What drink do you recommend to help cope with hot, humid days?

Chilled barley tea.

Ice cold soda water with a twist of lime. It has the same bite as beer, and you can still drink and drive!

I agree on chilled roasted barley tea(mugi-cha).

A nice Muscato. Low alcohol, fizzy but not too much, and a fantastic taste. Have a glass with friends along with some light fruit and forget about driving. Too much traffic and heat anway.

Ice cold water.

When you've had plenty of water, a nice tall glass of blackberry sour on the rocks, made with berries from the garden.

Can't stand cold tea, it sets my teeth on edge.

Soda, non diet kind preferably coke or seven up. Or gatorade.

I agree, mugi-cha goes incredibly well with a Japanese summer, though I can't say exactly why.

From growing up in northern Australia I can tell you from experience it's not only what you drink, but also what you eat. Water is of course the best, regardless of what the Japanised people think. You should also eat fruits and cereals to keep your carbohydrate levels up. Liquids alone will make you feel worse!

water

serindipity whats rice if not a cereal?

gotta be beer. start with a guiness and then mellow out with a few kirin classics or ebisu. finally to cleanse the palette a nice crisp stella.

serendipity raises an important point - you gotta eat to get through the summer!

And maybe it's the Brit in me talking, but a nice cuppa hot milky kocha finds a nice spot on a hot summer's day.

I'm more of a cold oolong tea fan, but mugi-cha works too. This, and of course plain water - in Tochigi even tap water tastes good enough - no need to buy bottled water.

Cleo - "Can't stand cold tea"

You've never tasted my iced tea with fresh lemon slices. Not too sweet and not too tart!

By the way, how come cold tea sets your teeth on edge but ice cold water is fine? Makes no sense...

"even tap water tastes good enough"

It'll taste even better if you use a water purifier.

Technically not a drink unless you let it melt first, but crushed ice is great! Almost any flavor will do. Someone let me know where the heck I can get CHERRY!

water(from my well cold year round & tasty to boot) & mugicha(at my office & home), then at night its beer but spudman has it backwards, start with lager or pilsner then move onto the dark, I buy Krin Stout by the case, great stuff out on the deck with edamame from the garden & if its clear watch the stars, oh yeah since I am in sticks its about 3-5 degrees C cooler than the city awesome! Sometimes finish with a bit of singlemalt scotch or a little shochu on the rocks & yeah & my dog is out there with me, sweet

gw how bout we meet in the middle. i need the good hit of a stout to quench my thirst.

Normal tap/mineral water (without ice) "atleast" 2.0 lit per day.

"without ice"

Why without ice?

One word............ BEER!!!!

how come cold tea sets your teeth on edge but ice cold water is fine? Makes no sense...

It's the taste, not the temp....

spudman - serindipity whats rice if not a cereal?

I'm sorry spud. Was I not specific enough for you? Rice is a cereal although, the carbos in rice are burnt very quickly compared to wheat and corn based cereals.

I'm going to have to side with the mugi-cha crowd, although soukenbicha is good too. It's really refreshing, I just wouldn't go with anything hot or sugary.

Make sure you get enough salt too. It`s often overlooked.

Alcoholic drinks won't help much to cope, but a chilled beer, just one, after work is nice. For the rest of the day the best drink, as always, is plain water in sufficient quantities.

beer

ok spudman go for yr stout I wont prosecute you for liking good beer ha ha

people have mention various tea but no one has commneted on how nice an oolong-hi or youkucha-hi is, very nice & not as much gas as the beer.

guess you all tell I am pretty easy going on this topic

nice cup of hot english tea - i kid you not!

Pocari sweat 500 ml and 250 ml of the organic ginger ale in a used Gatorade Ice bottle keeps me cool.

Natto water - This is an old Japanese recipe. Please note that this recipe should be consumed with a large dose of skepticsm.

Take one pack of non-GMO domestic organically-grown and fermented natto (it is best if it is packed in straw rather than styrene) and place it in a glass.

Next, pour in approximately 300ml of boiling water and add as much mustard as your body can take.

While waiting for the beverage to cool, drink yourself paralytic to make it possible to drink this terrible brew.

ICE TEA LEMON

a dozen beers...at least

deepair

you gotta be kidding.......

"ICE TEA LEMON"

That's what I told Cleo but she doesn't believe me.

Cleo - Make some good strong English tea. Let it cool. Add a little sugar. Pour it over ice and a fresh lemon slice or two.

kakigore...I just bought one of those cheap ice shaving machines, bought some syrup and I'm loving it. Great way to cool down. Course, the ice is kind of hard to eat sometimes.

feet in a bowl of ice water and a tall glass of beer

Tea means 'real' tea (kocha). The other stuff is ocha.

Do people really put sugar in oolong?? Ugh!

In English, the word tea by itself refers to all styles, there isn't a way to differentiate unless you add an adjective in front (ex. Japanese). Same in Japanese where the root "word" cha is nonspecific. Unfortunately people do put sugar in their oolong, it happens all the time at P.F. Chang's.

Ice cold water.That simple.

Mango smoothies (芒果冰沙)

In a cold water add half lemon juice and one cardomom with little sugar. Just try it.

Water, usually VERY cold....

farhaan - I just tried that. Yuck! I must not have made it right...

