Are any powdered drink mixes actually palatable?

[Massacure]

I've tried a couple of flavors of Crystal Light. I like the lemonade, but banana kiwi and tropical punch were barely tolerable and the orange was just plain gross.

I also tried Kool-aid. The cherry was okay, but the grape I tossed after one sip. I swear to god that is the same flavoring they use in liquid cold medicine.

I could never really get into the habit of drinking plain water. I like fruit juice, but its expensive and probably contributes about 500-600 calories a day I could do without.

[aikoaiko]

1. I'm addicted to Metamucil

[riderinthestorm]

2. I drink the Crystal Light Iced Tea. The regular with lemon flavor and I love it

Drink it all summer.

My daughters love the CL pink lemonade.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Crystal Light is great. Fruit punch is also excellent.

[NightWatcher]

4. Somebody here has to have tried this

[ohnoyoudidnt]

5. I find the crystal light to be a little stong.

Have you tried cutting the powder in half for the water amount suggested. Propel also makes powder mixed, which I find okay.

[Massacure]

6. I haven't. I might have to try that. n/t

[ohnoyoudidnt]

10. I actually cut it more than that.

I use their single serving packets for 16 ounces in a 64 ounce container. I don't really care for plain water unless after exercising. A little flavor makes it easier to drink.

[kcass1954]

7. My favorite is 4C Tea2Go. They're tea-based drinks, 24 little tubes in a box for just over $4.

My grocery store has them on the coffee/tea aisle.

[In_The_Wind]

8. Those are really good.

[femmocrat]

20. I also recommend 4C iced tea mix.

I buy the green tea with citrus in the little tubs.

Or you could just drink chilled water with fresh lemon juice. That is always refreshing.

[PennyK]

9. Try making your own lemon-or-lime-ade!

Easy and much less fattening than most juices. I bought a good lemon squeezer and I add it to water and Splenda to taste. Yum!

[Tom Ripley]

36. +1000

[wyldwolf]

11. Wildberry Energy and Grape Fitness - Kroger brand

The former is almost always out of stock. I buy 5 or 6 boxes when I find it.

[LiberalElite]

12. I drink mostly flavored seltzer, esp. the

Polar brand. They have interesting flavors including seasonal limited editions like these for summer: blueberry lemonade, strawberry mojito and cucumber melon. These are in addition to the usual lemon, lime, raspberry lime, etc. My favorite is orange vanilla.

P.S.: I've also done a kind of home made orange soda - just add plain seltzer or mineral water to orange juice.

[Massacure]

15. The orange soda idea is interesting. I never thought of that.

[LiberalElite]

16. Taste is reminiscent of a Creamsicle (orange ice pop with vanilla ice cream inside)

[riderinthestorm]

21. I also drink a lot of flavored seltzer waters. Adding plain seltzer to cranberry juice is good too

[LiberalElite]

22. I should try that nt

[Blue Owl]

13. That alcohol one

Just kidding:

[LiberalElite]

17. There's no alcohol in it :)

[locks]

14. It must be great

Tang has been every place in our universe that we could reach and on the top of Everest. Can't be all bad!

[GoCubsGo]

18. I like the liquid "water enhancers".

Most of them are zero-calorie, and you can adjust the taste by the amount you add to your water. Crystal Light's mango passionfruit is tasty. Mio's peach-mango is good. Any of the lemonade-flavored ones are good. I use it mainly to sweeten and flavor iced tea. But, it's fine in plain water and seltzer, too.

[LoveMyCali]

28. I like the liquid flavors too

the powders always are too strong and if you only use part of the packet you end up with the rest spilled in a drawer somewhere.

[politicat]

19. Do you like tea?

I just drop a few pinches of loose leaf tea into my camelbak bottles, then fill them with water. No boiling. Within about 10 minutes, it has tea flavor, and with good green tea (especially jasmine) I can get 3-4 nice infusions. The tea floats to the top, the straw draws from the bottom. If I get a couple leaves... yay. More flavonoids and some fiber.

If you can find matcha packets (aka instant green tea, often Japanese, often found at Asian grocers), it's the same thing, but powdered, sometimes lightly sweetened and sometimes flavored. Those are great for travel. I've seen them on Amazon, under instant green tea packets. Yamamoto is a good brand, and I believe that Stash has an equivalent or rebranded product.

For the powdered not teas, I am personally fond of Kroger's (Fry's, King Sooper's) brand mango-pineapple energy at 1 packet to 1 liter. (With caffeine, be warned.) It's tropical without being fruit-punchy.

