Tea?

Tea is herbal, fewer additives are in most teas. Many teas can be cold brewed or cooled for iced tea, caffeine free, and you do not have to add sugar to tea. Many teas are well flavored with out a funky aftertaste.

My son likes lemon in his tea (yes cold), and a more flavorful tea like the Tzao brand offerings.

Well I make homemade decaf iced tea with stevia to sweeten it. I add a few lemon slices.
No caffeine.
No sugar.

The iced tea you buy in bottles? Same as soda, IMO.
IF we buy small bottles its unsweetened organic.

ETA: my 10 year old will occasionally have hot tea or hot decaf coffee.

I had an English grandmother who made us tea every time we were at her house, from my earliest memory. Either green or black tea with milk and sugar. I have fond memories...

I drink tea every day. Black tea with honey in the morning. Other kinds at other times of day. Still with honey, not milk unless I make a tea latte with frothed milk (yum!) Iced tea in the summer.

My daughter (11) has just recently started liking tea. Chai or cinnamon and Chamomile.

Tea has far less caffeine than coffee, but the levels vary by type and strength of brew.

I drink tea.
My daughter drinks tea.
Grandma drinks tea.
In my house.
We, drink tea, as is. ie: plain.
Nothing in it.
Just tea.
That is how we drink it here, in my locale.
Drinking tea with sugar or milk, is odd to us.
We did not grow up that way. And it is also cultural.
My Husband on the other hand, grew up knowing tea, as something you put sugar or milk in, just like with coffee.
It took him getting used to, just drinking tea, as tea.

We drink herbal teas.
Or Green Tea.
It is just a preference.
Jasmine Tea is also great.
Because we drink tea, as tea, just tea... there is nothing artificial in it.
We don't buy junk food type teas or make it into a "dessert" drink.
It is just, tea.
Tea is tea.
But adding stuff to it... is where variation comes into play and it is no longer just, tea.
Tea, does NOT come with tons of sugar in it.
Unless, you buy hyped up tea that is highly sugared and flavored.
Tea in itself, is just tea. And you buy it either as loose tea or in tea bags or in tea balls, like with Jasmine Tea. And it is just tea.
Natural.

This link has a breakdown of how much caffeine is in tea, coffee, colas, and other products. If you are trying to avoid caffeine don't forget chocolate and some over the counter pain killers also have caffeine. One cup of chocolate chips and one dose of Excederin can have as much caffeine as a cup of regular coffee.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211

Fresh brewed tea is all natural and sugar free (or has less than a gram per serving), however some flavored tea bags may have artificial flavors. I have about six different kinds of tea bags and loose tea in my cupboard and only one has artificial flavors.

Tea, especially green tea, (and especially hot tea) has been shown to have a lot of health benefits because they contain antioxidant compounds. A cup of hot tea has been shown to have more antioxidents than fruits and vegetables. Throughout history tea has been used to treat a lot of ailments and research has shown it could help prevent cancers, Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease, and cavities.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2010-mchi/6046.html

Of course this doesn't include sweetened teas, most flavored teas you get in restaurants, and bottled teas. There are some all natural bottled teas, but personally I don't care for the taste of them. If you want to be really grossed out about sugar amounts look at this web site.

http://www.sugarstacks.com/beverages.htm

I drink tea and coffee.

I am picky about tea though.
The stuff that you buy ready in bottles or pop cans is really not different from pop... a bunch of tea flavored sugar water.
Most tea that you buy in the grocery store in tea bags is just disgusting. I will tolerate some varieties of Tazo and Stash but even of those brands most varieties are artificially flavored to the nines, yuck.

Then there is loose leaf tea, that is what I prefer. I am partial to a good Earl Grey, which is black tea flavored with bergamot oil. I prefer my tea with a splash of milk and unsweetened.

We also drink herbal teas, that is what DD gets. Again, the stuff in the bags is not the best, so I buy dried herbs in bulk at places like whole foods. I usually sweeten our herbal tea a bit with fruit juice.

So in the US "tea" can be anything from white to green to black tea, herbal teas, roibos tea and they can be naturally or artificially flavored or not and stuff that comes in cans or bottles usually has as much sugar as soda/pop. There is a lot of variety and drinking tea can be as bad as drinking pop or it can be a lot better for you, depending on what kind you drink.

I'm a loyal tea drinker, probably because I'm English. I will tell you that when my son turned 12, I told him, "hey, you can drink tea now. Do you want a cup?" He replied, "Ummm... no, Mom. I've seen what tea can do to a person!" Meaning me, I guess, lol! Priceless!

