Refreshing Summer Beverages

[polly_mer]

It's high summer and I live in a desert at altitude.

I can't face drinking enough plain water to stay hydrated.

I'm also tired of the same handful of choices that I always drink and I'm a little concerned about the sugar content when I'm looking at the whole day's intake trying to stay hydrated.

What are your suggestions?

[mamselle]

At night, or maybe every few days, I take several saved bottles from my occasional purchases of soft drinks and make cold tea in the fridge. I put a tiny bit of brown sugar or honey to offset the bitterness, a tea bag, and fill with H2O.

I have at times also used those little straws of flavored tea, but the sugar is definitely high in those; if I do use them, I use half-a-straw at a time, or even less, as flavor instead of sugar in the bottles prepped as above.

Cold the next day, pop it into my bag, no cost, and convenient.

M.

[downer]

I've been on antibiotics for a bit, so I've been drinking a lot of kombucha. It may be an acquired taste, but once you get into it, it's satisfying. It's expensive a lot of the time, unless you make your own.

[phattangent]

Unsweet tea, Diet Coke, or fruit-infused water.

[fast_and_bulbous]

I drink lots and lots of ice cold flavored sparkling water. I enjoy the burps, and a dash of citrus. No calories. Something like La Croix but local.

[Parasaurolophus]

Ice + a dash of maple syrup + water

Alternately, chilled Moroccan mint tea. All you need is hot water, mint leaves, a bit of sugar, and a fridge.

Or, yeah, fizzy water is great, and very refreshing. Also unsweetened.

I just drink cold tap water, though.

[hmaria1609]

The local organic grocery store in my town has a self-service ginger beer on tap. It's got original, double, and forager flavors. A seasonal flavor rotates through.  Pick a small or large sized bottle, fill up, and pay at the cashier.
I take fresh lime flavored water to work at the library.  I also keep a stash of bottled tea, flavored coffee, chocolate milk, and soda in the staff fridge.

[spork]

Brew a cup of tea. Let cool. Put ice, fresh mint leaves, and a few squeezes of fresh lime juice in a large glass. Pour the tea into the glass.

[AvidReader]

I predominantly drink sparkling water (usually plain, occasionally flavored). I like mine with a dash of citrus or citrus juice. It also mixes well with fruit juice if you want a *little* sweetness. The fancy hotels do plain water with fresh fruits and vegetables added in for a little flavor. Cucumber, mint, & citrus are common. There are also lots of kinds of mint, so switching to chocolate mint (or another flavor) might give you even more variety.

I make gallons of unsweet tea in the summer. The stores sell iced tea teabags, but I usually just use my favorite hot tea bag and let it cool. I make a pot of tea, let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight. (My mom likes to do 2 bags English Breakfast, 1 bag Assam, and 1 bag mint, so you also don't have to stick with just one flavor).

My spouse likes iced coffee--there are lots of flavors you can use to mix that up also (add some almond or vanilla extract, for instance).

I have an acquaintance who adds a splash of bitters to sparking water (and, I think, sometimes to sodas).

I'm not a huge fan of milk, but, if you are, it allows many of the same flavor additives as coffee.

AR.

[eigen]

Cold unsweetened herbal tea is my go-to.

Drop 3-4 tea bags in a gallon of water and steep for a few hours to overnight in the fridge.

Can vary flavors depending on what you like, and there are usually a ton of options available at any grocery store to start from.

[Anselm]

Coconut water.

[polly_mer]

I see. 

Tea <mutter mutter it's like we've never met mutter mutter>

Fizzy water <mutter all the yucky parts of pop without the good parts mutter mutter>

Coffee <mutter mutter all those years and still people suggest coffee to me with a straight face mutter mutter>

<sigh> Fancy things we don't have here in the middle of nowhere at a reasonable price <sigh>


Plain water until I can't face it and then watered lemonade it is!

[downer]

You can get kombucha at Walmart and Costco! I'm sure you can afford it.

[archaeo42]

Try a combination of half juice half sparkling water. I find those refreshing and a welcome change. My personal favorite is to us cranberry juice (or whatever cranberry-fruit combo is on sale).

[polly_mer]

You can get kombucha at Walmart and Costco! I'm sure you can afford it.

Thanks for following up, but no.

For one, we are really isolated and do a lot by mail order.  For example, the nearest Walmart is an hour away and is the worst Walmart I've ever visited with often half-empty shelves for things I know Walmart usually carries and usually even in much smaller towns.  That particular Walmart also tends to make the evening news for criminal activities in the parking lot.  The nearest Costco is more than two hours away when the road is open and traffic is light.

In addition, Wikipedia describes kombucha as:

"Kombucha (also tea mushroom, tea fungus, or Manchurian mushroom when referring to the culture; botanical name Medusomyces gisevii[1]) is a fermented, slightly alcoholic, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly intended as a functional beverage for its supposed health benefits. "

I dislike tea immensely.  My husband drinks a wide variety of tea, all of which smell so bad that I'm not going to do any further taste-testing just in case the next one happens to smell bad, but taste good (has never happened for anything in my experience).  When I say "wide variety", this guy buys tea and stocks it in two-foot-deep shelves sorted by country of origin and preferred time of day for drinking.  I'm not short on tea exposure, even if it has to be mail ordered.

I don't drink alcohol in part because of the fermented taste and I'm not big on fizzy drinks.  Indeed, I often open my pop and let it go flat before I drink it.

Thus, while I might experiment with cucumber water at some point (cucumbers are several times more expensive than any other cucumbers we've ever bought and often top $2 for a smallish one because they have to be shipped in and tend to sell out quickly, but I do love cucumbers), I'm definitely not special ordering a drink that checks so many of the "nope" boxes.