Friday TeaDay 6/4/10 Are you RTD?

[Chip]

Greetings TeaFans and welcome to TeaDay. Please drop in throughout the day and share what is in your cup.

Yesterday we discussed fave teas, always a good topic. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. RTD, ready to drink beverages normally sold in bottles and cans. This is BIG business in the USA and around the world. As the temps start heating up, are you reaching for more RTDs? Tea or otherwise? Please share with us.

I will be looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[Trey Winston]

In the summer I tend to drink more bottled water and more beer than at other times of the year. Not a big fan of RTD teas, they always seem to be chock full of sugar.

Enjoying some Silver Needle on this sunny morning.

[debunix]

Don't like sugared drinks, and I feel like bottled water is a huge waste of $$ as well as hard on the environment. I only reach for them in situations like last weekend's barbecue with 30+ people, where it was bottled water, soda, or beer in the backyard cooler, or swim against the tide to the kitchen to find a yard-safe drinking glass.

I drink a lot of my tea at work, in an air-conditioned building, where I'm often colder in the summer, dressed in lighter clothing, than in warmer winter layers, so hot tea is appreciated year round.

[laura99]

I drink a lot of my tea at work, in an air-conditioned building, where I'm often colder in the summer, dressed in lighter clothing, than in warmer winter layers, so hot tea is appreciated year round.

Same here! Just as its warm enough to not bundle up outside, it gets colder at work with that air cranked up. So plenty of hot tea.

No bottled drinks here (except an occasional beer) unless in a dire situation. I have been experimenting with cold brewed teas for summer though, and love iced sencha!

Yunnan golden curls to start this morning off.

[Proinsias]

I tend to lean towards pure fruit juices. Every now and again I'll go for Irn Bru or something similar - i do enjoy a bit of something cheap, fizzy and sugary on occasion. Most of my liquid replenishment, besides water, is done in the house though.

If there's any matcha that's a bit past it's best then it goes into a bottle of water and is a great pick me up.

Brother's Strawberry & Pear cider over ice was my barbecue fuel of choice last year, I can see it holding that title for a second year running. All going well on the homebrew front this time next year my own brews will be taking over from rtd wines and ciders. First few gallons have went surprisingly well.

Mao jian and blueberries to start off the day, yum.

[artmom]

My environment very seldom changes, so I pretty much drink hot tea year round. My other drinks from bottles are a mixture of pure juice with club soda (so I guess I really don't drink an actual RTD, as I need a tumbler to mix it in! )

I am such a boring person.

No tea, no breakfast yet. Going for lab work this morning.

[Skippyandjif]

I drink both mainstream and specialty bottled teas, but always unsweetened (Ito En for the former, random international brands that I find in specialty grocery stores for the latter). I also chose "other" because I recently discovered that I'm kind of addicted to orange Vitamin Water and a Vitamin Water-esque drink with the flavor "Cherimoya Punch" (tastes like a virgin pina colada, mmm ). Also in my "other" category are Arizona iced tea and Nestea. I don't really consider them "tea" because they don't really taste like tea, but they are pretty yummy in their own right. I'm not drinking any less hot tea; I'm just drinking more cold beverages as well.

Rose congou in my cup this morning.

[Rithmomachy]

Getting ready to try some 1970s Liu Bao from finepuer. It was a free sample they sent. Yesterday I had the free sample they sent of 1990 Liu An, which was excelent, so I'm excited to try another old hei cha from them! I'm learning a lot about ripe teas right now.

I haven't been drinking as much soda recently as I sometimes do, but I bought a can of Diet Dr. Pepper yesterday because of the warm weather, so I voted for soda, occasionally.

[AdamMY]

*prepares to be shunned*

I actually drink RTD teas semi regularly, with lunch. I try and avoid the sweeter ones, but when the choices are that or soda, I feel tea is the "healthier" option.

But I never opt for an RTD tea to substitute for real tea.

[gingkoseto]

I am between rare and none for bottled water. I very rarely drink bottled soda, a few cokes a year, and about 1-2 dozens of Izze a year - of which I like certain flavors very much, but drinking slows down when there are only my less favored flavors left in the box

I only take bottled water in conferences (meaning I don't want to pay for plain water ) Then I always save the bottle and use it to carry my own delicious home tap (free) water all the time. I like certain brands of bottled water for their higher quality bottles so that I can reuse the bottles for many times

In summer time, I also throw tea leaves and cold water in a bottle to carry around. That's my own ready-to-drink tea

[Victoria]

I don't buy or drink RTD tea or beverages. I don't like sugar in my tea being the main reason. It is VERY hard to find unsweetened tea. Teajava is the only one i know of and I rarely buy it.

Started the morning With FF Castleton Moonlight from Tea Emporium - Yum!

Have a nice day everyone!

[brad4419]

I don't think my RTD changes much because of the weather but I drink a lot of bottled water(bottled by me from the tap) and thats about it. I like juices, especially pure juice without added sugar and artificial flavors but thats more of a at home thing with gallon jugs poured into glasses than a drink on the go kind of thing. I drink a whole lot of bottled water during outdoor recreations and I always have a bottle of water when I play hockey of which several other players use my bottle as well...I feel like the wa wa water boy

long jing in my cup today

[tsusentei]

I don't reach for them often, but when I am in Japan I will have several a week. In Seattle there is a new brand, ChaDao, bottling unsweetened sencha and high mountain oolong among other flavors. It is an open market in the states. So far, other than the sencha shot, ChaDao is the only unsweetened tea I have found. Anyone else?

[Mikael]

I don't buy or drink RTD tea or beverages. I don't like sugar in my tea being the main reason. It is VERY hard to find unsweetened tea. Teajava is the only one i know of and I rarely buy it.

Adagio has unsweetened teas in bottles.. I was very surprised by this! When I was in China I could only find sweetened tea in bottles, and that's China! Americans are way more obsessed with sugar so its great that there are US companies which offer unsweetened tea in bottles.

The bottled tea that we have at the office is the only bottled beverage I drink. Other bottled beverages all have sugar or corn syrup or unnatural flavors (gross). I'll stick to unsweetened tea or just water, please.

Oh I should mention that I used to drink quite often Synergy Kombucha drinks but ever since my parents started making kombucha themselves I just get it from them. Anyone here drink kombucha?

[plant partaker]

I drink hot tea all day long, but when summer hits being in Arizona, it gets really hot!! I mean we put a special liquid in our gas hot . So I am experimenting trying to see what teas I already have taste like iced and I have done dragonwell (longching) and it is great. Also I only like assam cold. When I get more sencha I will try that iced since it seems promising.

This morning I am drinking adagios huang jin bolero steeped at 3 minutes because 5 is way to much. Thanks Victoria for posting.