1. Water very cold or on ice: Plain old hydration. No sugar, no caffeine, no electrolytes. Useful as a chaser for some other drinks that provide immediate, but not long term relief.
2. Coca-Cola in the original glass bottle: There is nothing like it for cutting a dry mouth and getting moisture to your tongue and throat. It loses it's effect if it's from a plastic bottle. It's not the same over ice, even in a glass tumbler. It only works in that wonderful curvaceous glass bottle. Tall or small, it matters not. Coke does contain caffeine which actually kicks up the kidneys and makes the fluid run on through your body, so you should always follow up Coke with a water chaser to offset the evil effects. Even with it's drawbacks, Coke is what you want first when you step out of the desert to clear your palate. It's the real thing!
3. Iced Tea in a tall glass with lemon, sweetened or unsweetened, no straw: Ice Tea was invented in the South because it is so danged hot down here. You can't drink hot tea when it's 105 degrees with 100% humidity. It's just not civilized. You'll sweat right through your white seersucker suit and you don't want to see a bunch of dowdy old white guys and their wives running around with those white outfits plastered to their skin. It's just not decent. Sit down in the shade and pour up a big old glass of tea and sip it slowly to let the effects of the cooling liquid restore your spirits. It's civilized!
4. Beer, very cold: I am told that a cold beer on a hot day is restorative. As a confirmed teetotaler, I do not know this for a fact and having actually tasted beer cannot imagine how this could be so, but I take the word of others more experienced than I. Beer does contain a lot of nutrients, sugars and carbohydrates in it. Originally, beer was invented by the Egyptians as a cheap way to keep the pyramid builders happy and hydrated. It's like liquid bread!
5. Gator-Aid: The original scientific thirst quencher, Gator-Aid and it's innumerable immitators do a really good job of replacing lost electrolytes, allowing athletes and 15 year old boys to keep going long after they should have fallen down in a heap panting for iced tea.
6. Lemonade on ice with a little umbrella: Developed by the British Navy and assorted pirates and merchant sea captains to prevent scurvy and disguise the taste of unflitered, unchlorinated water left too long in the cask, lemonade became fashionable in the South for when we weren't drinking iced tea or mint juleps. Good stuff if it's not too sweet and you're really thirsty.
7. Orange Soda: Nehi or Mission Orange or Orange Crush in a glass bottle that's been buried in a cooler full of ice. Must be drunk quickly while every ounce is freezing cold.
8. Orange Juice on ice: For sheer restorative power, a huge glass of orange juice on ice cannot be beat. I've been told that drinking that much orange juice can be harmful, but I do not see how and refuse to believe it. A big glass of iced OJ with a pimento cheese sandwich, potato chips and a pickle can bring a man back from the dead. I've seen it.
9. Diet Dr. Pepper on ice: I love Diet Dr. Pepper. It's what older East Texans use instead of Coke. Pour it over a big glass of ice and it quenches the thirst admirably, without the carbonated creosote taste of Coca-Cola. I actually choose theaters by whether or not they serve Diet Dr. Pepper. Diet Coke and Pepsi are absolutely uncivilized.
10. Dr Pepper in the small bottle: Bottled in Dublin Texas using Imperial Pure Cane sugar instead of that horrible old corn syrup, Dr. Pepper in the small bottle is the last vestige of the age of enlightenment. Dr. Pepper any other way is just wrong. This is the way my grandmother served Dr. Pepper when I was a boy. We Texans make pilgrimages to Dublin to buy case lots of Dr. Pepper made properly.
That's the lot. If you disagree, you may comment. You'll be wrong, but go ahead.....
(Okay, this one got left out and should be included )
11. Diet A&W Root Beer in a big frosty mug. I bought a big glass mug just for my restorative rootbeers. I go with diet because (a) I'm diabetic and (b) it's not as sweet as original A&W and I like my soft drinks a bit less sugary anyway.
I'm going to leave room here at the bottom if anyone thinks of another restorative fluid which should go here.
© 2017 by Tom King
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