Adventures in Not Sucking at Life

[lunabee34]

I currently drink the equivalent of half a Coke to two Cokes a day. I am going to attempt to cut out soda; however, I am not willing to give up caffeine. I do not like coffee, and I am not interested in drinking tea with no sugar in it. Does anyone have any suggestions for a low-calorie to no-calorie way to get my caffeine in the morning?

Thanks in advance, all knowing flist. :)

Comments

[the_rck]

I've never tried it, but I've heard of a product called Water Joe. It's water with added caffeine. I have no idea how hard it is to find or what it tastes like. I don't think I've ever seen it in the grocery stores around here, but there is a website for the product http://www.waterjoe.com/ which makes me assume that it's still being made.

[lunabee34]

Ooooooh, that's an interesting idea. Thank you!!

[malnpudl]

This probably isn't what you had in mind, but I depend heavily on GreenCoffex when I'm traveling or otherwise have to get caffeinated when my normal caffeine-delivery beverages aren't readily available.

It's time-release caffeine derived from green coffee -- one capsule = the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee -- with the effect spread out fairly evenly, in my experience, over six to eight hours. It's not hard on my stomach (unlike the usual sort of caffeine pills).

[lunabee34]

No, no. This is just the kind of thing I was looking for. Thank you!!!!!!!

[malnpudl]

Oh, yay! Happy to be of service. :-)

[torachan]

I have slid back into the soda habit thanks to stupid Taco Bell and their $1 Baja Blast Freezes (at regular price it's no problem to resist, but for a dollar...!), but when I'm not drinking soda I tend to drink a lot of green tea. I don't like hot tea, so for me it's always cold bottled stuff. I prefer Itoen's Ooi Ocha.

[lunabee34]

I have tried to drink green tea and I don't like it. :( I'm not sure why. I don't like herbal tea either for the most part.

[torachan]

I didn't like it for a long time when all I'd had was A. hot tea and B. the cheapo stuff from Chinese restaurants, but I love the Ooi Ocha. *_* It's probably not too easy to find in your area, though, so maybe it's for the best!

[lunabee34]

You know, I'd been operating under the assumption that all green tea is essentially created equally, but it makes sense that there's varying qualities. I'd be willing to try a more expensive version. I'll see if you can get that on Amazon.

[umadoshi]

FWIW, I like oolong and jasmine tea, at least at restaurants, but I generally don't like green teas. But in case your reasons for disliking green tea (torachan's rec notwithstanding, if that works out for you! ^_^) are different from mine, I'll mention that many, many people steep green tea at too high a temperature (and often for too long, I think?), which does not do it any favors. I forget the actual recommended temperature, but it's noticeably lower than the temperature for black tea.

Also, while I still don't like it, exactly, and don't drink it, I think genmaicha smells lovely and tastes better than a lot of others. It's roasted, which makes a huge difference to the smell (and is nothing like smokey tea. My Ginny adores smokey things like Russian Caravan, and I just run away. I do not want to drink a campfire).

[lunabee34]

Oooh, that's a good point. I probably do brew it for too long. I pretty much only drink black tea varietals which I like strong, so I'm probably brewing the heck out of the green tea I've tried before. LOL

[monanotlisa]

Just drink tea with sugar.

.5 Coke = 20g of sugar
1 Coke = 40g of sugar
1.5 Coke = 60 g of sugar

1 teaspoon of sugar = 5 g
2 tsp of sugar = 10 g

So even if you drink 2 large cuppa tea with 2 teaspoons of sugar each, you have only just reached the half-can of Coke (and definitely get the proper caffeine kick if only you choose intense teas).

[monanotlisa]

(I do counsel trying to drink green tea or oolong without sugar, though. I got used to it super-quickly.)

[lunabee34]

I do not like green tea or oolong (that's the smoky tasting one, right?), unfortunately. :(

[monanotlisa]

Nope. Oolong is a half-fermented tea, between green and black. I don't do smoky teas either.

I would counsel drinking white tea, but it doesn't have much caffeine.

An actually good jasmine green tea is your best bet -- or matcha, of course, if it is a sugar problem and not a funds problem. ;)

[lunabee34]

Nope, not a funds problem. Torachan suggested a particular kind of green tea, and I see I can order it on Amazon. I'm willing to give that a go. :)

[lunabee34]

You make a good point. This makes me feel better about my tea habits.