Competing with Coke

I've totally replaced my 2 liter a day cola habit with iced tea that I brew myself. I always have two gallons of different flavored teas in the fridge, and I have a number of portable containers to take to work, or in the car.

Cola is actually really complex, it's got a lot of different things going on, which is part of what makes it so tasty, and such a tough habit to break. It's got the caffiene, it's almost always served ice cold (brisk!), it's carbonated, it's got the acidity, and the carmel flavoring and sugar. It's a full assault on your tongue, and you have to try to match that to break free.

I started out using Lipton gallon teabags, and tossing in 2 Celestial Seasonings teabags for a bit of bang. Bengal Spice is a favorite flavor, you might just want to grab their 'fruit tea sample pack' and give them all a try.

Eventually, I found the local British loose leaf tea shop, selling a huge variety for 2$-5$ an ounce. I switched to loose leaf, and either stir in a cup or so of fruit juice, or, a tablespoon of flavored tea.If i'm feeling really fancy, I'll mix in a tablespoon of the high-end teas from Teavana. Imperial Acai Blueberry is great, 'Spice of Life' was sold to me as the closest thing they have to cola, and I wasn't disappointed. Their Zingiber Ginger Coconut is awesome, too. The tea's pricey, but using a tablespoon per gallon, two ounces at $15 will make 12 gallons.. So, in the same price range as cola, but I get to come up with my own recipes, and use Splenda or whatever zero-calorie sweetener I want.

Instead of drinking 600+ calories a day of acidic sugar, Im doing zero ish calories of tea that I blend to my taste.

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