trying to have no sugar in tea

DrPepper1967
DrPepper1967 Posts: 7 Member
edited November 15 in Food and Nutrition
i usually have a sweetener or sugar in tea, i've gone cold turkey this week but i'm really not enjoying it. i realise it may take a while but i love my tea so am missing enjoying the drink.

Do you have any advice or tips?

Replies

  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    edited January 2017
    A low calorie sweetener like Splenda (only 4 calories)?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited January 2017
    I used a step-down approach for iced tea decades ago. I would make 1 gallon of iced tea with 1/4 cup sugar. A couple weeks later.... only 3 Tbls,......then 2 Tbls, etc.

    I also found that switching from 100% plain black tea (or plain green tea).....to using a couple flavored tea bags helps smooth out the flavor a bit. 1 family size tea bag & 2 smaller flavored ones makes a nice (slightly fruit) 1/2 gallon pitcher.

    Green tea - do not brew using boiling water. Too hot water makes green tea bitter. Stop heating the water before it boils.
  • DrPepper1967
    DrPepper1967 Posts: 7 Member
    Sorry i should have said that it's not a calorie thing really, but i do think that sweeteners make you crave sweet things and i have wanted to cut sugar/sweeteners out for a while now.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,185 Member
    I drink unsweetened tea and I like a little mint with it. You might try that.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Squeeze 1/4 lemon in it. That's 3 calories worth of sugar and it might be very pleasant to you.
  • Madwife2009
    Madwife2009 Posts: 1,369 Member
    I just went cold turkey when I was a teenager. The first week was awful but after that, no problems UNLESS someone put sugar in my tea. Nowadays, if I end up with tea with sugar in, I cannot drink it and have to spit it out, It's disgusting.

    I don't think that there's an easy way to do it.

    Had the same problem when I switched from normal tea to de-caffeinated (medical issue); it was horrible for about a week but after that, it was fine.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I used to have 3tsp of sugar in each cup of tea, times that by around 6 (sometimes more) cups a day, and that's a lot of sugar! I just slowly tapered down by a half tsp at a time until i was down to none. I add milk to my tea which probably helps. I can not drink straight black tea or coffee, it has to have milk or at least a couple tsp of sugar.
  • bkbirge
    bkbirge Posts: 107 Member
    I don't know that there's a 'trick' to drinking it without sweetener, it's my preferred way to have tea - unsweet. There are plenty of herbal teas that don't have sweetener but have a satisfying taste, look at the stash brand. I use their super mint and gold chai a lot. The gold chai has that cinnamon aroma that while not really a substitute for sugar might help you weather the storm so to speak.
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  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    Hot or iced?

    Unsweet iced green tea is so good that even my 9 year old strongly prefers it to sweetened. In particular the Tazo one with lemongrass and mint.
    Unsweet iced black tea is also good.
    Try a little lemon in these, that might be good to you.

    Unsweet hot green tea is pretty good

    Hot black tea I can't stand without milk and sugar, sorry no help there.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    elphie754 wrote: »
    A low calorie sweetener like Splenda (only 4 calories)?

    This is what I use in my tea-1/2 packet is more than enough to sweeten a cup :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I tapered down to 1/2 t sugar per tea bag. Sometimes for a treat I will go back up to 1 t.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited January 2017
    You'd be surprised how super sweet tea will taste if you add it back in after not having it for a while. Even a flat teaspoon makes it taste sickly sweet to me now.
  • AngInCanada
    AngInCanada Posts: 947 Member
    I used to have 2 tbsp sugar in my tea. I slowly started using less. Now I'm at 1 tsp and I just count the calories and I'm OK with it :)
  • Cheri1218
    Cheri1218 Posts: 268 Member
    I enjoy several flavored teas with no sugar. Right now I'm loving Peach, and Raspberry by Bigelow (?). I also love Peppermint White Chocolate tea with no extra sweetener from Teavana. They are not super dark and that helps a lot.
  • jo_nz
    jo_nz Posts: 548 Member
    Just keep going! It took me about 2 weeks to adapt to the taste of no sugar in my tea and coffee. Now I dislike even a small amount in there - just tastes wrong.

    Maybe try some other sugar-free drinks while you adjust - flavoured tea or fruit infusions perhaps?
  • Skyblueyellow
    Skyblueyellow Posts: 225 Member
    I only drink mine unsweetened! I think it tastes delicious.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    Try herbal blends with naturally sweet flavors (e.g., cinnamon, mint, ginger, licorice/anise, orange)
    Celestial Seasonings' tension tamer flavor is a nice blend of sweet flavors.
    Good Earth original is a black tea/herbal blend with sweet flavors, if you want caffeine.
    Or you experiment brewing pots with a mix of black tea and sweet herbal blends or tisanes.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited January 2017
    I drink a lot of tea, mostly not caffeinated. I add a bit of stevia to the teas that seem to need it, but that decreases over time.

    I also add passion tea bags to water bottles.

    etc.
  • khhregister
    khhregister Posts: 229 Member
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Try herbal blends with naturally sweet flavors (e.g., cinnamon, mint, ginger, licorice/anise, orange)
    Celestial Seasonings' tension tamer flavor is a nice blend of sweet flavors.
    Good Earth original is a black tea/herbal blend with sweet flavors, if you want caffeine.
    Or you experiment brewing pots with a mix of black tea and sweet herbal blends or tisanes.

    That Good Earth tea is SO delicious on its own - I can't imagine adding anything to it.
    I also like Yogi Tea in the Egyptian Licorice flavour - also spicy enough on its own
    Another similar one is from Aveda - the tea they give you when you go into their salons. It's a mix of mint and licorice, and is just so delicious and soothing. You can buy a big jar of the loose tea to make at home.

    Mainly I drink black teas and not herbal teas, but these are my three fav. herbal teas.
    Personally I weaned myself off sugar in my black tea a few years ago. Still need milk, though. :smile:
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
    I love milk and sugar in my tea. I have slowly lowered the amount of sugar to 1/2 tsp from about 2 tsp. Personally I would never use a substitute because I love the sugar in my tea. I just log it in the morning for the whole day so I always have the calories for it.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Try different flavors.
    I like mint or apple cinnamon best.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,687 Member
    DrPepper1967 wrote: »
    i usually have a sweetener or sugar in tea, i've gone cold turkey this week but i'm really not enjoying it. i realise it may take a while but i love my tea so am missing enjoying the drink.

    Do you have any advice or tips?

    Drink different tea.

    You wouldn't want to put any sort of sweetener into a rooibos chai tea, that would make it way too sweet. Even a lemon ginger is just fine without sweetening.

  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    DrPepper1967 wrote: »
    Sorry i should have said that it's not a calorie thing really, but i do think that sweeteners make you crave sweet things and i have wanted to cut sugar/sweeteners out for a while now.

    Wouldn't cutting out sweet things make you crave them even more?

    Careful you're not doing this just for puritanical reasons. There is such a mass hysteria about sugar these days.
  • rdfaria
    rdfaria Posts: 4 Member
    I had the same problem, I love sugar in tea! But then a light bulb went off in my head, why not switch tea. And so I did. I found a tea that taste great without sugar. - There are hundreds of tea's on the market and many of them taste great without sugar.
  • jaedwa1
    jaedwa1 Posts: 114 Member
    Cheri1218 wrote: »
    I enjoy several flavored teas with no sugar. Right now I'm loving Peach, and Raspberry by Bigelow (?). I also love Peppermint White Chocolate tea with no extra sweetener from Teavana. They are not super dark and that helps a lot.

    Peppermint White Chocolate is heaven!!
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