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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsSparkling water? Mineral water? What's a GOOD TASTING thirst quencher for normal down time?
One of the remnants of my fringe-Hippie years is a tiny, pretend effort at "health foods". That is, after the Hippies died out, went on to become Street People, druggies, or guru followers of spiritual or exercise fads - it all sort of came down to a whimper, "Don't eat FRIED FOODS!1"
Health foods and vitamins were something to try. Not much. But back then I stopped whole milk totally - "milk fat is the WORST" - to this very day. All skim, what little I consume at all. Once I overheard an elderly, common sense couple in the the dairy department, and he said, with enviable moderation, "2 per cent. I like a LITTLE bit of taste..."
Anyway, I'm not consistent about much, but years ago stopped having soft drinks at home. I still occasionally have a "combo" fast food meal that includes a soft drink.
I don't use juices because of the sugar. In the past year I tried iced tea as the main beverage besides water. Plain water seems to bloat. But tea seems to give a carbohydrate type of bloat. (Yes, the Diet tea.)
I seem to want a bit of zip or zing. A couple of months ago, tried sparkling water, at first the "plain". Sort of like soda without the flavoring. It was fair. Then tried citrus flavored carbonated water. Sort of bitter.
Is carbonated the same as sparkling or mineral water? Does mineral water lead to MINERALS petrifying in the kidneys or somewhere?
What's a THIRST QUENCHING, FLAVORFUL, non-petrifying beverage?!1
No sugar
No sodium
Plenty of flavors. Coconut, lime, raspberry or grapefruit are ones that I prefer. You might even find the cola flavored one.
Laffy Kat
(16,356 posts)But so what? I like La Croix, too. Go for it. Might want to use a fluoride rinse at night.
UTUSN
(70,497 posts)Plus it said that the citrus flavoring did that, too.
Where/what fluroide rinse? I also gave up "brightening, whitening" tooth paste, whatever specialized/peroxide/gritty products, and just use plain fluoride toothpaste. Will look for said fluoride rinse!1
Laffy Kat
(16,356 posts)Plus, I dilute my rinse with a little water before I swish, as it will last longer.
Lochloosa
(16,019 posts)Works for me. Sqeeze half a lemon in a glass of ice water and I'm good.
elleng
(130,156 posts)I/we rarely drink/drank 'soda.' Kids did drink apple juice. THEIR kids now drink water, as do I.
Years ago, after visiting Europe, I began drinking Aqua con gas, or carbonated water, went from the expensive versions to cheap store brands. I'd often add a twist of lemon. Think I'll pick some up tomorrow!
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I also drink lots of straight tap water, though for coffee or cooking I filter it. And whole milk.
UTUSN
(70,497 posts)Since retirement lo these several years, it's only one cup size, only in the A.M. I use a mug, but only drink a half or less (that would be a CUP) in the morning. Very infrequently, a cup in the mid to late afternoon. But back in work days, FIVE - count'em, FIVE or more, keep'em coming down the hatch!1 And acid black, no sweetums about it!1
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)But all the Air Force and Army coffee tasted like Folgers filtered through a gym sock, and the instant stuff we drank in the field made the gym sock stuff taste like gourmet.
irisblue
(32,829 posts)when did you take my morning picture?.....
Generic Brad
(14,270 posts)5 calories. I think it is sweetened with stevia. Carbonated and good flavors like orange, pineapple, coconut, passion fruit, grapefruit, black cherry. One can satisfies me.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)I have great water, sweet from a deep well filtered through 470 feet of rock and sand.
When I want something else, I have a few options:
I make my own lemonade using Stevia to slightly sweeten it. If I want more sparkle, I'll use some carbonated water for part of it.
I use stevia to sweeten my own tea.
I add a little bit of juice to carbonated water.
Finally, if I really, really want a soda, Blue Sky and Virgil's make a good soda sweetened with stevia; those are the two I like, but there are others out there.
csziggy
(34,120 posts)Coffee in the morning and instead of an afternoon snack, water the rest of the time.
Tom Kitten
(7,339 posts)Add a jigger of grapefruit juice or sprigs of fresh mint for different tastes. The bitterness of the quinine adds a bite that I like. I'm not sure how much sugar or corn syrup is put in it. Or instead of tonic water I've also used seltzer (sparkling) water. It's good that way too.
Of course ice tea with lemon (I don't add sugar) works too. I generally don't drink carbonated drinks either but tonic water is an exception.
Zorro
(15,691 posts)I like to mix it with tart cherry juice (~1/3 juice 2/3 tonic water). Very refreshing.
underahedgerow
(1,232 posts)be flavored which adds a little sugar, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sugar isn't bad for you in moderate amounts, it's the processed crap it's cloaked in that does the damage.
