I need non-alcholic summer drink suggestions
June 30, 2017 4:55 AM Subscribe
I am looking for a drink that works well in the summer. I want something cool to drink at work that is not a sugar bomb. I usually drink tea but it gets too warm in the office in the afternoon.
So, a non-coffee, cold, caffeinated, low or no sugar, drink. Artificial sweeteners count as sugar in my book.
Best answer: Iced green tea has gotten me through a lot of 100-degree office summers. If you have refrigerator access at work, just drop a couple of your favorite teabags of into a carafe or other large container full of water before you go home at night. The next morning, you have lovely cold-brewed tea, and it's even nicely chilled.
posted by rokusan at 4:58 AM on June 30, 2017 [13 favorites]
posted by rokusan at 4:58 AM on June 30, 2017 [13 favorites]
Get on the La Croix train (assuming you're in the States).
I really liked this honey basil lemonade recipe I tried recently, but it does require blender. Does not taste very sweet despite the honey.
posted by Drosera at 5:04 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I really liked this honey basil lemonade recipe I tried recently, but it does require blender. Does not taste very sweet despite the honey.
posted by Drosera at 5:04 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yep, seconding rokusan's suggestion for iced tea. Before I head home, I fill up my glass water bottle, add 1-2 tea bags, and place it in the office refrigerator. It's perfectly steeped (and super cold) when I arrive the next morning.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 5:06 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by schroedingersgirl at 5:06 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Mugicha is my stock answer here. Japanese barley tea. Throw a bag in a pitcher with some cold water and ice, refrigerate for 30-45 minutes. I drink this unsweetened and love the taste-it's like a natural sweet flavor that comes from the grain.
posted by little mouth at 5:26 AM on June 30, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by little mouth at 5:26 AM on June 30, 2017 [8 favorites]
Coconut water and lime juice, over ice. Get one of those hand-operated lime squooshers and use fresh limes.
posted by sourcequench at 5:28 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by sourcequench at 5:28 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Boil some mint or ginger and then throw in a lot of ice.
posted by xammerboy at 5:31 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by xammerboy at 5:31 AM on June 30, 2017
Can you get ahold of any Ito-en Ooi Ocha? This stuff is amazing, and meets your caffeinated, no-sugar criteria. It tends to be hella expensive in North America, though.
posted by heatherlogan at 5:34 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by heatherlogan at 5:34 AM on June 30, 2017
If you really want something caffeinated that pretty much limits your options to unsweetened ice tea or maybe unsweetened iced coffee.
posted by drlith at 5:37 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by drlith at 5:37 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Serious Eats just posted their guide to 16 Nonalcoholic Summer Drinks to Refresh and Rehydrate the other day.
Ultra-Flavorful Fresh Lemonade
The Best Iced Tea
The Best Arnold Palmer
Ultra-Flavorful Fresh Limeade
Frothy Iced Matcha Green Tea
Shiso Fine
Fig and Balsamic Soda
Rhubarb Juice
Booze-Free Rhubarb Lime Gimlet
Rhubarb-Ginger Cooler
Lemongrass-Ginger Horchata
Tangy Kumquat-Pear Juice
Sparkling Sumac Lemonade
Spicy Honeydew and Coconut Water Agua Fresca
Strawberry and Cantaloupe Agua Fresca With Thyme
Orange, Rosewater, and Mint Sparkler
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:51 AM on June 30, 2017 [11 favorites]
Ultra-Flavorful Fresh Lemonade
The Best Iced Tea
The Best Arnold Palmer
Ultra-Flavorful Fresh Limeade
Frothy Iced Matcha Green Tea
Shiso Fine
Fig and Balsamic Soda
Rhubarb Juice
Booze-Free Rhubarb Lime Gimlet
Rhubarb-Ginger Cooler
Lemongrass-Ginger Horchata
Tangy Kumquat-Pear Juice
Sparkling Sumac Lemonade
Spicy Honeydew and Coconut Water Agua Fresca
Strawberry and Cantaloupe Agua Fresca With Thyme
Orange, Rosewater, and Mint Sparkler
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:51 AM on June 30, 2017 [11 favorites]
I don't know where in the world you are so it's impossible to know what you can and can't get locally. If you want caffeinated and cold, and consider something that has half the sugar amount of traditional soft drinks (like cola) to be low-sugar, then yerba mate based soft drinks may be for you.
The most well-known is Club Mate, but there are many others: Mio-Mio Mate, Flora Power, Maya Mate, and more. These are most easily available in Germany, which for all I know may be where you are.
Otherwise iced tea of some variety is pretty much the only thing that ticks all your boxes.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:59 AM on June 30, 2017
The most well-known is Club Mate, but there are many others: Mio-Mio Mate, Flora Power, Maya Mate, and more. These are most easily available in Germany, which for all I know may be where you are.
