commercial iced tea drinks

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conniehgtv
conniehgtv Posts: 309 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have stopped drinking diet pepsi.I am now drinking water with lime and ginger. I have also been drinking Lipton diet citrus tead. Is that a good choice?

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  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited August 2015
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    I don't see Lipton Diet tea as any improvement over diet pepsi (sorry). It's still got additives and fake sugar. Not that fake sugar is horrible (someone will be along shortly to tell you it's poison). I drink 1 or 2 diet sodas everyday.

    I brew iced tea and drink it unsweetened (not a coffee drinker). It took awhile to get to that point. I would make a 1/2 gallon pitcher and add 1/4 cup sugar. Then 3 tablespoons, then 2 tablespoons, etc. The thing that helps most is flavored tea bags. One pitcher sized (plain) bag and 2 single (flavored) bags make 1/2 gallon. It's not super fruity, but it's much more mellow than plain.

    Re: brewing your own green tea. Make sure the water is NOT boiling. Too hot water scalds the leaves and you end up with bitter tea. The pitcher sized green tea is Luzianne brand. Lipton Red berry & gogi is yummy. If you want to try 2 single bags.....this makes 20 ounces of iced tea.

    I think fresh brewed retains more antioxidants, than something stored for who knows how long.
  • achicotel
    achicotel Posts: 2 Member
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    Drinking tea is an improvement over pop for sure. Looks like the ingredients include natural sweeteners to me, but there are additives: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Sodium Hexametaphosphate (to protect flavor), Green Tea, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Potassium Sorbate (preserves freshness), Phosphoric Acid, Acesulfame Potassium, Calcium Disodium Edta (to protect flavor), Honey

    If you want something healthier without making it yourself, seek out something with the fewest ingredients possible. Sweeteners like Stevia or Honey are preferable to white refined sugars.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
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    I drink Arizona diet decaf green tea. Ingredients:

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  • Vanyahiril
    Vanyahiril Posts: 89 Member
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    I do "refrigerator tea" put the desired amount of tea in cold water, put it in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Yum! I like using plain black tea, with just a little fruity herbal tea, for flavor.
  • Vanyahiril
    Vanyahiril Posts: 89 Member
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    The bottled stuff tastes funky, to me.
  • aledba
    aledba Posts: 564 Member
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    Vanyahiril wrote: »
    I do "refrigerator tea" put the desired amount of tea in cold water, put it in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Yum! I like using plain black tea, with just a little fruity herbal tea, for flavor.

    That's the best way to do it with no worries of bitterness or singing the tea. Cold steeping is awesome! Almost any tea will work very well. I just did DAVIDsTEA Banana Split Rooibos in my Bodum overnight. I also love their Happy Kombucha steeped this way. Loose leaf is the very best!
  • conniehgtv
    conniehgtv Posts: 309 Member
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    thanks to all. I have tried over the years to like tea. This is the first one I like. I will press on and find some thing I can brew that is tollerable.I think I will try the Arizona next, the move to brewed. Wish me luck and thanks for the advice!!
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    I just plop a flavored green tea bag into my 1L water bottle. Depending on how fast I drink it, I might get 2 bottles out of one tea bag. Bigelow green tea with mango, and Lipton orange, passion fruit and jasmine green tea are what I'm switching between at the moment. I also drink diet soda at home, but whatevs.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    I brew my own, but if I want store bought, I love the pure leaf unsweetened
  • cantstopgypsy
    cantstopgypsy Posts: 14 Member
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    I buy diet snapple love it!
  • conniehgtv
    conniehgtv Posts: 309 Member
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    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    I just plop a flavored green tea bag into my 1L water bottle. Depending on how fast I drink it, I might get 2 bottles out of one tea bag. Bigelow green tea with mango, and Lipton orange, passion fruit and jasmine green tea are what I'm switching between at the moment. I also drink diet soda at home, but whatevs.

    thanks for the brands. I got some green tea/peach from Panera yesterday and it is good. I also got some genric green tea and added lime. I think I got this!!
  • conniehgtv
    conniehgtv Posts: 309 Member
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    no soda since saturday!!
  • conniehgtv
    conniehgtv Posts: 309 Member
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    aledba wrote: »
    Vanyahiril wrote: »
    I do "refrigerator tea" put the desired amount of tea in cold water, put it in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Yum! I like using plain black tea, with just a little fruity herbal tea, for flavor.

