 1,500 mm, and tolerates soil pH as wide as 5.5 to 8.9. Indonesian pricing is generally competitive with Vietnam, positioned below top-tier Thai, and increasingly relevant to buyers who want to diversify supply risk or achieve a lower landed cost on food-grade volume. International buyers often classify Indonesian material as generic Southeast Asian origin, which works in favour of buyers who do not need a Thai provenance claim and works against sellers trying to charge a Thai-equivalent premium.

What we can offer through Indonesian partners: food-grade whole flower, broken-petal/fines, and powder. Organic-certified material is available but requires [VERIFY] against a specific producer’s current certification scope and status — we do not publish a maker’s certification claim until we have seen the certificate. For more on origin comparisons and when to choose Indonesia, see our grades and quality page.

Export, FOB Terms, and Freight Basics

Most Indonesian butterfly pea flower moves on FOB terms — Free On Board, named loading port. Under FOB, the seller delivers goods cleared for export and loaded on board the buyer’s nominated vessel; risk and cost transfer to the buyer at that point. The buyer is then responsible for ocean freight, marine insurance, destination port costs, and import clearance. This is the standard starting point for B2B herb trade from Indonesia.

Key export ports for Indonesian botanical cargo:

Tanjung Priok, Jakarta — primary container hub for most Java-origin cargo
Tanjung Perak, Surabaya — East Java; relevant for Jawa Timur-origin material
Tanjung Emas, Semarang — Central Java

Indicative lead times (these are inferred from general herb trade practice, not butterfly-pea-specific tracked data — treat as planning estimates, not contractual promises): from stock, 1–3 weeks ex-factory; production against order, 4–8 weeks; new private-label retail packaging, 8–12 weeks.

Shelf life for properly dried, airtight, cool and dark-stored flowers is commonly stated at 18–24 months from production. This is supplier-stated and consistent with general dried-herb norms rather than a peer-reviewed butterfly-pea-specific figure. A 24-month shelf life from production date is a standard contract clause in this category.

On HS codes: there is no single universal code for dried butterfly pea flower and classification depends on form, declared use, and the national tariff schedule of the importing country. Headings commonly discussed in trade include HS 1211 (plants and parts used primarily in pharmacy or perfumery), HS 0604 (ornamental foliage, if decorative use is declared), and HS 2106 (food preparations, for retail tea blends). Do not apply any of these without a binding tariff ruling from the importing-country customs authority or your licensed broker. This is trade information, not customs advice. See our export and freight page for a full Incoterms and HS-code treatment.

Organic and Food-Safety Certification

Certification matters more in butterfly pea than in many herb categories because the end-use is often a direct-to-consumer tea or colorant ingredient, and retailers increasingly gatekeep on cert status. The two main frameworks buyers ask about:

USDA NOP (US Organic)

For a butterfly pea product to be sold as organic in the US, both the producer and any handlers in the chain must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifying agent. The organic certificate must be current, and the buyer should request it directly rather than relying on a supplier’s claim. Organic certification does not override any food-safety obligation — a certified organic product still needs a clean pesticide and micro panel.

EU Organic (Regulation 2018/848)

For EU-organic import (if the novel-food question is ever resolved for the EU market), the Indonesian producer must be certified by a body recognized under EU equivalence rules, and a Certificate of Inspection (COI) in TRACES is required per shipment. Again: EU organic certification is separate from and does not address the novel-food authorization issue. A certified organic butterfly pea tea is still an unauthorized novel food in the EU as of this writing.

HACCP, GMP, and ISO 22000

Beyond organic, buyers should look for HACCP or GMP certification at the processing facility, and ISO 22000 where a higher food-safety management standard is required. These certifications speak to process control — traceability, allergen management, hygiene procedures — rather than organic status. A facility can be HACCP-certified without being organic, and vice versa. For export volumes going into regulated food supply chains in the US or Australia, food-safety facility certification is often a buyer’s minimum gate, regardless of organic status.

Our desk does not publish a maker’s certification claims without verification. Where a specific certification is unconfirmed for a given producer, we say [VERIFY] and route your inquiry to confirm current scope and validity before you rely on it. See our organic and food-safety certification page for the full compliance map.

How to Buy Butterfly Pea Flowers in Bulk Through This Desk

The process is straightforward. We route, we do not manufacture or ship.