My kids like any of the "fruity" Celestial Seasonings or Tazo teas- Raspberry (not flavored, the kind with actual fruit and leaves in it), Lemon Zinger, Ginger-lemon, Ginger-peach, Passion, etc. I let my three year old try my Vanilla Rooibos last night and he demanded (and drank) his own cup. I don't sweeten mine, so they don't either.
I enjoy sweet tea (actually brewed fresh, trust me you do NOT want to drink the McDonalds stuff, for more than just sugar reasons), but I am very sensitive to caffeine so I can only drink a little. I wouldn't give my kids their own caffeinated tea because they would be nuts and I would have to deal with them!
There are a wide range of things that might be called "tea," is what it boils down to (get it? 'Cause it's tea? That you boil? Heehee...), with a wide range of healthy/unhealthy features.
If someone comes along and tells me how evil I am for giving my kids herbal, caffeine-free, no sugar, no sugar substitute, water flavored from small bits of harmless plants, I swear I am OUT...

There are all kinds of teas out there.

Kids tend to like fruity / herbal teas - they have little or no caffeine.

Besides Celestial Seasonings and Traditional Medicinals, I love teas from these places too:

http://www.teavana.com

http://theteaspot.com

Well, my son gets to have tea in many forms.

We have a box of a variety of Celestial Seasonings herbal teas, some licorice tea... caffeine-free varieties. Quite a few families I know just make them, add honey for some sweet (not much) , then refrigerate for iced or serve warm.

Sometimes I might get a lightly sweetened green tea (bottled) or make up a green jasmine tea and ice it and he'll have a few sips.

Or I will make up a pot of black tea (I like Yunan Hong-Cha) and add a bit of extra water; then I'll pour his small (think demitasse) cup of tea, add a bit of sugar or honey and some milk. This is for cold mornings and the top of the pot does matter, as the caffeine and bitterness actually go to the bottom of the pot. A lighter, milder brew. Should add that it is really a treat for him, not an everyday drink. We usually have almond milk or fizzy water or tap water for him. Fortunately, he's not accustomed to sweet drinks on a regular basis.

I buy loose-leaf tea, so no, no artificial flavors or colors. Can't stomach 'sweet tea'... too sweet for me. Except for the Tazo green tea, I don't buy packaged tea. Can't help you there.

Being from Texas I grew up on Sweet Tea.

But with a diabetic mom it was sweetened with saccharin. Which isn't even sold anymore due to lab rats getting cancer...lol.

Anyways...we make all kinds of teas but our family favorite is regular black tea, cold (like over ice) sweetened with Stevia or honey.

We also drink green tea and white tea and roosbious (think I got that right)...hot in the winter, icy cold in the summer...with nary a refined sugar in sight.

I don't worry about the caffeine too much but rarely serve it at dinner. I always get it for the kids when we go out to dinner instead f a soda (when a drink comes with a kids meal)...I just carry stevia in my purse.

Maybe it is a Southern thing but we always have a pitcher of cold tea brewed and in the fridge.

Growing up in the south, we all had sweet tea in the refrigerator all the time. It was consumed as if it were water. You steep tea bags strong, add a 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar, stir to dissolve and then add water to dilute. Serve cold over ice.

I do not equate MickeyDee's with "sweet tea". And I can promise you that what they serve isn't brewed from tea leaves and then diluted with water. It is some syrup mix, just like the majority of the bottled tea drinks you see at the grocery store. And Arizona tea? Some of those are fruit drinks, not tea. Tea does NOT come in a can. Period. End. Full stop.

That said, my husband and so DO like a cup of hot tea. Son tends to enjoy one when he is not feeling well, husband just likes one midday. I like it in the winter. Coffee is for mornings only, or dessert (with add-ins, like Bailey's Irish Cream). Not to be drank all throughout the day.

And IF you make your own (not buy a bottle or can) tea doesn't have artificial stuff in it, and it is way better than a soda. It has a LOT less sugar (and it actually IS sugar and not high fructose corn syrup or some other concoction), and no preservatives (citric acid or sodium benzoate anyone?).
Yes, it does have some caffeine, but it is less than coffee by a lot, and probably less than soda depending upon how strongly you have steeped it.

---ETA
If you want to sample some actual tea (and not something from a restaurant or fast food place, or a bottle, none of which count as actual tea in my book), stop in a Teavana sometime. They will brew you a fresh cup of whatever blend of leaves you'd like. They also have urns with already brewed sample blends ready for you to try.

I brew my own decaf black tea in a pot, pour in a pitcher, and add some sugar, but not a lot. I always like to get mine refrigerator cold and drink it without ice (which is how my kids prefer it). You don't want to add to much sugar because it gets sweeter the colder it gets.
My grandma use to make it "so sweet you could stand a spoon in it" as she would say. :)
That stuff in the bottles is a joke, as is McD's ice tea. It's way too sweet in my book.