[Massacure]

25. I think so. I've been playing around with tea actually

I've been playing around with various tea combinations, but didn't really like anything. I think most of it is my fault -- they all had a particular zing to them as an aftertaste and the common denominator was my use of liquid Sweet N' Low. I'm tempted to start trying real sugar just to see if that makes a difference.

[politicat]

29. Quick tea primer:

Black tea likes boiling water best, but does fine as cold brew. Cold brew black is less likely to be bitter, but may ferment faster. Lipton much prefers boiling, but other orange pekoe blends cold brew well. If you like black tea (regular iced) and have an Indian grocery nearby, consider a box of CTC (cut-tear-curl) loose black. The tea will look like large granules, but it tends to be smooth. Red Label and Taj Mahal are both excellent. You can also dump a couple of tablespoons of dried mint leaves in with about a cup of CTC black for a quick and dirty mint. (A teaspoon of that tea makes a good liter/quart of tea). CTC is cheap -- a half kilo for $3-4, usually -- so it's a good, cheap base for experimenting. There are some green CTCs out of India, but they're rarer.

Green tea likes simmering water (about 190 degrees) or cold brew. Over heated green tea can taste off. Cold brew green takes longer to ferment than cold brew black. Cold brew green can take multiple infusions, but the flavor will change with each infusion. (So jasmine will start off almost bubble-gummy, then get fruity, then floral, then faintly perfumed.) Green rewards whole leaf; green tea bags are rarely worth the usage. (Tea bags require fine flakes of tea. Surface area matters here, and green oxidizes away its flavor faster than black.) Whole leaf green is more expensive than basic or CTC black, but since it does handle multiple infusions of hot or cold better, you get as much bang for the buck.

White tea likes gently simmering water (180 degrees). It's pricey, so I don't cold brew it often.

Black or green flavored teas (the ones with fruit or other leaves or flowers) also cold-brew well.

Tea doesn't like saccharin -- the bitters up each other -- but it does fine with either sucralose (splenda) or stevia. Personally, I've never liked aspartame (it hits my sweet receptors wrong in everything but Coke Zero) but I am known to be odd.

[csziggy]

33. Thanks - just printed up your message for my husband

He's trying to transition from diet sodas to something else and has been trying tea. Since neither of us have ever made tea before, he's gotten premade green tea from the grocery.

I'll encourage him to try making his own green tea and will buy him some whole leaf tomorrow at the grocery store.

[politicat]

34. Happy to share, and good luck.

Try either mighty leaf or Republic of Tea if you can find them. (National brands, but not everyone carries.)

Also, if you have a cost plus handy -- their Moroccan mint and jasmine green are good starters and my go to teas. (Otherwise, culinaryteas.com is THE source, and quick shipping. No association, just happy customer. The apricot peach green is the best stuff ever.)

[csziggy]

35. Thanks and thanks for the Culinary Teas link

We have a niece that loves teas and I plan to give her a variety of good teas for Christmas along with a one cup pincher spoon. She's off to grad school, so an easy way to make one cup of tea will be handy for her.

While I don't drink tea sometimes when my sinuses are acting up I like an effusion of peppermint with honey and lemon. I have one of the pincher spoons and it makes it so easy to stir up a nice hot cup!

[kath]

31. Real sugar only has about 15 calories per teaspoon.

[tavernier]

23. Crystal Light Peach Mango Green tea

is the tastiest, most refreshing drink on the planet. I make two pitchers a day and hubby and I go through both. I toss a green tea bag in when filling the pitcher... for the added antioxidants.

Also it makes a killer smoothie! Blend some with crushed cubes and a handful of strawberries. Perfectly sweetened. Yum!!!!

[OriginalGeek]

24. There's only one good powdered drink

[ZombieHorde]

26. Yeah, it's called

hot chocolate.

[CherokeeDem]

27. Live on Crystal Light Peach Tea

I have issues with plain water... can drink ice water with lemon for dinner out but to have a glass of water I can't do.... don't know why.

Love the CL Peach Tea... I make it just a tad stronger by adding less water.

[Mr.Bill]

30. A few things to try:

Kool-Aid with half the sugar they recommend. Half cup instead of a full cup. I like the Black Cherry flavor.

Water with cucumber slices or a sprig of mint. Or water with a lemon or lime wedge squeezed into it.

[kath]

32. Both Gatorade and Power-ade come in a powder form.

my college-age athlete kids like it. I think they make it more dilute than what the "recipe" calls for.

[KamaAina]

37. Yeah you rite, chere!

But it's only available in and around NOLA.