Soda free

[safeinOhio]

Last summer I bought a ice tea maker at a yard sale for 2 bucks. I like ice tea, but still find the caffeine keeps me up at night. Started trying some herbal mixes and love them for ice tea. Make at least a half gallon a day and drink it. Now I've bought some loose herbal tea by the pound. Have a large adult sippy cup I keep full in the car all the time. Saving money, no soda in a while and I love the varieties. Would like to find some info on foraging for tea herbs come spring.

[old mark]

1. I like to make iced tea using the Celestial Seasonings fruit flavored teas.

No caffiene, good flavors, easy to make, not exoensive. I use a large covered pitcher, 3 tea bags, and filtered tap water. I have been drinking this for at least 6 years, drink maybe 1 soda a month and wonder why I did after I finish it.

mark

[japple]

2. Celestial Seasonings' Blueberry tea is my favorite. It really

tastes like blueberries, and has a lovely pink color.

[old mark]

4. I really like the raspberry and the lemon, cold or hot. nt

[Warpy]

3. I used to dig sassafras root in the spring for a tonic

and kept a pot of sassafras tea bubbling away on the woodstove until it warmed up outside.

I think herbs are best grown in a garden, though. You never know what you're getting in the wild, especially when it comes to heavy metal contamination, unless you live way out in the boonies and there aren't any dumps nearby.

I tried the tea thing and found I missed bubbles. I have a C02 setup for seltzer and flavored diet sodas. It isn't much cheaper than really good sales on soda, but it puts less into the landfill. Everything is reusable, even the C02 cartridges.

[safeinOhio]

5. I live next to a state park and I

already forage blackberries, nuts, cherries, mushrooms and wild grapes. Will be looking for stinging nettles and wild strawberry plants. Have found hundreds of pawpaw plants, but, not one fruit. When I lived in MI I had lots of wild asparagus plants in the ditches, none here so far.

[hippywife]

6. How about sun tea?

Would be even better than using an ice tea maker from an energy standpoint. I've always thought that the concept of an ice tea maker was kind of silly, even at $2, when you can either use a tea kettle on the stove or put it out side in a glass jar. But then I have this thing against single use items.

You can actually do tea that way in the fridge. Just float the tea bags in cold water in the fridge. With any of these methods, I would think wrapping your loose tea in a double layer of cheese cloth could work.

I live on mostly water now. Stopped the soda thing altogether years ago but will have on once in a blue moon. Drink ice tea occasionally when at a restaurant.

Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Spice makes a lovely iced tea, too. Tastes like Constant Comment.

I bet there are some really good foraging books out there to be found. :hi:

[trotsky]

7. There is a greater risk of bacteria contamination with sun tea.

Unlike in a tea maker or just boiling water, the water in sun tea never reaches a temperature to kill the cooties. Generally fine if you just make a pitcher and drink it the same day, but there is a risk.

[kestrel91316]

8. The only gripe I ever had with sun tea is the MILDEW smell it gets

if you don't use it up PDQ, lol. The water doesn't get boiled, so it has water mold boogers and such in it. Bacteria are a lesser concern because it IS clean tap water, after all, and not grey water.

So sayeth the microbiologist in me....

[trotsky]

9. Critters of all sorts are possible.

I can't remember where I read the bacteria contamination issue, but Snopes confirms:

http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/suntea.asp

Alcaligenes viscolactis, a bacteria commonly found in water, consequently turns up in sun tea. While the caffeine in black tea will help prevent that microbe from flourishing for a few hours, its effects won't last beyond that. Herbal teas are an even worse bet for brewing in sunlight because they tend to lack caffeine, which means even that barrier to Alcaligenes viscolactis turning your summertime drink into its own breeding ground is missing.

[hippywife]

10. We've made lots of sun tea

and never had a problem with it, whether it's black tea or herbal. :shrug:

[JCMach1]

11. Hibiscus! Although the Lipton one is not so good.

loaded with vitamin C

[undergroundnomore]

12. Making the break

with soda has been very hard for me. I keep going back. Your idea sounds good.

[safeinOhio]

13. got good news from my urologist after

telling him I'm drinking almost a half gallon of herbal tea a day. Said one of the best things I can do to avoid another kidney stone. If you have never passed a stone, trust me, you do not want to.
Found a "Forest Fruit" herbal tea at Kroger. The best so far. It is so good I only put a very small amount of sugar in it and it is still great.

Garage sales are starting and I'm looking for a back-up ice tea machine, just incase. GF makes it the old fashion way and thinks it is better. I go for the quick and easy. Uuumm, I didn't mean GFs