wxduff

After a pot of green tea tonight, I began wondering if it would work in a water bottle on rides.

Has anyone else experimented with green/white tea in there water bottles for rides?

I feel like the combination of water for hydration, sugar for energy, and caffeine for energy would be a great combination for the ride, with the anti-oxidant properties in general healthy.

Any thoughts?

tylerwal

I absolutely love tea so I have been thinking about trying this.

poxpower

From Joe Friel's "The Cyclist's Training Bible" ( but in my own words )

Caffeine may or may not do anything based on studies and if it does do something, you'd need to drink it before your go out 45-60 minutes before.
====================

So yeah chances are it won't do anything? Who knows. Try it out if you think it tastes good. Might also want to add some salt in there to replenish electrolytes if you're sweating heavily for over an hour, and a lot more sugar than you normally would.
Also, you add sugar to green tea? WHAT'S THE MATTER? DON'T LIKE TEA? Haha.

BloomBikeShop

Yeah it's fine, I know some people do it. I personally like to save green tea for cold winter rides where it's nice to drink warm.

wxduff

I usually only put in a teaspoon in per pot of sugar if I feel like it. I figured for riding the sugar would help.

Off topic: Are you going to watch the GP when it comes to town (your location reads Montreal)

poxpower

One teaspoon of sugar won't fuel much exercise, that's like 10 calories man
If you do long intense rides ( 2-3+ hours ) you might need something a little more caloric like fruit juice with salt in it or some fancy sports drink.

Not gonna watch the GP. Never had any interest in watching millionaires driving cars around a circle for a couple hours : D

wxduff

I was talking about the bike race.

gregf83 

Definitely not many millionaires there.

poxpower

The "Montreal GP" typically doesn't refer to a bike race but I don't know anything about sports watching so whatever : D
Certainly not gonna watch that. Biking is enough of a time drain that I don't want to spend even MORE time just watching people do it while I sit around.

late

I occasionally get a Snapple, like White Tea and Peach or Half Lemonade Half Tea.

wolfchild

Green tea is OK, but I prefer black tea, I've been a black tea addict for a very long time.

buddy

On occassion the night before I put tea bags in my water bottles and in the morning before the ride I take out the bags. Once I had the bright idea of riding with tea bags in my bottle, tea bag busted in my bottle.

Being Southern I love ice tea on a hot day.

christ0ph

There is a natural flavonoid, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, in green tea is the subject of a great deal of research now because it has a lot of positive effects on health. There have been a number of studies specifically involving cycling, which are easy to find on pubmed.

sknhgy 

They make thermoses that fit in a bottle cage. Mine works well on cold rides. I use it for both coffee and tea.
Mine has a flip top that opens for drinking but if I were buying one today I would get one with a seperate little cup/cap.

mr geeker

i occasionally take tea on bike rides. it's like water, only flavored.

Shimagnolo

On hot all-day summer rides, I know I will be drinking warm water, so I sometimes drop a tea-bag into the bottle, since drinking warm tea isn't as disgusting as drinking warm water.

Stealthammer

+1

Green and black teas have 10 times the amount of antioxidants found in most fruits and vegetable, and black tea has been shown to shield against certain cardiovascular problems, and black tea retains its flavor profile for several years unlike green tea that goes flat within a year of the leaves being picked. I usually drink a Vietnamese green Jasmine tea as a "chaser" for Vietnamese iced coffee as is a Vietnamese tradition, but otherwise it is Chinese black Pu-erh tea or a Nepalese black tea grown in the Himalayan region of Nepal.

....and yes, you can "brew" a "sun tea" in most translucent water bottles, but over time the bottle will get cloudy. If you brew all of yout tea at home though you will end up with a better brew, but the bottle still clouds up over time.

Garfield Cat

Try hibiscus tea cold after a ride.

noisebeam

I also often put a green tea bag in the bottle along with plain water, stays there till I am home and the bottle gets refilled a few times.

Adds a little flavor, some caffeine and may help prevent growth of nasties in the bottle.