Otherwise iced tea of some variety is pretty much the only thing that ticks all your boxes.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:59 AM on June 30, 2017
Mugicha, mentioned above, is utterly fantastic, but non-caffeinated. It's well worth trying if you can get over that requirement though.
posted by mattamatic at 6:17 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by mattamatic at 6:17 AM on June 30, 2017
If you're willing to drop the caffeinated requirement, cold hibiscus is absolutely delicious. I think in English it would technically be called "iced hibiscus tea".
posted by amohield at 6:23 AM on June 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by amohield at 6:23 AM on June 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
They make caffeinated water (or at least, they did a couple of years ago). The brand name is Avitae.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:24 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by kevinbelt at 6:24 AM on June 30, 2017
Green tea with mint is pretty great cold or over ice and is really easy for the office because it comes in teabags.
posted by zennie at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by zennie at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2017
It was actually just called jamaica (or 'Jamaica Tea') in my (New York) bodega, amohield. Probably varies widely regionally, of course.
posted by rokusan at 7:02 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by rokusan at 7:02 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
You can make cold steeped tea for the office thusly (process cribbed from Serious Eats, which did a "what if we make sun tea without the sun" thing a while ago):
When you get to work in the morning, fill a mason jar with water and the appropriate amount of tea bags/tea in cheesecloth/whatever. Leave it to steep in the office refrigerator until 1ish or 2ish. It will be cold and pleasant, with less murky or acidic notes than tea made with hot water. You can also do this overnight to take to work in the morning, but I'm disorganized and making it at work is better for me.
This would also let you mix flavors to get a caffeine balance - white and green teas are so mild that you could probably steep them together with any very floral herb tea and get a pleasant caffeinated blend. Or I bet blueberry and a good-quality black tea would go well if you went light on the black tea.
I used to do this with some flavored iced teas I would get at, like, Cub - there was a mango black tea, and a green/white blend, and a couple of others.
posted by Frowner at 7:06 AM on June 30, 2017
When you get to work in the morning, fill a mason jar with water and the appropriate amount of tea bags/tea in cheesecloth/whatever. Leave it to steep in the office refrigerator until 1ish or 2ish. It will be cold and pleasant, with less murky or acidic notes than tea made with hot water. You can also do this overnight to take to work in the morning, but I'm disorganized and making it at work is better for me.
This would also let you mix flavors to get a caffeine balance - white and green teas are so mild that you could probably steep them together with any very floral herb tea and get a pleasant caffeinated blend. Or I bet blueberry and a good-quality black tea would go well if you went light on the black tea.
I used to do this with some flavored iced teas I would get at, like, Cub - there was a mango black tea, and a green/white blend, and a couple of others.
posted by Frowner at 7:06 AM on June 30, 2017
Shrubs! Any combination of fruit juice (unsweetened cranberry is my favorite, but prune juice is also amazing) plus about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (the good stuff). It's very refreshing just as it is, but you can take the edge off with a little bit of honey to taste.
100% cranberry juice is so tart that it's not that pleasant to drink straight. I make a batch of Cran/ACV/honey and chill it, then water it down 2:1 with seltzer.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 7:10 AM on June 30, 2017
100% cranberry juice is so tart that it's not that pleasant to drink straight. I make a batch of Cran/ACV/honey and chill it, then water it down 2:1 with seltzer.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 7:10 AM on June 30, 2017
not a big fan of bagged tea but we make super-easy big batched mint green tea all summer by boiling a couple bunches of mint in a medium saucepan for 10 mins, killing the heat, throwing in couple tablespoons of gunpowder green tea, steep for 5 minutes and strain. mix in about a quarter cup of honey (it wont taste sweet, but you want some sweetness to back up the mint and tea). Its pretty concentrated at those quantities so it can get mixed with equal parts water over ice.
I make one big pot of the concentrate on sundays, and am finishing my last icey thermos-full right now.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:15 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I make one big pot of the concentrate on sundays, and am finishing my last icey thermos-full right now.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:15 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Aqua Fresca; only about a tablespoon of sugar in each batch, although there is fruit involved.
There are a ton of flavor combos:
Watermelon or Cantaloupe
List of 10
Just do some googling
posted by teabag at 7:26 AM on June 30, 2017
There are a ton of flavor combos:
Watermelon or Cantaloupe
List of 10
Just do some googling
posted by teabag at 7:26 AM on June 30, 2017
I think kombucha would work
posted by winterportage at 7:50 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by winterportage at 7:50 AM on June 30, 2017
Have you tried erythritol? It is a natural sweetener and doesn't taste all chemical like stevia.
posted by falsedmitri at 10:06 AM on June 30, 2017
posted by falsedmitri at 10:06 AM on June 30, 2017
Good Earth's Sweet & Spicy herbal tea is naturally sweet and great iced; the company makes a caffeinated version, too: Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Herbal & Black Tea. (While I have never had this version, steeping the uncaffeinated tea for more than 2-3 minutes can make for bitter results. YMMV.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:44 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:44 PM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
It was actually just called jamaica (or 'Jamaica Tea') in my (New York) bodega, amohield. Probably varies widely regionally, of course.
Agua de jamaica is my favorite agua fresca! You can buy the dried flowers in the Latin aisle of most supermarkets or in a Latin grocery. They are bright red and it is pronounced ha-MY-ka. Sooooooo good.
Boil flowers in pot of water. Pour now-red water into pitcher and put into fridge. Yummmm.
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:02 PM on June 30, 2017
Agua de jamaica is my favorite agua fresca! You can buy the dried flowers in the Latin aisle of most supermarkets or in a Latin grocery. They are bright red and it is pronounced ha-MY-ka. Sooooooo good.
Boil flowers in pot of water. Pour now-red water into pitcher and put into fridge. Yummmm.
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:02 PM on June 30, 2017
Zero-alcohol beer is very popular in places like Iran. It can be nice and refreshing, isn't sweet and usually comes in a variety of flavours like lemon or lime. Delster is a good brand to look for if you have access to a halal supermarket.
Downside: it looks like you're drinking beer.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 8:14 PM on July 1, 2017
Downside: it looks like you're drinking beer.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 8:14 PM on July 1, 2017
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posted by Neekee at 4:58 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]