I am trying to get away from caffeine a little. What is everyone drinking out there in the winter? Thanks

I drink chai tea or hot chocolate year around.

Hot spiced cider, herb tea, hot cocoa.

Hey Eric, chai tea is redundant. Like ATM machine.

Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink - Rich Milk Chocolate.

220 calories per cup and a nice mix of nutritional stuff.

Miso soup is a nice trailside warmup. I'm a coffee in the a.m. kinda guy, myself.

Hot chocolate and brandy at night!

Richard, I've been told frequently, again and again, that I am often serially redundant. :) Thanks for reminding me of Carnation Instant Breakfast, Bill. I used to drink a lot of the stuff. I'm not sure why I stopped. I'll add it to my list. I assume you add powered milk to it or does the Ensure serve that purpose?

Edited by ericnoble on 01/03/2007 17:26:54 MST.

I drink herbal tea, a lot of it. Celestial Seasonings is my favorite brand.
Now, in town, I live on Tazo Passion herbal tea, mixed with steamed lemonade. Yum! Something I can get at almost any Starbucks.

Miso soup in the PM, Japanese green tea or "Hoji cha" in the AM. Hoji cha is green tea that has been roasted. It produces a rich nutty flavored brew. A nice change of pace from the lighter green, which can get monotonous on longer trips. I love coffee, but it is heavier and bulkier.
Also, it has a strong smell which can advertise a human's presence to bears. Don't know if they're coffee drinkers, but it sure let's 'em know you're around.

Hot Spiced Cider with a little Yukon Jack is always nice!

Eric,
I discovered that if I added a scoop of Carnation Instant Breakfast mix to my feeding tube liquid stuff I could drink it by mouth. That one thing was how I was able to start gaining my weight back. By drinking my liquid stuff by mouth I didn't need to spend the 3 to 4 hours a day with a feeding tube plugged into me. My weight went up fast as I was able to go to a thicker (more calories) mix by drinking it. When I had gained 20 of the 35 pounds I had lost I asked to have the feeding tube connector removed. Out it came.
That was a happy.

For my hike I will still add a scoop of the Carnation mix to each serving of my Dry Ensure but I will also carry enough Carnation mix for a warm drink each night. I will mix it with NIDO Dry Whole Milk mix. I can drink the Dry Ensure warm when or if I want to heat the water. I am not carring much in the way of cooking gear but will have a small pot (BMW SUL-500 Ti Cook Pot) and a way to make a small fire. Esbits - Esbits.

Almost always Tea (earl grey) or coffee (Java Juice). Coco sometimes when I am in the mood to pack it.

Tea and cocoa are my luxury/pick me up item. I usually only make a hot dinner but have enough esbits for some tea on a cold morning or a rainy stop. Tea with a little honey makes me smile.

Ever try "honey packets" from fast food stores that sell biscuits. Any good southerner will tell you that a biscuit is properly eaten with honey.... ;) Anyway, I digress. I thought these were awful and I found out why. The ones I found weren't honey! They were "honey sauce" (ungh!) which was basically corn syrup. I drink my tea and coffee without sugar but I thought this was funny.

Bill, I've never considered drinking Carnation Instant Breakfast warm. More food for thought. I'll try it. I've said it before but, it makes me very happy that you're out on the trail.

Honey is difficult to carry. Mexican restaurants sometimes have honey packets for sopapillas.

I would be very interested in containers to carry bulk honey.

Hot Jello is another idea. I hike with a guy that likes hot Gatorade - go figure. Sometimes I do not get enough fiber with hiking food so I carry orange jello mixed with soluble fiber.

I have a conflict of interest because my daughter works for Celestial Seasonings. Eric, you should see her roll her eyes when I tell her that chai tea is redundant.

SARBAR's website (URL available in her BPL profile) lists a couple sources for small serving honey packets.

I haven't been in a Mac&Don's for a couple years but they used to have honey packets as a dip for chicken nuggets. Maybe still do.

Richard, my mother used to make hot jello for me as a kid when I would get sick. I haven't had that in years. That's another good idea. I remember it tasting good but my tastes may have changed. I'll try it again. I work in Boulder, not far from where your daughter probably works. I haven't been on a tour of the plant yet but I'm told the peppermint room is something else.

You want honey packets? Get to Starbucks ;-) Best source around. Also Minimus.biz carries them.

Indeed I checked their web site and McDonalds honey is in fact honey. I forgot they served biscuits too. Oh well, that was a long time ago! :)

I've found that Egg McMuffins - both plain and with sausage - travel very well in a backpack and make a great first-day lunch and trail snack. They take up very little room in your pack and can easily be eaten while on the go. I always leave town with at least 2, usually 4.