I'm looking for certain kinds of drinks.

July 28, 2011 10:43 AM

I'm looking for certain kinds of drinks. Non-alcoholic, no sugar, no coffee, no tea. No processed drinks, no artificial flavours. Something I can make at home. To be drunk at all times. Apart from fruit/vegetable juices, (soy)milk, and water, what else remains?

My aunt Jolla makes this drink with mint leaves, lemons and a little candied ginger. Slav jamaica, if you will. I like it.

posted by beshtya to Food & Drink (41 answers total)

Water flavored with cucumber slices/lemon slices/fresh mint?

Candied ginger has sugar in it...are you okay with that amount of sugar, or is it off the table completely?
posted by corey flood at 10:46 AM on July 28, 2011

Fruit juice tends to have a lot of sugar so you'll probably have to strike that one anyway.
posted by frieze at 10:46 AM on July 28, 2011

I actually just squeeze about three limes per pitcher of water and drink the result iced.
posted by Frowner at 10:46 AM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

I guess this qualifies as a fruit juice, but water with a little lemon (or just a slice floated in it) is good. I also like water that has been "steeped" with berries and fruits - it looks pretty in a clear pitcher and it's refreshing.

Sparkling waters of all kinds are delicious as well. I like to play with citrus and herbs with drinks - rosemary lemonade is delicious, as is lemon and mint (as you know, obviously).
posted by rossination at 10:47 AM on July 28, 2011

Non-tea teas - ginger tea made from dried ginger & lemon, rooibos, this David's tea Forever Nuts is one of their best sellers.
posted by lizbunny at 10:48 AM on July 28, 2011

Kombucha?
posted by Jupiter Jones at 10:48 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can get organic cocoa powder with no sugar in it at health food stores.
posted by Ashley801 at 10:48 AM on July 28, 2011

I make nut milks. Almond milk, hemp seed milk, hazlenut milk. That sort of thing. You need a fairly badass blender for this, however. recipe here and you can substitute other nuts/seeds.
posted by smalls at 10:48 AM on July 28, 2011

By tea, do you mean made with traditional tea leaves? We discovered hibiscus flower tea awhile back and it's absolutely delicious - a dark ruby color with just a bit of tartness. You can get the flowers at most Latin food markets, though they will probably be labelled Flor de Jamaica (pronounced ha-MY-ka). There was also a vinegar-based thirst quencher on MeFi awhile back, but I can't put my hands on it now. Supposedly dates back to Revolutionary times, and maybe earlier IIRC.
posted by jquinby at 10:50 AM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Since the weather has been atrociously hot, I have been gulping down enormous quantities of cold water with lots of ice, a couple slices of fresh cucumber, and a couple wedges of fresh lemon or lime. Fresh mint would not be a bad addition. I find it most refreshing when served in a large glass mason jar.
posted by crackingdes at 10:50 AM on July 28, 2011

Ah, found it: switchel.
posted by jquinby at 10:51 AM on July 28, 2011

Fermentations perhaps?

Switchel (vinegar based). Kvass (beet based). Kombucha.

Also infusions of different dried (or fresh) herbals like mint, red clover, mullein, or ginger. Add herbal stuff, pour over boiling water, let sit for a number of hours (the longer it brews the stronger it gets), strain & chill to drink. Mint will "sweeten" any infusion. And generally I make a second batch with the same herbal bits as the first -- save herbal bits after you strain, add more hot water, let it sit again, strain, drink. The second batch will be lighter than the first.
posted by countrymod at 10:53 AM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Horchata?

You can make it with or without sugar, apparently. There are different recipes. It's pretty good.
posted by vogon_poet at 10:55 AM on July 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

Sparkling water with bitters is my go-to non-alcoholic evening drink. Plain bitters, peach bitters, orange bitters. Put a slice of lime or lemon and some ice.

Bitters have an alcohol base, though, so if you're 100% alcohol free, this won't work.
posted by Specklet at 10:59 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

You could make salted lassi. It's a refreshing yogurt drink with no sugar or artificial stuff, quick and easy to make. It goes great with spicy meals.

I also second the lemon-water idea. I keep a big jug of lemon juice from Costco in the fridge -- that way I can fill a glass with ice cubes, squirt some lemon in, and fill with cold water. Mmm!
posted by vorfeed at 11:04 AM on July 28, 2011

How about barley water?
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 11:04 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Roasted barley tea, aka mugicha, boricha, maicha, damntastycha.
posted by elsietheeel at 11:07 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Iced "tea" with herbal teas -- peppermint is refreshing, and fruit teas (like the Celestial Seasonings "____ Zinger" varieties) are kind of like fruit juice without the strong sweetness. I do prefer mine with a little honey, but I'm sure it's good without too.
posted by in a dark glassly at 11:08 AM on July 28, 2011

The nursing mothers in my office are drinking avena, made with almond milk and without the sugar, every day right now. It horrifies me, but they like it.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Fruit juice has a lot of sugar.

Get a SodaStream carbonator. They also sell flavor "essences" (separate and apart from their syrups) that make your club soda as if you bought, say, "lemon seltzer" at the market. No additional calories.

Is Stevia ok? It's technically "natural" in that it's a plant extract. A lot of diet soft drinks are using it now.
posted by mkultra at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2011

Second the cucumber water. It's very refreshing, and cucumbers are loaded with potassium and vitamin K, good in the hot weather. I've been downing a big glass first thing every morning, and then throughout the day.

