I LOVE these one-word headings. A person just says 1 word, and suddenly they're deluged with helpful comments and such.

OK. I drink tea.

Let me rephrase that: I DRINK TEA. :beer: (Imagine it's tea)

It's unsweetened Tazo Black Iced TEA. If that was all I could drink a day, I'd be OK with that. That said, are there any GOTCHAS that I must be aware of?

Stevemitchell.

Thanks for the reply. Starbucks used to sell it in moderate-sized bags as Black Iced Tea Bags a couple of years ago. Then after they bought TAZO, they stopped selling the consumer-sized bags, and now sell it ONLY over the counter.

The bags I buy are those gigantic bags used to brew gallons (the EXACT stuff they use), but I just rip them, put them in an infusor one big cup at a time, and go about me business.

If you're in a Starbucks, one that actually knows how to make it properly, it's pretty tasty. If it's badly done, it's bitter.

Stevemitchell

The only downside to tea is the caffeine. The party line is that every ounce of a caffeinated beverage counts against your daily intake of fluids. So if you're drinking 40 ozs of tea every day, you have to drink 80 additional ounces of Water to make up for it.

Personally, I don't quite buy that. But I do recognize that MOST of the fluids we take in on a daily basis should be calorie- and caffeine-free. You don't have to give up your tea habit, but don't drink it to the exclusion of other, more hydrating fluids.

I drink about 20 to 30 ozs of mainly decaf tea....I love it! I use a decaf teabag, an orange spice teabag and one reg caffiene...in 20 ozs of boiling water...I mix 10ozs of tea with 10oz of water and splenda and enjoy! I adore the smell. I just keep the rest in the icebox and it takes me about 3 days to finish it.

Alex - caffeine counts AGAINST your daily intake of fluids????? OH-OH. I have to be the most dehydrated person on the face of the earth! I drink at least 15 cups of coffee a day (and that's a real AT LEAST). I try and drink water, too... but geez that would be ummmm 23 glasses of water a day to counter the coffee and get my water in? UGGGGHHHH. And I can't drink before or after I eat. That's a lot of water in a short period of time! I'm off to get a catheter.... :-)

I have to say that I also don't buy into the idea that you have to double your Water intake to counter caffiene. I think my mom would be all shrivelled up if that was the case!! lol....

But I can see where you wouldn't want a caffinated beverage as your ONLY source of liquid...

I don't know anything about having to double your non-caffeinated beverage intake to off-set the caffeine...BUT what I can add is that caffeine is a natural diuretic. Which means that it makes you eliminate the Fluid that you just put in your body, possibly more than you put in.

After long term use of caffeine, your body doesn't respond to it as strongly as it would if you had sworn off of it. I know that one from experience. Haven't had caffeine since 1993. Had some in some tea (it was the only tea available and didn't specify whether it was caffeinated or not):cocktail:. I could barely stay away from the bathroom for more than 5 minute intervals.:doh: