If you’re like me and you drink 1-2 cans of sparkling water per day, then you must have shared in my devastation upon reading that sparkling water erodes your tooth enamel and causes cavities. While we thought we were making a healthy choice by drinking carbonated water, apparently we were adding to rotting of our teeth.

 

So, now that soda, juices, sports drinks, energy drinks, and even sparkling water are no longer considered safe recreational beverages, how will we make it through a nine-hour workday?

 

I have a solution to our “I need my mid-day, cold, flavored pick-me-up drink” problem: iced tea.

 

But this isn’t sweet tea, or bitter black tea that will continue to rot your teeth or increase your heart rate; this is iced fruit tea that really, truly, can’t do you any harm.

 

Want to know the bonus? It costs only $4 for 20 tea bags and 1 tea bag per drink = .20 cents per drink! That’s opposed to $4 for 12 cans of LaCroix at .33 cents per drink. Not to mention, when you make this drink at home you will inevitably reusable glass jars, and save aluminum.

Here are the steps to enjoying my totally healthy, cheap, ice-cold midday pick-me-up:

 

Step 1: Choose your tea.

I like to drink Tazo Passion Tea, especially in the summer. It’s light, slightly sweet, and has that perfect berry flavor.

 

Step 2: Find your jars.

I store glass jars—small mason jars, 1 liter juice glass jars, and even 14oz glass drink jars, which originally were store-bought Tazo iced-tea. However, I don’t hoard glass jars and I only save enough (two 1-liter glass juice jars, 5 tall 14oz glass drink jars, and 5 mason jars—enough for a meal every day of the work week).

 

Step 3: Boil water in your electric kettle.

Boil as much water as you need. It should be easy because of your electric kettle. What?! You don’t have an electric kettle? You need to get on that, STAT.

 

Step 4: Steep the tea.

While holding onto the tea bag string, pour the boiling water over the tea bag—I use 1 tea bag per single 14oz drink jar, 2 per 1-liter glass jar—and keep holding the string until the water reaches a level where the teabag will float, and you won’t lose the teabag string in the boiling hot water. Let it steep for 15 minutes.

 

Step 5: Remove the tea bag, and chill.

Remove the tea bags and do as you wish with them (I know people who re-use tea bags), and let the glass jars cool off before you put the caps on and store them in the fridge.

 

Step 6: Enjoy!

Bring your new, healthy, cold beverage to work and enjoy midday! Teeth = happy.