-chilled Guinness Extra Stout. Da best.

-Never wine. You'll be drivin' the porcelein bus and callin' "Ralph" in a public arena which your friends will enjoy remindin' you of.

USAR

quick google. According to this guy it does not matter much if you drink hot or cold. http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/35366.html So I am happy to stick with the British tradition that started in a rather hot place - India!

Tea should be hot or cold & never should it have anything added. Adding milk &/or sugar should be classed as criminal acts. But then the substance they sell in England under the name “tea” probably needs something adding to it to stop it being toxic.

For hot & humid days? Strong coffee on ice (no milk or sugar please).

Mugi-cha is nice, beer is nicer, but nothing beats a cold glass of lemonade.

Why is everyone picking on the British approach to tea? It's the finest drink in the world, which nobody really bothered with until we turned it into a huge multinational business. The Americans just chucked the stuff into Boston harbour...

...that said, my answer would have to be a dai-nama Sapporo in an iced glass. Nowt better!

frontandcentre By eck lad there ait nowt better than a cupa real Yorkshire tea.

hot drinks work wonders on a hot day...

S

mojitoes, and keep 'em coming, bartender !

i pack a change of clothes in my bag. i wear shirts that cannot absorb liquids and chew mint gum on the train. when i get to work, first thing i do is change into dry clothes. makes the day go much smoother.

No iced drinks for me. Eating ice is good. Drinking it is bad. You're free to disagree and get upset stomach.

Reasonably cool drinks : water, reiko, sobacha, mugicha, Lady Grey, reiko, fresh made oolong cha, reiko, unsweeted lemonade... Hot teas, sencha, bancha, mint tea (the real stuff, after meal, that's really cooling and helps you digest), hot reiko.

The obsession with reiko is not only because that can be so good. I'm getting used to the heat, wear light cotton clothes, never uses air-condition, exercise in the shade, I feel good, except that I easily become sleepy. So I take reiko to wake me up after each siesta.

Occasionnally, a pastis with appetisers, but after that I no longer move from my shaded windy balcony.

hot drinks work wonders on a hot day

ok spidey atsukan it is!!

"Mugi-cha is nice, beer is nicer, but nothing beats a cold glass of lemonade."

I'll see you glass of lemonade, and raise you one glass of lime-ade.

Cold mineral water and lemon icetea is the best for me.

Cold green tea with honey is what I like to drink. If not that, then I like lab-produced plain cold water (PURE and SmartWater brands).

Triumvere - I'll see your glass of lime-ade and raise you a cold glass of pink lemonade!

kokuryu - "Cold green tea with honey"

I think I'm going to be sick...

some grab the sarge a buckeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

I just tried Lipton's Coconut Island Ice Milk Tea - tasty!

GINGA KOGEN HEFEWEIZEN WITH LEMON SUIGNOYA AMBER ALE

cuba libres are nice too.

A steaming, rich tasting cup of French Roast coffee. Yum...

or, an vanilla coke cola. another yum.

i just never could get into drinking tea. I bet its good.

I recommend a double shot of Jack Daniel's (the Rat Pack favourite),straight down, and if that doesn't work try one more...

"vanilla coke cola"

Cherry Coke Cola!

Cold drinks are like trying to cool a volcano with an icecube. It makes little difference and the relief is temporary. You are fighting a losing battle. The same goes for cool baths and showers.

Hot drinks help as does non-chilled water. A hot bath is by far and away the best. Bringing your body temperature up makes the air around you feel cool.

Pocari Sweat and...well....ocha.

"A hot bath is by far and away the best"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! A cool shower is far and away the best.

Tully's has an out-of-this-world lemon smoothie.

sparkling water with a twist of lemon

A vodka martini - shaken not stirred. And some pork scratchings.

non alcohol heads- Acerola Mild by Nichirei-110yen500ml at the 7-11`s

alcohol heads, get your local liquor guy to rent you the same draft beer servers in the bars or resturants, pay for the keg 10L ot 19L , i prefer asahi)10L keg is 5,550yen, 19L keg is 10,800yen, gas for 2,000yen and the liquor will set it up for you(mines is in the litchen)the gas last for at least 1 yr( no crap 1 yr), then u get a few mugs(i put mines in the freezer)and after you come back from work and had a good shower, take out your mug and fill it up with the "Ice-coldest"draft beer, sit back on the sofa and relax..note..some liquor shops may not want to accomodate you on this...BUT, remember you gotta buy the kegs on a REG basis, i go through 2-3 kegs A MONTH!!!!!!! .　

Root beer floats.

"A hot bath is by far and away the best" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! A cool shower is far and away the best.

It may be but then you'll feel hotter afterwards XD

Go to the supermarket and stay close to the frozen/dairy products, erm...don't sleep with the a/c on, set the timer. Oh I hear 'babu' bath is good too to rest the body from turns of hot and cold from going outside and back (office, etc). Or just go hikikomori with a/c on all day when you're off.

ahahahah it was drink! how absent minded of me. Why, water, pocari sweat, green tea, any kind of tea. I'm avoiding coffee as much as I can now.

Have I mentioned Ginga Kogen Hefe yet!! Or Suginoya Amerber ale??