Ice Tea

[Rhodie Ranch]

Or you go to twist off the top and the entire top quarter of the bottle starts to twist on itself!!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I just got back from the store too. I found watermelon mint and cherry/strawberry tea. I haven’t tried either, but supposedly, you just drop the bag in a bottle of water.

Funny, I wound up with some watermelon mint (teabags) on Tuesday. Must be a new trendy flavor

I reuse soda bottles and refill them from my berkey.

I just still have LOTS and LOTS of Camelbacks from when I was still wandering. I found them quite sturdy, and, unlike many models not inclined to leak at the straw end. You might want to look into a few.

If you do, there are a few things to keep in mind

1. Camelbacks ARE fine to put in the dishwasher, but the STRAWS are not*, or more accurately if you are going to put the straws in the dishwasher, you have to make sure that they are placed somewhere where they CAN'T fall down and hit the heating element, because they WILL melt. If it's just the tip, you can snip it off with kitchen scissors and some muscle power (in fact you'll probably want to snip a bit off anyway, since the straws are pretty close to the depth of the actual container, and, if you put it in as is, it will become flush with the bottom and you won't be able to actually DRINK anything), but if it's the side, you'll need to get a new straw (replacements are sold online)

2. Remove the rubber nipple from the top BEFORE you wash it, or dishwasher water will get suck in it. (the nipple is dishwasher safe as well, but as it's so small, hand rinsing it is probably safer.)

3. If you are using it for anything OTHER than water (or at least, anything containing sugar or any other sweetener**) you're going to have to eventually replace the tops every now and then, as getting every particle of sweetener out of the system that runs from the straw to the nipple is more or less impossible).

The water bottles they sell these days are so flimsy, you can’t even open one without spilling water all over the place. Maybe I’m just a moose in a china closet.

No, they intentionally have made them flimsier in order to switch over to a more eco-friendly plastic. It's one of those half-hearted things they do when they are trying to get around the fact that there really IS no eco friendly way of transporting liquid (glass is too heavy and fragile, metal is too expensive and takes too many resources to recycle (since you have to coat it on the inside so it doesn't oxidize), Hard plastic is full of things that can leach out into the beverage and cause harm, laminated paper is again hard to recycle, and going back to the old day standards and having everyone bring their own containers to be filled at a central distribution point (like they used to do for things like whisky in pioneer days, bring your own jugs and get them filled) would raise SERIOUS hygiene issues. And those who say the real answer is to stop the concept of having perpetual access to something to drink at all times risk the wrath of anyone concerned about dehydration.)


*They DO make Camelbacks with straw free solid covers, but those can be hard to drink from if you are in motion, as the openings are more or less cup top size (plus, who want to have to screw and unscrew the top every time you want to take a drink?)

**It turns out that, while stevia monk fruit and such are NOT similar enough to sugar to cause sugar levels to rise in the human body, they ARE similar enough to allow mold to grow.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Or you go to twist off the top and the entire top quarter of the bottle starts to twist on itself!!

Particularly a problem with those few waters I knew that went for POUCHES with twist off tops. There's nothing firm to twist AGAINST.

 

[flowerbug]

I just got back from the store too. I found watermelon mint and cherry/strawberry tea. I haven’t tried either, but supposedly, you just drop the bag in a bottle of water. I reuse soda bottles and refill them from my berkey. The water bottles they sell these days are so flimsy, you can’t even open one without spilling water all over the place. Maybe I’m just a moose in a china closet.

i keep the firmer bottles for reusing, the flimsy ones go into the recycling. i don't really use them very often so in between times i have to dry them out and keep them on my shelves in the closet. i've put my initials on them so we remember to not throw them out in the recycling.