    That's the best way to do it with no worries of bitterness or singing the tea. Cold steeping is awesome! Almost any tea will work very well. I just did DAVIDsTEA Banana Split Rooibos in my Bodum overnight. I also love their Happy Kombucha steeped this way. Loose leaf is the very best!
    aledba wrote: »
    Vanyahiril wrote: »
    I do "refrigerator tea" put the desired amount of tea in cold water, put it in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Yum! I like using plain black tea, with just a little fruity herbal tea, for flavor.

    That's the best way to do it with no worries of bitterness or singing the tea. Cold steeping is awesome! Almost any tea will work very well. I just did DAVIDsTEA Banana Split Rooibos in my Bodum overnight. I also love their Happy Kombucha steeped this way. Loose leaf is the very best!

    Thanks for the cold brew info.
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
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    conniehgtv wrote: »
    I have stopped drinking diet pepsi.I am now drinking water with lime and ginger. I have also been drinking Lipton diet citrus tead. Is that a good choice?
    I gave up soda years ago with zero regrets. Diet sodas make me nervous given all the information coming out about these artificial, man-made sweeteners.
    NO THANKS!
    I prefer my own tea, but in a pinch, I like Honest Tea varieties - especially Green Tea with Honey.
    Is this any better than soda? Maybe...a 16 oz Cola has 200 calories...
    Honest Tea contains about 75 calories with additional health properties.





  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    I started doing this years ago - from soda, to tea, to brewing my own. Several variations on brew cups and mugs out there, but I picked up a nifty mug & press for coffee when camping and another tea brewer from Argo Tea. Teavana has a similar device, but you just add the leaves and filter the water and allow it to steep to taste. If you want you can add your own sweetener - I like the brown unrefined sugar cubes.
  • irishdancer214
    irishdancer214 Posts: 108 Member
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    I'm not going to tell you the fake sugars are poison, but there's definitely some concerns about the sweeteners (sucralose, asulfame potassium)....and for whatever reason, they make me sick and I suddenly crave really bad for you foods, especially sugary ones. So I avoid them. I love the cold steeping idea though!! Thank you for the tea info, I didn't realize you could scorch the leaves!
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
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    irishdancer214 wrote: »
    I'm not going to tell you the fake sugars are poison, but there's definitely some concerns about the sweeteners (sucralose, asulfame potassium)....and for whatever reason, they make me sick and I suddenly crave really bad for you foods, especially sugary ones. So I avoid them. I love the cold steeping idea though!! Thank you for the tea info, I didn't realize you could scorch the leaves!
    I noticed this years ago when I first made the switch from regular soda to diet.
    This was long before people were talking about this issue.
    I just thought it was me.
    Truth has a way of coming out over time, and now we're learning more about the possible health consequences of these fake sugars.
    Poison? Probably not...but bad me me - YEP!

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,966 Member
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    I make tea at night before I go to bed by pouring 5 cups of boiling water over two bags of Earl Grey and 1 teaspoon sugar (down from over 2 t - I tapered down.) On hot mornings, I'll add ice, and on cold days I'll heat it up.

    I pay 10 cents per tea bag.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    achicotel wrote: »
    Drinking tea is an improvement over pop for sure. Looks like the ingredients include natural sweeteners to me, but there are additives: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Sodium Hexametaphosphate (to protect flavor), Green Tea, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Potassium Sorbate (preserves freshness), Phosphoric Acid, Acesulfame Potassium, Calcium Disodium Edta (to protect flavor), Honey

    If you want something healthier without making it yourself, seek out something with the fewest ingredients possible. Sweeteners like Stevia or Honey are preferable to white refined sugars.

    This doesn't appear to be the diet tea. The diet has artificial sweeteners, not HFCS.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    conniehgtv wrote: »
    I have stopped drinking diet pepsi.I am now drinking water with lime and ginger. I have also been drinking Lipton diet citrus tead. Is that a good choice?

    Mostly I just drink water, brewed tea and wine, but when I purchase a diet soft drink, it's almost always Lipton diet green tea with citrus. I don't drink it often, but it the only one that doesn't have a strong aftertaste for me.

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