Do you even drink water?
For the last 2 yrs it seems everything I drink is a tea. If I drink water – that’s because I’m somewhere away from my stash(es).
At the same time, I’ve heard a lot from the ppl around me that you “need” to drink water to stay healthy, not that they could justify it by anything other than “common sense”.
So, what’s your opinion on this? Do you yourself drink water at all and do we really even need pure water in our lives or can tea replace it completely?
im going to go with no, i think the reason that you need ‘water’ is because drinks tend to dehydrate you with their additives (caffine is a laxative/diuretic in this case) but if you accept the assumption that most/all of the caffeine is removed from the leaves after the first steep, then tea should hydrate you just fine as long as you are re-steeping. that being said i personally drink several cups of water per cup of tea, i imagine the hotter the climate you live in and the more active you are the greater your water needs.
ofcourse i have no information to back that up, just my guess. would be interested to see what others know.
TL:DR – u can get water in non-pure forms ie. food/Alt. drinks.
the caffeine is a diuretic, but a very mild one, and the water in the tea more than makes up for it, you only need to worry about caffeine dehydrating you if you’re taking caffeine pills or something like that. On balance, tea as a whole is fairly hydrating.
(Also, it’s not all removed in the first steep, that’s just a myth, see: http://chadao.blogspot.ca/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html )
I once dug up a few scientific references in response to another discussion thread on this, but I don’t feel like trying to find that thread again. In short, there is lots of evidence supporting what sansnipple said about tea (any tea) being pretty much just as hydrating as water.
In terms of the water your body needs, you can get it just fine in tea or most other liquid beverages. It doesn’t need to be pure as long as you’re still getting enough to keep you properly hydrated. Though tea IS a hell of a lot more pure than most other water-containing beverages.
Historically (and even still in areas with poor/unsafe drinking water), tea drinking was far far healthier and safer than water drinking, simply because boiling water to make tea kills bacteria, parasites, and other harmful microbes in the water. Many say that tea drinking is partly what allowed medieval China’s population to boom when pre-industrial europe was constantly being decimated by plagues and disease. This (and caffeine-buzzed emperors) is the main root source of tea’s pro-health/medicinal reputation. To this day it’s still common chinese superstition that cold drinks are bad for you.
Myself, if I need a cold drink these days, I’ll just put my tea on ice. Tea is just too yummy that anything not tea-infused is just a waste of bladder space.
I do, but honestly the only things I drink (when given the choice) are tea, wine, and water. I imagine it’s the wine that makes the water seem all the more necessary.
I don’t always have time to brew tea or I’m not in a location where I can access it, but there’s always water around. I drink a lot of “pure” water. When I’m thirsty, I like something that I can drink quickly. It would be strange to gulp down a cup of hot tea (or even iced for that matter) just because I am thirsty (especially during or after working out!).
exactly! Well, I don’t run much longer than 5K at a time as my focus is weight lifting, but I do sprint intervals and if someone handed me a tumbler of tea when I was done I’d be all “you’re kidding, right??” ROFL. Tea for me is a recreation/ relaxation beverage and I hardly think of it as a source of water, although I suppose it is. :)
I drink cold water all day long. I enjoy water and I do not enjoy iced tea or other beverages, they tend to make me feel thirsty. I read once that humans now have a hard tine differentiating between hunger and thirst and that led me to drink more water. I feel better with water than without but I am sure other drinks work as well.
Yeah, rather often. I carry a water bottle with me, but drink tea at home.
Many years ago a doctor told me to drink more water because it would help with my allergies. I said I drank all kinds of water: coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and beer in the evening. He said that your liver requires water to remove the caffeine and alcohol from your system and that those beverages shouldn’t count toward the two quarts minimum that he recommended. So yes, I drink lots of water.
I drink water when I work out. I tried cold steeped tea or iced matcha but it wasn’t as refreshing, plus I’d get tea all over my white jiujitsu gi so it’s not attractive looking.
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