I am planning a little picnic on Friday night for a concert in the park and I would love to find something besides unsweet tea or water to drink. Neither of us care for artificial sweeteners and we want it to be non-alchoholic. Any ideas? Some sort of tea drink would be ok but with more interest than the plain, black tea I drink all the time.

Peg

thanks everyone! I found a recipe for ginger pineapple water that I think I'm going to try. It's sweetened with simple sugar but I think I'll make less than it calls for and use it sparingly and see how we do!

I'm going to try some of these other ideas for me at home because I am having beverage fatigue! LOL

Peg

I was going to suggest the fruit water thing too. A few strawberries or oranges tossed in a pitcher of water a few hours ahead of time and chilled is quite lovely. Serve with a piece or two of the fruit in the glass.

Cucumber water is also nice.

My favorite summer cooler is a bit of seltzer with fresh lime juice and a bit of sweetener, whatever your preference is.

A mixture of tea and lemonade is also nice.

A few splashes of pomegranate juice or cranberry juice and a little sparkling water is also quite nice.(You could also add some rum to this for a little kick if desired.) This is also good with a splash of orange juice added to it.

Mint tea is quite refreshing in the summer.

I have been experimenting with tea concentrates, inspired by a favorite blog. Put 6 or 7 tea bags in a quart jar with cold water. Place in the fridge over night and remove the tea bags in the morning. To use, fill a glass with ice, add a bit of the concentrate and fill the rest of the glass with water. Taste, if it needs more tea, add it, if not sweeten or not. It's much easier for me. I can have multiple flavors going and not take up huge amounts of space in the fridge.

Rooibus is really good cold (red tea).

Another idea would be to do plain seltzer with freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice.

Some herbal teas are good cold.

I generally prefer just black tea... but black and herbal tea mixed can be a nice change.

Or green tea.

Peg-
I have a ton of mint growing in my yard. I put a bunch of fresh mint into a big pot of water. Bring water to a boil, then remove it from heat. Let mint sit in water, I let mine sit sometimes for a few hours. Remove mint and if you want you can strain it. I do add sugar to it when it is still warm-not a lot but enough to make it a little sweet. We love it! My mom makes it too, but she adds tea bags to hers. I like it w/just the mint/water.

I was also thinking you could do fruit water. I used lemons and strawberries cut up and added to water-the strawberries were so sweet naturally that they really sweetened the water. You could use oranges, limes, watermelon, or any combination of fruit and you could add some mint too. With water also-you could add ginger, or do a lemonade with fresh-squeezed lemons and use a savory fresh herb. I saw this in a magazine somewhere-they made lemonade or citrus waters with things like basil. Would be interesting to taste.

Jill