I also quite enjoy iced herbal teas, no sweetener needed.
posted by tr33hggr at 11:18 AM on July 28, 2011

I sometimes take the edge off of a hot day with a splash of umeboshi vinegar in my water. Tart, slight plum taste, and a little salty.
posted by straw at 11:18 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

How about lightly spiced Indian-style buttermilk? Absolutely divine on hot days. Something like a salty lassi except much thinner.
posted by peacheater at 11:20 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

You say no tea -- are you referring strictly to black tea, or would herbal tisanes be out?

Because iced peppermint tea is dead easy and especially refreshing in summer -- just get some mint tea bags (be sure they contain peppermint and nothing else) and drop a few in a jug, then fill it with water and stick it in the fridge for a few hours. You can sweeten it or not, as is your preference (I don't, but I tend to like really strong mint flavor).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:20 AM on July 28, 2011

Switchel
posted by dirtdirt at 11:20 AM on July 28, 2011

Fresh ginger tea. Dice a piece of ginger about half the size of your thumb, pour hot water on top, wait 5 minutes. Good with honey as a sweetener, but it's good without it too.
posted by asphericalcow at 11:24 AM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Just a note -- kvass is not "beet-based". It's made from rye bread. I think it's good, but it has a powerful sour/yeasty flavor and is probably an acquired taste. It's not hard to make (recipes abound on the web) but the product can turn out fairly alcoholic if you're not careful.
posted by Maximian at 12:11 PM on July 28, 2011

Infuse a gallon of water with both a sliced lemon and a handful of mint. I had this for the first time when I was in Israel, and now I drink it all the time. It is amazingly tasty and refreshing!
posted by danielle the bee at 12:17 PM on July 28, 2011

Yogurt & fruit smoothies. When made with very ripe bananas or mangoes (as two examples), there's so much fructose that they don't need any added sugar. If the yogurt is especially mild, you might even want to add some lemon juice to balance the sweetness.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:24 PM on July 28, 2011

Bovril and other meat broths?
posted by spinifex23 at 12:25 PM on July 28, 2011

BTW, you can easily turn a gallon of milk into a gallon of yogurt overnight, which makes smoothies much cheaper.

Find a pot big enough to hold a gallon container of milk; the bigger the better. Put the gallon container in, fill close to the top with water, and remove the milk container (you just needed to know how much water it can hold).

Bring the water to a boil.

Drop the heat to low, gently lower the container of milk in, and loosen the milk lid (if it's brand-new, remove the retainer strip first to avoid unpleasant cap explosions!). Depending on how much water there was, the milk should balance out to 150-180 degrees. Measure it after 5 minutes with a thermometer (in the milk, not the water). If it's below 170 degrees, keep heating until it rises above that mark (but not above 185, or it may cook into "ricotta" curdles). Watch it carefully!

Now, replace the water with room temperature water, and again let the milk settle in temperature. This time it should come down to about 130-160. When it gets to 140 or below, pour in a few tablespoons of live yogurt.

Keep the pot in a warm place, below 140 deg, overnight. A gas oven turned off will do; leaving the pot edge over part of a burner on Low might work, but if the pot is too far on the burner it's likely to creep up in temperature.

If the milk separates, the white part is yogurt cheese, and the greenish liquid is whey. Pour both into a blender and blend well to recombine. If you like your smoothies very thick & mild, you can always pour off some of the whey.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:34 PM on July 28, 2011

@Maximian -- re: kvass -- You're right. I meant Beet Kvass. I've also heard of a carrot kvass.
posted by countrymod at 12:59 PM on July 28, 2011

Agua Fresca. I had an awesome Agua Fresca de Pepino in a Mexican restaurant in Sunset Park Brooklyn the other day. Easy to make and very refreshing.
posted by monospace at 1:25 PM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ayran, a yogurt drink that is super healthy, refreshing, and satisfying. I love it an drink tons of it (I grew up on ayran!), super quick to make if you can find the right yogurt (contact me if you need recommendations), or just buy bottled at your local middle eastern grocer.
posted by halogen at 2:37 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Coconut water has less sugar than fruit juices do. It is also extremely delicious, although it may taste funny the first time.
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 4:23 PM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Came in to say barley tea, which contains no tea leaves, so I'll second it instead. Reactions among those we've offered it to vary from "mmm, neat!" to "hmm, toastwater. Wierd."
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:59 PM on July 28, 2011

Have you had the ethiopian drink called talba? It's made of flax seeds pureed with water and sugar. I've only had it in restaurants, so I can't vouch for any one recipe, but its really unique and refreshing, and you could probably scale back the sugar to your taste or use some other sweetener.
posted by juliapangolin at 8:03 PM on July 28, 2011

Along the lines of Bovril (suggested above) you can make drinks of Vegemite dissolved in hot water or hot milk. I tried it once because the Vegemite jar told me to. Can't say I liked it, but your mileage may vary.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:11 PM on July 28, 2011

Squash? Lemon-barley is nice.
Limonada is great, admittedly fruit but there's the hint of the rind...

Wikipedia's non-alcoholic beverages category has some interesting stuff.
posted by kmennie at 10:57 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

One more note re: switchel. I just made my first batch using this recipe, and I have to say, it's pretty damn tasty after working out in the yard this afternoon.
posted by jquinby at 3:34 PM on July 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sparkling water with ice and a splash of angostura bitters is pretty great, you can also add a little lime or lemon.
posted by snofoam at 5:43 PM on July 30, 2011