Now that I think of it, maybe I'll start blending the coconut water with sparkling water and OJ.
Flavor your own sparkling waters! By allowing the giant corps to do it for you, you get chemicals and crap that are bad for you. Add lemon slices, orange and lime slices. I mix it with fresh squeezed juices of all sorts, mostly orange juice over ice, wow and major yummy. And hey, if you add a bit of gin or vodka, well yee hah!
In restaurants on a hot day, I'll order fresh squeezed orange juice and a bottle of sparkling water and ice. I put the juice over ice, and start adding the sparkling water as I drink it down and it's melting. Just wonderful!
All the commercially prepared juices benefit by adding sparkling water to them.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Not very thirst-quenching but it must be healthy because one drink makes you feel fine.
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)Cuts your thirst like nothing else. Get a large bottle of lemon juice and keep in the fridge.
malthaussen
(17,066 posts)All though come to think of it, alcohol is a lousy thirst-quencher. But after a few drams of the malt, you won't care how thirsty you are.
-- Mal
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)aidbo
(2,328 posts)They have this fun gimmick (friends of laphroaig) that lets you sign up to be the 'owner' of a 1 square foot piece of land at their distillery. If you ever visit them and bring your certificate, they will provide you with a map and boots so you can go check out your 'land'.
My plot of land's coordinates:
Location
Latitude: 55.6336574617025,
Longitude: -6.15147957106584
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)A piece of dirt may have spirit, but it's not spirits. Have they not heard of premium marketing?
peacefreak
(2,939 posts)I've got one too! My friends have ajoining plots so we're going to put a chair on it!
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)You can use anything - cucumbers, strawberries, lemons. My employer actually has lemon water dispensers in the cafeteria (for free) - it tastes great. I've made cucumber water at home (in a regular pitcher).
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)cyberswede
(26,117 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)mopinko
(69,809 posts)used to make it when i was tired of the cukes coming in. but this year it was the first thing i did w them.
yum. so simple, but so refreshing.
i also like to make tea from wood sorrel, which is a very common weed on my farm. lemony, refreshing. a little lemon balm added to it adds to that.
Fla Dem
(23,352 posts)water. Nice kick, thirst quenching, and leaves a nice taste.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Fill another glass with Jameson.
Drink the second glass.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)if you wan't to know how that's different from sparking water, I don't know!
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)Club soda is artificially carbonated.
Frank Cannon
(7,570 posts)Tastes better in cocktails.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)Sparkling water is either 100% natural or mostly natural, but most bottled water is produced by removing all the naturally occurring minerals and then adding a particular recipe of minerals to produce the desired result. That's why different brands have different tastes, but are consistent year to year within the same brand.
MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)We usually use one iced green tea packet from Luzianne with other types of teas like Zen or iced Lemongrass by Tazo. We brew a pomegranate decaf green tea from the republic of teas that's really good also.
Lots of flavor, no sugar, we go through literally a quart or more a day.
eta soda water can taste bitter from the carbonation, the best ones imo are the Perrier orange/lemon and the Arrowheads like the black cherry.
blogslut
(37,955 posts)Buy some mint extract and pour a capful or two into a pitcher and chill in the fridge.
Of course you could also throw some fresh mint into a pitcher of water but the extract version will last longer.
UTUSN
(70,497 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)1 lemon, 1 lime and a bottle. What could go wrong?
It's just that mint would add a refreshing kick without carbonation or acid. Mint extract is located in the spice aisle of almost any grocery store. It's not rocket science or even a culinary art to add a capful or two.
TuxedoKat
(3,818 posts)Zero calories, zero sodium. I also like unsweetened Cranberry Juice (Knudson's has one, but my local grocery store has their own brand which is half the price and tastes pretty much the same to me). You can dilute it 1:4 (about 1/4 cup to 1 cup or slightly more) with water and add Stevia to taste - delicious, zippy, healthy and very low-calorie!
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)Carbonation can occur either naturally or artificially. Natural sources aren't necessarily better, but they do tend to be more expensive and they can be easily replicated by matching the mineral content and the same level of carbonation. People in Europe much more commonly drink plain carbonated water than those in the Americas. I love plain carbonated water after a good coffee.
Unless you are drinking true reverse osmosis or distilled water, all water you drink carbonated or not has some mineral content. You wouldn't want to drink either of the former anyway because it would taste very flat and be much less palatable. So all drinking water has minerals that are either naturally occurring or are added after the naturally occurring ones are removed.
I suppose if certain mineral contents were too high, it could cause health problems, but with pretty much all commercial drinking water, carbonated or not, this isn't a problem.
