Fresh squeezed orange juice.

I've been making water kefir for about 3 years now. I love it! I've never been a pop drinker, ever, but I sure like the wk.

I typically use frozen fruit as flavourings as well as grape juice and sometimes fruit concentrates. Lime juice, ginger and basil leaf makes an absolutely lovely refreshing drink.

I heard that tea flavours make lovely drinks, and I don't like flavoured tea.....I only drink Tetley.

But I bought some Raspberry/Pomegranate and it's delicious. I find it a tad on the sweet side, so I add a splash of my lime flavour.

I too bought the lemon/ginger and I find it too strong. Again, added to some of the raspberry/pomegrante, or regular strawberry water kefir makes it more palatable.

I like Perrier lemon - nice soft bubbles - and drink it year round. I keep a big square glass pitcher with a pourable lid in the refrigerator in the summer. I make cold brew iced tea from Twinings - we like the peach and the mixed berries. No sweetener. Twinings also makes herbal water enhancers that look interesting

cold-infuse

Seagrass; my lemon/ginger and raspberry Pomegranate are both Twinings.

I also bought a Celestial seasoning box of Fruit Sampler. It has several flavours.....peach, wildberry, black cherry and true blueberry and raspberry zinger. Since I have peach and some berry tea, can you tell me how you make your iced tea?

I find that hibiscus by itself is rather overpowering but if I'm making a half-gallon pitcher of tea I swap out 2 regular bags for 2 hibiscus. Just enough to add a little flavor. Do you have any mint tea? I find that 2 bags of mint tea to 1 bag of Lemon Zinger also makes a good drink. The mint tea I have is not very strong, hence the 2-1 ratio. Makes enough to fill a tall glass over ice.

I like water infused with cacao nibs, sometimes I'll throw a few in with tea, sometimes just a spoonful of nibs in water. I also like spice flavors - a cinnamon stick or cassia buds, part of a star anise pod or fennel seed (very throat soothing), ginger (fresh or dried bits or, if I want a bit of sweetness, crystallized ginger bits) - mostly the sort of spices used in chai but often just one or two at a time rather than the whole mix. Occasionally, I like cucumber infused water.

Carbonation is a big part of soda. Maybe do your infusion very concentrated, then mix with carbonated water from a Sodastream or similar?

San Pelligrino is my "soda pop" of choice.....and Luzianne tea....mostly iced....with fresh lemon juice.

I like to mix cranberry juice with ginger ale or a lemon-lime soda, or even a grapefruit soda. The soda we buy the most of is diet Squirt, and we sometimes us it to make a Tom Collins. Of course if you have a lot of lemons, make lemonade. I make limeade when I have a lot of limes, and I do sometimes mix lemons and limes, but mostly I prefer to have them separately.

Lars, I tried mixing gingerale and cranberry juice not long ago. It was rather "puckery" for me but I do love it with lemon-lime soda pop.

Jasdip - the Twinings teas I buy are specifically made for cold brew, meaning the teabags steep in cold tap water. We have a well and our water tastes good. I'm not home right now, but I would guess my pitcher is about 2 quarts. I think I use 4 teabags and let them steep - not long. I follow the instructions on the box. I used to make "sun tea" using regular teabags and a glass container - steeping the teabags outdoors in the sun for a period of time which also works well. I used about 6 teabags for that.

I make water kefir for myself and kombucha for my husband - that has pretty much replaced soda for us although I was never a huge consumer of sugary drinks anyway. I still buy club soda for the rest of the family...weird that they've developed a taste for plain club soda....I guess cold and sparkly is the important thing for quenching thirst.

Donna_in_Sask, I don't drink pop in any form, and hubby drank club soda. No sugar and very thirst-quenching, he said. I love the water kefir; haven't tried any kombucha. I have enough on my plate keeping up with the wk without trying anything new. I did do milk kefir for a while......not to drink....neither of us could abide the taste, but it was great for pancakes, biscuits etc

Blueberry lemonade to have with dinner tonight! I didn't get to get out & get a mint sprig, darn it. So good, though!

I succumbed and bought a sodastream. On their website, they have lots of fruity, natural recipes. You don't have to use their dubious syrups! I'm really enjoying it. For example 4 strawberries cut in 2 and 2 basil leaves. Infuse. Or 2 slices pineapple in triangles and 2 lemon slices, or 2 slices of lemon, 3 long strips cucumber, a slice of ginger and 4 mint leaves. Nice!

I like pure coconut water.

dcarch

Here is a delicious refreshing cold tea drink made with a quality culinary rose water. I’ve dubbed it, TeaRoseAqua - “tearoseaqua.”

First, make the tea (see below), refrigerate the cold tea (you can filter it, if desired, to avoid even a speck of tea sediment). Add several drops of culinary rose water (or teaspoons) to suit your taste. Serve in a tall glass with interesting ice cubes. You can add sweetener if you like.

Infused Tea:

I make simple infused tea with our deep well water. No solar — not needed.

For a glass container of delicious cold well water, I submerge about 8 teabags (orange pekoe). I leave this on the counter and after a few hours the tea has finished. I then carefully remove teabags, taking care not to squeeze them.

A couple summers ago, a friend brought me a couple bottles of organic turmeric - ginger drink. There was also lemon in the mix. It was fantastic. I should try to make some. Anyone here ever make it? I seem to recall it being quite clear. Yum.

dcarch — I’ve never tried coconut water. Do you make it yourself or purchase ready made? Can you recommend a good brand?

Carbonated drink and CO2 cartridges

Some months ago, into the pandemic a bit, I read an article about there being some shortage of (pretty sure it was CO2. And I wondered how that could be. Perhaps it was something else. Isn’t CO2 everywhere? Did anyone else come across an article like this? Or, what was the common commodity that we all assume will always be available? I must have carbonated my brain. The article spoke of shortages such that research labs were only able to get limited supplies. Sort of like there was some big bubble motherload of it beneath _____ (Pangea?).

It seemed like it was CO2 because those home carbonated water units came to mind. But, isn’t CO2 easy to generate and capture? How could there be a limited supply?

Two ways to get coconut water.

This is one way

You can also buy fresh young coconuts from Hispanic or Asian stores.

Or canned pure coconut water from many supermarkets. Goya coconut water is very reliable.

Another one I really like, when I traveled to the Far East, fresh squeezed sugar cane juice:

I also have an electric Italian shaved ice machine which I use a lot after gardening work outside.

dcarch

Thanks, dcarch. Never grasped that there were young coconuts versus tough old geezer coconuts. And, the canned coconut water does not taste tinny can?

Ooh, than shaved ice gadget! And it works here? Italians have some of the best things. Someday, maybe I will get to make those frozen lemon halves, filled with lemon sorbet (before freezing).

Flavored unsweetened seltzers here. My fave lately is strawberry, and I like grapefruit and tangerine a lot too. I switched from bottles to cans and find they go down easier and the cans are much more recyclable than plastic.