Non-alcoholic drinks thread

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by penguins, Oct 1, 2020.

  1. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    Noticed we don't have a thread for favorite non-alcoholic drinks aside from the coffee thread.

    Please share favorite and interesting drinks.

    For me:
    Different waters - sounds really dumb, but given that I drink water 95%+ of the time I drink anything, I can usually tell if I have a cup of water I really like and when possible, I do actually pair different waters to what I'm drinking/eating/enjoying.

    Also, I need help identifying this as I can't find it now/anymore - my favorite drinking water ever came from some weird system that looks like a ring with a hole in the middle (donut shape). Various rocks and stuff on the outside of the donut, water drips down into the bottom reservoir (inside of the donut), use spout to dispense. One and only time I ever saw it was in some Japanese online catalogue but the item itself had no Japanese (or anything other than the name in English) on it at all. If it helps, I think the thing was about $200 or $300, but was generally meant to last a pretty long time unlike say a Brita filter that needs to be replaced often (and usually tastes nasty to me anyways).

    Sodas: Don't drink much soda, when I do it's usually ginger beer, occasional sarsaparilla (but not usually root beer), or very occasionally an Inka Cola (bubble gum flavor) or Ironbeer (Cuban soda that tastes like a better orange cream pop to me). Mexican Coke or Pepsi maybe 1x a year, maybe Dr Pepper 1x a year.

    Teas: Getting more and more into teas, general favorite are various green teas, some white teas, oolong, and the occasional black tea. Flavored teas usually only Earl Gray (I really like the bergamot oil/rind in it). In general I haven't been able to find solid tea in the US - most of my good teas I've enjoyed have been purchased during travel, gifts, or exchanges between people who have gone to various places in Asia or occasionally Europe. COVID lockdowns has made this hard.

    Juices: Don't really drink juice, but will make "green" smoothies. Have had a few ones I liked in Europe but I don't remember what they were.

    Sweet drinks not soda: Don't really drink any. EDIT - nvm, forgot about mango and "normal" lassi in Indian food + a few other sweet drinks in Mexican food. Will get one of those so many times I get Indian/Mexican/whatever other food.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2020
  2. nishan99

    nishan99 Friend

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    My favorite is Karak chai.

    It's popular Indian hot drink consisting of spiced milk tea. Spiced with cardamom, saffron and some secret spices inside this yellow Ahmad tea (not necessary this specific tea but it's my favorite for Karak).

    Some add even more spices but I like it simple.

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  3. roscoeiii

    roscoeiii Acquaintance

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    Great thread topic!

    Love a good South Asian chai too.

    For me, I grew up in the South of the US, drinking Iced Tea by the gallon. Secret family recipe: Boil 64 oz or so of water. Pour into pitcher that can take water that temp along with 2 Lipton tea bags and 1/4-1/3 cup sugar. Let come to room temp and then throw in fridge.

    My other go-to has been sparkling water, via SodaStream. Usually drink it with a few dashes of bitters for flavor. Favorites are grapefruit and (surprisingly for me) rhubarb. Dash of lemon, lime or grapefruit juice also lovely. As is a splash of wine or amarro (just enough to flavor it). I've also recently started filling my own CO2 bottles to save money. A home brew buddy hooked me up with his old 20 lb CO2 tank and I got an adaptor fo fill SodaStream canisters from it. Note that you are filling them with liquid CO2, so you need a tank with a siphon that draws from the bottom of the larger tank (which I'll have put in when this one is empty) or you need to turn the big tank upside down (not as awkward as it sounds, but I'm glad that thing isn't very full).

    Otherwise I go in spurts of making fermented drinks like Tepache (as quick and easy as they come, though watch out for that fermentation once in bottles!) and kombucha. Yes, since fermented there is a bit of alcohol produced but I find it negligable and not noticeable/likely to be impairing at all without drinking huge quantities (and strong flavors of kombucha and tepache don't make that likely).

    On the water side, I've recently come across BWT filters on coffee sites, that exchange Calcium in the water for Magnesium. On espresso machines that helps protect against scaling caused by calcium. But I see a lot of comments on flavor improvement as well. Hope to try myself once their "Brita" pitcher is available for purchase again. For espresso heads, there are also filters you can drop into the tank, but since I'd like to check out the difference in other drinks as well, I want to go the pitcher route.
     
  4. Elysian

    Elysian Friend

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    I have a mild addiction to Spindrift and pick up at least half a dozen cases from Costco when they run the $4 coupon off of a box of 30 every year. I think it brings the price down to about $0.37/can, which is almost half off from Amazon and grocery store prices.

    If you like Ginger Beer, Fever Tree is the best I've ever had, which coincidentally also goes on sale at Costco periodically :) I like it so much I haven't gotten around to mixing it with whiskey or rum yet, but will probably try it with Johnnie Walker Green sometime.

    So far I haven't found a great flavored sparkling water as Arrowhead, Kirkland, La Croix, Polar, and Waterloo all don't taste quite right.

    Kombucha is great too. I wish my favorite store would stock GT's Strawberry Serenity but it's always some sort of ginger flavor.
     
  5. roscoeiii

    roscoeiii Acquaintance

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    Ginger beer fans or fans of spicier ginger ale with a real kick should check out Blenheim's spicy ginger ale (pink cap) Can be hard to find, but i'm addicted. One of few sodas I buy.
     
  6. spwath

    spwath Hijinks master cum laudle

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    Is this the water thing you were talking about?

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32465408531.html

    EDIT: NVM that might actually be for fish.
     
  7. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    ^ it's a tiny bit similar, but it's has a larger diameter and isn't as tall and doesn't have parts in the middle.
     

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