UTUSN
(70,497 posts)Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)This is an excellent primer on drinking water that's been passed around on the interwebs for many years. It's particularly aimed at water used for coffee production and goes pretty deeply into the geek aspect, but there's some pretty good tips even if all you're doing is running Folgers through a Mr. Coffee.
http://users.rcn.com/erics/Water%20Quality/Water%20FAQ.pdf
Frank Cannon
(7,570 posts)Then put a little lemon/lime/cranberry juice in it.
Nothing store-bought even compares. For one thing, you can control exactly how much "fizz" and the type and amount of flavoring you want.
You can filter the water if you want or just use use it straight from the tap.
"Mineral" water is just a term, though a lot of store-bought mineral waters do have a lot of sodium in them.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)I have a 20lb CO2 bottle along with some adapters that allow me to use standard PEP bottles, so nothing is proprietary. I get my bottle refilled at the local homebrew supply for a few bucks and it makes a shitload of fizzy water.
Frank Cannon
(7,570 posts)and/or the desire/time to shop around looking for all the necessary parts to put it together, not to mention finding a place for it in my miniscule abode.
The Sodastream didn't cost that much, and tank replacement is a lot cheaper than it used to be. It was also a system that was available immediately. Time is money, after all!
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)But some people are turned off by the perpetual costs of the Sodastream and lose interest after the novelty wears off. So I just thought it's worth pointing out there are other options.
Frank Cannon
(7,570 posts)One question for you: How do you know when your bottle is "charged up" enough? I'd be afraid I'd overcharge it, it would explode, and two jagged pieces of PETE would lodge in both of my eyeballs, blinding me permanently. That's the kind of Charlie Brown luck I usually have with that sort of thing, and that also weighed on my decision.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)You set the regulator for your desired carbonation level, usually 30-40 PSI. PEP bottles are good to at least 150 PSI, so there's a pretty good margin of error. It's basically exactly the same way Sodastream works and if anything I'd guess their regulators aren't as robust and reliable as the ones you typically get at homebrew supply stores for the CO2 tanks. The regulator is one of the most expensive parts out of the few items you need.
Not all the bottles are the same. The name brand bottles like coke are superior to the cheap store brand bottles, so I use bottles that have heavier construction and toss them about every 6 months or so.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)There's no fizz and no sugar but my gosh it's so good and incredibly refreshing on a hot day.
PufPuf23
(8,689 posts)I drink black coffee, ice water, teas (occasionally mostly sun tea in summer), and mate. Virtually never drink soda or beer. I do drink orange juice on occasion and cherry juice (especially when think may have smidgeon of gout).
I make several types of sun teas in the summer with old Snapple bottles and tea bags and then remove tea bags and refrigerate: Lipton, green tea, herbal tea, and mate.
Here is wiki for mate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage)
One can readily find places to buy mate online. Mate can be found in prepared bottles and cans many places but I like mate plain and unadulterated. Mate is caffeinated but not acid like coffee. I have had problems in the past with stomach ulcers and replaced coffee with mate. I have several bombillas and use loose leaf mate (repeatedly adding more crushed leaf and hot water rather than starting from scratch) but use mate tea bags for the cold sun tea preparation. I have also used a French press.
I really like mate but have an life long (since late teens) addiction to dark roast black coffee as did not discover mate until early 1990s.
I buy loose leaf and tea bag mate online at Guayaki: http://guayaki.com/category/12/Loose-Leaf-Mate.html (lots of info on mate at the Guayaki site)
I also buy mate on occasion when see at various specialty markets but have grown accustomed to the Guayaki product and live rural.
Mate gives a lift like coffee (or tea) but I find the lift more "gentle".
Here is more about mate: http://guayaki.com/mate/130/What-is-Yerba-Mate%3F.html
Kali
(54,990 posts)tap water in the US is usually some of the safest in the world (and most bottled water is just expensive tap water anyway) drink it with ice - the colder it is the less likely you will pick up any off- flavors. put a squeeze of citrus or a shot of any fruit juice, really - or some mint or other herbs if you want to get fancy. If you like bubbles buy the cheapest store brand soda water or get a carbonation set up from a brew shop and do your own.
personally, I live on lightly sweetened (regular fucking SUGAR) sun tea. a fraction of the sugar of sodas, a little caffiene and it tastes good. and ice water after 5 so I can sleep.
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)That's because it has an almost ideal mineral content and there's little to no other substances that produce off flavors and odors. Not everyone has that luxury, but most of the taste problems can be fixed with a $20 under the sink charcoal filter kit that lasts a long time between filter changes.
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,470 posts)...heavy cream in my coffee or cheese.
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)Early: coffee
Late: Tea/Hot milk
annabanana
(52,791 posts)all hail sodastream