What do you drink

[whatagain]

When your doc forbids alcohol, that you can't have sugar, have quit diet coke and are fed up with drinking water or tea ?

Ah. I can't drink fruit juice either.

[kerouac2]

Sounds like quite a quandary, old man. How much are you allowed to cheat?

[casimira]

Are you allowed to drink coffee?

Another alternative is sparkling water (Pelligrino is my choice. Perrier is too bubbly for me) with a tiny squeeze of lemon or lime. And, a splash of bitters (which does have some alcohol but not a lot).

There are also a number of half way decent non-alcoholic beers on the market. Certainly not the same standard quality you are accustomed to but you may want to give them a try.

[kerouac2]

I have been promoting non alcoholic beer (still a novelty drink for me rather than an obligation). It still tastes a bit weird, but it is definitely 80% better than such things used to be. I've only tested 3 brands so far, but I will continue to investigate.

On the other hand, I have never tried non alcoholic wine, but since it remains extremely rare and has never caught on, I'm pretty sure that it is terrible.

[casimira]

Rare indeed. I didn't even know it existed. Other than some sparkling "wines" which don't taste like wine at all but are favored as an alternative to champagne for celebrations such as weddings and New Years etc.

[htmb]

Up until about five years ago I would drink two to three diet cokes a day. Nasty stuff! One day I decided to quit so to switched to sparkling water. Just having something fizzy helped me to kick the Diet Coke habit. (I also drink tea in the morning so get a bit of caffeine that way). In Europe, I mostly drink Badoit. Sometimes I’ll buy Perrier. Here in the US we seem to have more flavor choices and I usually buy whatever is on sale that week: La Croix and Spindrift are favorites.

[lagatta]

Non-alcoholic beer is far, far better than it used to be. And I'm not a beer drinker, but it is a wonder for cyclists (though remember, even without alcohol, beer contains a fair dose of carbs). As for wine, dry whites can be acceptable; reds are horrific.

Remember that some infusions (herbal "teas") can also be consumed chilled. Especially Moroccan mint.

[mich64]

We have always had a surprising selection of non-alcoholic wine in our grocery stores. I have never tried any of them but I am now curious. I sometimes drink tonic water with lemon, lime or berries in the summer.

[whatagain]

Too much sugar in non alcoholic beverage.

Thanks for the idea of the drops to put into the water - I will carry some with me when I am travelling.

I increased my consumption of milk.

[lagatta]

Yes, I don't drink tonic water (though I like the bitterness), because it contains too much sugar. As does undiluted fruit juice.

I can't drink cow's milk; had a very severe allergy as a child, so never got used to that texture, though I do sometimes buy goat's milk for recipes. Currently I have some ewe's milk plain yogourt. I had to take calcium pills.

And I do drink wine. Not too much, but I do love wine. In the warm season, white wine mixed with bubbly water, so it isn't too strong.

Now, of course, morning drug moka (stovetop espresso). Very bright day; we had a heavy snowstorm, the first heavy one this winter. I hate snow but will concede that it is pretty when it is still white and clean. In cities it soon turns to a greyish, brownish muck. But I'm sad about the snow as it had almost all gone so I could ride my bicycle a bit.

[bixaorellana]

Well, I am drinking bark tea right now. It's very red and doesn't taste bad, quite mild really, but still -- bark tea.

My stomach has been in disarray, so I bought two bags of mystery stuff from the lady who sells herbs and potions in front of my market. One of them, full of dried leaves and sticks and stuff is quite pleasant tasting & does work. I was told it was salvia de castilla, which should be Salvia officinalis, but it's not. The bark is cascara de some-indigenous-word-I-never-got and is red and lumpy and very thick -- you know, like bark. There was only one serving size piece in the bag I got, but the other pieces were too big. In order to make the cup I'm drinking now, I had to stomp on the bark to break it. That would be stomping while wearing the same flip-flops I wear on the street and accidentally step in dog shit on my patio in. I did of course wash the bark after breaking and before making the tea.

I'm telling you all this just in case you never hear from me again.

[lagatta]

One thing I really like to settle the stomach is nettle tea. Of course, if using fresh nettles, one must be careful not to touch them! But it is also decent dried.