We drink black tea in our house at least as much as we drink coffee. We add milk (preferably whole milk) and the kids get to put in a little sugar, not more than a teaspoon, unless they sneak it in when I'm not looking :). This kind of tea is caffeinated, but it's about 1/3 the caffeine as coffee.

We also drink a lot of herbal teas, in fact our kids get some as stocking stuffers because they love it so much, I'll buy the ones only available around the holidays for that. We drink chamomile, licorice, and ginger tea the most. The last one is actually granular, not steeped, it's a Chinese brand of tea and honey. That is great for any stomach ailment.

And yes, especially with black tea, it is much better for you than anything in a bottle that's been pre-made in a bottling plant. Black tea has antioxidants and all kinds of other good stuff. I don't particularly like Sweet Tea, I always get my iced tea unsweetened, it tastes better.

I grew up actually have tea time with my mother in the afternoons at 4pm like clockwork, it's just how we were raised.

I was wondering the same thing! I am up north (Seattle area) and just don't know many people that drink tea. Know TONS of people that drink coffee though! Not me.
I just drink hot chocolate if I need to warm up!
L.

My GD loves iced tea, but we brew at home and although I use some sugar, it is nowhere near like sweet tea. I can't stand sweet tea - it's like syrup from all the sugar. And yes, tea has caffein. I've heard it has more than coffee, but that it's different and doesn't keep you up/hype you up like coffee can. I have been drinking iced tea for probably 40 years or more and have never had problems sleeping because of it.

Yes I like hot tea and crumpets. I also liked iced tea - unsweetened. And I sometimes drink sweet tea.

I drink coffee basically every morning.

Tea is different than coffee...it sometimes feels more "hydrating" to me than coffee - I'll use a tea bag and pour lots of water over it, I don't make it very strong. And on a cold night, a cup of hot decaffinated tea can be very relaxing.

ETA: I was going to say "And I live in New York City." But I checked a map, and NYC is south of Conneaut. So I guess I'm one of them southern girls.

In our house tea is a treat like hot chocolate. I get different flavor of tea bags, usually my kids pick them out and I also buy some loose leaf tea from teavana. I boil water, seep it, add some honey and some milk to theirs and they love it. As for myself I drink tea almost everyday. Boil water, seep and add a packet of splenda.

Yes, all 3 of my kids will drink hot tea with me (unsweetened and decaf - like I drink). None of us like honey in it unless we have to put it in to help with a sore throat - it's too sweet. They also drink the same tea iced and unsweetened. My kids don't like sweet tea, though my husband does. My niece lives on it as well - the sweet stuff.

I'm from the Northeast, and we don't drink sweet anything (stereotypical there), and my husband is from the south where if you order a tea, it's coming out sweet, no questions asked.

I was raised up north by southern parents. Yes we drink tea. A lot of tea. I don't remember not seeing a pitcher of iced tea in the frig growing up. We didn't have a lot of pop in our house as well. It was either tea, milk or water.

I put Splenda in mine. I don't care for sweet tea. Its just too sweet. I drink it hot and cold. Love it! My kids will drink it but not as much as I do. I do NOT drink coffee. Don't like the taste. Love the smell, yuck to the taste. My husband prefers iced tea and he drinks coffee.

Went to London in May, I can't tell you how much tea I came home with! It was rather comical. =)

My DD drinks hot and iced tea. She has been drinking hot tea since she was 3. I do add an ice cube to cool it down. I would like to add she drinks coffee too with my mother and me.

Google how tea is made and you won't ever drink a drop. It's so nasty what they do to the leaves to get them ready to become tea...yuck.

I grew up on tea, a gallon of tea had about 1/2 cup of sugar in it.

I got out of the habit and when I went back to it a while back I couldn't stand the taste.

I make sweet tea. It does have a lot of sugar, but my Dd doesn't get it very often. Usually, she drinks Sleepytime or flavored herbal teas with maybe a teaspoon if sugar, if its a more bitter or tart flavor. She won't drink it hot or even warm, so I ice it for her.

My sweet tea is made with 2 cups of sugar for a full gallon... The same amount to make kool-aid with. Lol. So I can't claim it is much better...

I have been drinking tea, regular hot steeped tea, since I was about five years old. I drink it with milk, no sugar. I have been drinking coffee, milk, no sugar, since I was about ten years old. I have only experienced trouble sleeping from drinking coffee or tea since I turned 40. Now I can't drink caffeinated beverages after about 3:00pm.

My kids don't care for tea, but I know lots of kids who are into herbal teas right now.

Sweet tea (commercially made) is a soft drink and has as much sugar as juice and nearly as much as pop. If you make your own sweet tea you can control the amount of sugar you put in.

None of it is "bad" for you. It is all about moderation. If a child is mostly drinking water and milk, then some juice, sweet tea or pop are not going to hurt. Really, it depends on frequency and portion sizes.