What are you drinking right now? (Non-alcoholic)

Fig shrub, soda stream and a bit of lime.

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Pot liquor goes well with pot and liquor but that’s nitpicking ain’t it

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Bluebarn coffee (at home, a pour over) with milk, maple syrup and cardamom bitters.

Over the past 2 years, I’ve started buying coffee at indie shops as a souvenir, when I go on road trips.



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It would be two choices on average. Water or coffee

I tried the Quebec Maple Coca Cola in the glass bottle. Pretty good for a splurge.

Alternating masala chai with milk, Earl grey with lemon, iced latte, cortado, cappuccino, coffee with milk lately.

Had a guava nectar on Saturday.

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Clausthaler “Dry Hopped” NA beer, from Trader Joe’s. It has a good hops profile, very refreshing. I was reluctant to try it because the standard Clausthaler is insipid. TJ’s used to have another NA, Gerstel Brau, which was also very good, but they stopped carrying it.

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We’ve been buying that DryHopped NA beer at FarmBoy here in Canada, which is sort of a Cdn version of Trader Joe’s.

My latest obsession has been trying to recreate the taste of a classic HK-style milk tea (sometimes referred to as silk stocking/pantyhose milk tea). Watching an online video, the person suggested you can get reasonably close by using a moka pot and really strong black teas. I’ve tried it twice, and it’s a pretty decent hack.

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What are the components to get the flavor just right?

For eg, I make indian tea (boiled with milk) every day, and there are a few things along the way that make it taste “right” or “wrong” — the tea itself is the most important, then the proportion of water to milk, how it’s boiled, when the tea is added, how and how long it’s steeped. That’s not including the impact of any flavor enhancers.

So for eg if the black tea they use is a specific type, that’s a good starting point. There are only a couple of brands of teabags that work for my tea, the rest make it taste awful even though they’re all black tea (I actually use loose tea myself).

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The biggest mystery is the blend of teas, as most HK cafes make their own blend of black teas, and on Wikipedia they claim that Ceylon is commonly one of the types added. The tea is also a lot stronger, so their recommendation was to use 3 tea bags per cup. They also suggested Mark & Spencer’s Strong Tea (that’s the name!) as a base, so it’s really 3 bags of extra strong tea.

The other secret that is difficult to recreate is the tea pulling process. Rather than letting the tea brew or steep for a long period, the strong tea flavor is brought out by repeatedly pouring the tea through a cloth (the “silk stocking” like bag) and this continuous pouring is supposed to extract flavor better without bitterness. The moka pot utilizes the steam to extract the strong brew like espresso, but not keeping it sitting at the bottom of the pot where the high heat might start to spoil the flavor. I tried with my aeropress to use the same tea bag contents and see if that mix and press action would work. It wasn’t bad to be honest, but a little too much work for a small cup of tea, and the taste is not as strong as with the moka pot. Even though I really didn’t need another pot/single use item, I do find the moka pot kind of fun to use.

This isn’t so much a secret if you’ve been to Hong Kong. Rather than regular milk, they also use evaporated milk, and this is a must. Regular milk will not give the same rich taste or would dilute the tea too much (and bring the temperature down unless someone heated it).

@Phoenikia If you like supporting local roasters, Rabbit Hole Roasters in Quebec just won Roast Magazine’s 2022 Micro Roaster of the year. I’ve gotten beans from them, and they’re pretty good.

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Thanks!

My NA drink of choice lightly is Simply Lemonade+sploosh of Pom+topped with a bit of La Crox Cran-Raspberry.

https://wapo.st/3GvuHZk

maybe of some interest year old not sure it matters. didn’t know non alcoholic gins were a thing. i don’t really go for vinegary drinks personally.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/01/09/dry-january-nonalcoholic-drinks-recommendations/

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If I want something non-alcoholic that resembles a cocktail or high ball, it’ll be a virgin lime margarita or Piña Colada.

I have been seeing lots of sophisticated non-alcoholic beverages I know would be too dry or bitter for my palate.

Decaf English Breakfast tea with stevia.

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Sleepytime Extra. I have loved Sleepytime for so long. I usually just buy the original (and I can get in a double-sized box, which is key) but the Extra and (surprisingly) the Peach varieties are also good.

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English Breakfast Tea with milk at 10:26 pm :smile:

What’s Extra in it? I do love Sleepytime.

valerian.

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