Define your specification. Product form, target grade, volume, destination, and any certification requirements. If you are unsure on any of these, the sample step below will help clarify.
Request samples. We route your sample request to a vetted Indonesian maker. Evaluate color, moisture, integrity, and run any lab tests you need before committing to volume. See sample ordering for how this works.
Submit an RFQ. Once your spec is confirmed and samples pass, we pass your RFQ to our vetted partner with full context. They quote FOB from the relevant Indonesian port, and you negotiate terms directly.
Arrange freight and import clearance independently. We are not your freight forwarder or customs broker. You or your logistics partner handles the freight from the FOB point, import documentation, and destination clearance. We can point you toward general guidance on what documentation Indonesian herb exporters typically provide.

To get started, use our enquiry form or message us on WhatsApp at +62 811-3982-3875 or by email at bd@juaraholding.com. Tell us your product form, volume tier, destination country, and any certification gate your buyer requires. We will come back to you with a route-to-quote within one business day.

Spoke Pages: Go Deeper on Each Topic

This hub gives you the decision map. Each spoke page goes deep on one topic. Use these links once you know which question is blocking your order:

Bulk dried flower and MOQ — packaging configurations, carton weights, LCL vs FCL economics, tier pricing discussion
Butterfly pea powder wholesale — mesh specs, color strength, powder vs extract comparison, applications
Private label and OEM — tea bag formats, retail pouch MOQs, blending options, lead times for branded SKUs
Grades and quality — full grading language, QC test panel, how to read a CoA, what to reject
FOB price guide — what moves the price, volume tiers, organic premium, origin differential
Export and freight — Incoterms explained, HS code options, FCL/LCL economics, documentation checklist
Organic and food-safety certification — USDA NOP, EU organic, HACCP, ISO 22000, what to request and verify
Sample ordering — how to request, what to test, typical turnaround

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum order for wholesale dried butterfly pea flowers from Indonesia?

For serious B2B and FOB-term orders, most Indonesian producers work from 100 kg as a practical starting point, with 500 kg and above unlocking better per-kilogram pricing. Smaller wholesale at 20–50 kg is possible but typically air-freighted and less cost-efficient. Sample quantities of 0.5–5 kg are available separately and should always precede a volume commitment. Contact us with your target volume and we will confirm what a vetted maker can accommodate.

What is the FOB price per kilogram for butterfly pea flowers?

There is no fixed published price board. Indicative FOB brackets from Indonesia and Vietnam for standard food-grade whole flower run roughly USD 6–12 per kilogram; premium organic or select grades — and Thai-origin positioning — can reach USD 10–20/kg. Actual prices depend on volume, grade, certification, season, and individual producer capacity. Every number on this desk is a planning bracket, not a quote. Request a live quote through our enquiry form to get a number you can actually act on.

Can I import butterfly pea flower tea to sell in the European Union?

Not currently under EU food law. Clitoria ternatea in foods is classified as a novel food in the EU and is not authorized. EFSA raised safety objections, and the European Commission terminated the authorization procedure (C(2026)776). Enforcement is active: RASFF notifications have been filed against shipments from multiple origins. We do not route EU-food inquiries without a clear compliance plan from the buyer’s side. If you are an EU buyer, consult a regulatory attorney in your member state before sourcing.

What certifications should I ask for when buying bulk butterfly pea flowers?

At minimum: a Certificate of Analysis from an accredited third-party lab covering moisture, microbiological panel (including Salmonella and E. coli), multi-residue pesticide by LC/GC-MS/MS, and heavy metals (Pb, Cd, As, Hg by ICP-MS). For facility certification, ask for HACCP or GMP documentation. If you need organic, confirm the certifying body and certificate validity date — do not accept a claim without seeing the document. For high-value lots, a botanical identity test (HPTLC or anthocyanin fingerprint) guards against adulteration.

How does the desk route my order — does it ship the goods itself?

No. We are a sourcing and trade-information desk, not an exporter or freight forwarder. We curate verified Indonesian makers, route your qualified RFQ to a vetted partner, and they quote and contract directly with you. You arrange your own freight forwarder and customs broker from the FOB loading point. Where we earn a referral fee on the introduction, that cost is on the partner’s side, not added to your quote. Our role is to save you the time and risk of vetting producers blind in a market where supplier claims regularly outrun the evidence.