Tea

As I sit here before bed drinking hot tea, it reminds me of a conversation I had a while back with some friends of mine about tea. One of the people involved in the conversation mentioned that he had given up soda a few months ago, but was not satisfied by drinking water all the time, so he was looking for other beverages to enjoy. Having given up soda a few years ago, I also went through the same quandary. The fact wasn't that I necessarily missed the sugary soda, but without soda (or fruit juice because it is essentially the same thing) the choices of beverages in America are significantly decreased.
The natural reaction of everyone is to "just drink water". Now, I love water. I sometimes drink multiple Nalgene bottles of it a day, but sometimes, water just doesn't cut it. For example, if I've been doing yardwork and it is somewhat dusty and my throat has a bit of a coating, water just doesn't work. Interestingly beer works magnificently, but drinking beer all the time in the middle of the day just to be refreshed isn't a stellar idea in my books. You know what works though? Tea. On Ice. It's perfect in the summer. Fresh brewed is the best, and my mom has the process down.
Or, let's say it is 25 degrees outside and the house is a bit chilly, but I don't want to turn up the heat. Hot tea does wonders in warming me up, but also giving me an option to drinking water. I like water with ice. Ice when it is cold is not appealing. Hot tea does the trick.
Naturally, when the friend mentioned earlier was looking for an alternative drink I suggested tea. His response? "I don't like tea."
The thing is I just don't get the "I don't like tea" argument. Mostly because the sheer variety of teas out there is far more than the types of soda. White tea, green tea, red tea, black tea, herbal teas, fruit teas, and the list goes on and on. To be fair, I have the same beef with the "I don't like beer" and "I don't like wine" arguments. With those at least a point can be made about the alcohol having its effects.
When I challenged my friend on the fact he "didn't like tea" he came back with the reasoning of "it tastes like dirt water". I will concede, if a person is used to drinking soda, the flavor of tea is going to be drastically different. It isn't sweet (sweet tea doesn't count, it is worse than soda). But dirt water? I'd argue coffee is dirt water, but I'm not a fan of coffee.