A friend had to read a paper about what people called water vs. how much water made up the substance. So like pond water has less water than tea, we call one water one tea. Truly thrilling research.
I don't think OP knows what they mean with this question. The top two 'serious' answers are coffee and tea, which is just "hot water with shit mixed in". Anything you drink is water with shit mixed in. Any answer that isn't "water with shit mixed in" means you die, either within months or minutes. Most answers that are "water with shit mixed in" would still kill you fairly quickly if that's all you ever drank.
I had this argument with my roommate once. It was probably the biggest argument we ever had. IMO, just because it has water in it doesn't mean that the drink is water. Like, some people don't like the taste of water, but that doesn't mean that they don't like milk, which has water in it.
For me a beverage is defined by its flavor, not its components.
How is "water with lemon" any less of a drink then "tea". Question was fine if it just said, what drink other than water. But the addition of calling "water with lemon" goofs is not good question for me. Also ban water!! does OP realises almost all drinks for humans are just water and something else mixed to some degree?
I don't love tea but yeah it would be tea. Iced green tea lemonade, black tea with milk. If literally only one then iced black tea with lemonade, let it get diluted.
No water allowed that essentially excludes all beverage. If i could have anything else, i'd go with at least two kilos of fruit and berries per day, preferably melon, cucumber, oranges, cherries, raspberry (any berry actually...), plume, pear, apricot. And the occasional fish.
Tea assuming I'm allowed any variant of it, lot of different ways you can have tea to make it taste different, iced/hot probably being the most important in this scenario
If you’re being practical tea makes the most sense as it won’t wear down your tooth enamel or stomach lining or put chemicals in you every day like soda and juice etc… I like Cherry Pepsi but if I drank nothing but that I am positive I’d have ulcers and no teeth after a few years.
Literally everything drinkable I can think of within the rules of this question(No water) are either outright poisonous or at least(in the case of food oils and certain glycols) would cause diarrhea rapidly accelerating dehydration. At least the poisonous options are quicker.
My favourite drink after water (which is genuinely my favourite drink) is coffee. I don't think, however, that I would like to only drink coffee, so I suppose I will have to choose tea. Especially if I can have any variant
If I have to choose specifically then I'll say decaf Yorkshire tea.
Duvel, Belgium's premium beer. Duvel translates to Devil, the beer most preferred by Joe Cocker and the reason he wouldn't return to Belgium because it would be the end of him. Looking back he had a point. (1944-2014)
Birch sap is my first thought, but I might get tired of the sweet. Some kind of tea then, maybe rooibos. It's sweet or savoury as the occasion demands.
If we're allowing categories, I'd probably go for smoothies. There's enough variety in them that I wouldn't get bored and it's got a good amount of water in it so I won't die.
Pedialite. I know some prefer Liquid IV, but I like that I can get Pedialite anywhere and it’s relatively cheap. I give it to my kids instead of juice. They also have popsicles which is great on those super hot days.
It has to be refreshing, not too sweet. Because you'd need to drink a lot every day to stay alive, off the top of my head rice water sounds like an ideal drink, I love the flavor and it has less sugar than horchata, you don't want to have to stuff yourself with sugar every day when you're thirsty.
Another possibility is hibiscus water. Again - if I could regulate the sugar levels it would be a way to go.
Are we assuming the drink magically has no calories or other negative effects?
I'd choose white wine if it doesn't get me drunk (and as long as it still tastes good and not shitty like alcohol free wine. And also as long as there's no social repercussions from drinking wine all day.)
If the drink keeps all it's normal properties then I'd choose green tea.
Barley Tea. Sure it has water, but what drink doesn't? (Also I feel like my days would be heavily numbered if I don't drink any water for the rest of my life.)
D₂O, and then make a living selling my piss to chemical manufacturers
e:
How Drinking Heavy Water Could Kill You
Algae and bacteria can live with 100% heavy water and no regular water. Plant and animal cells are more complex, so too much heavy water results in sickness or death. One key issue is that heavy water disrupts mitosis, the type of cell division used to repair injuries and grow new cells. The mitotic spindles of cells containing too much heavy water simply aren’t able to equally divide a cell to form two identical new ones.
But, you have to continuously drink and eat only heavy water for several days to see an effect. Replacing 20% of regular water in cells with heavy water is survivable for humans and other mammals (although not recommended). Swapping 25% of water with heavy water causes (sometimes irreversible) sterilization. Replacing 50% of water with heavy water is lethal. It’s not a pretty death, either. Heavy water poisoning resembles radiation poisoning or cytotoxic poisoning from chemotherapy.
It's pretty impressive how much we can tolerate, honestly. I remember they were accidentally using it in a water cooler at a nuclear power plant for a while, and everybody was fine.
The only thing that is more water than water, Cors light. But now, really I'd prefer to drink my own piss, since coincidentally enough, Cors Light is also one of the few liquid that is more piss than piss.
Unfortunately black tea is high in oxalate, which in excess amounts can cause calcium-oxalate stones (the most common type of kidney stones). It's recommended that kidney stoners keep their daily oxalate intake below 50mg, and a cup of black tea can have up to 15mg.
Does this drink based magic, by chance, make refined sugars less problematic? I really want to say wild cherry pepsi but I drink a lot over the course of a day and I don't think my body will cope well with that much fructose.
If I want to live to see the age of 50 I think I'll go with cranberry pomegranate tea.
Monster Ultra Zero. Idgaf about caffeine or aspartame or if it gives you energy or not, I just like how it tastes. I’d love a caffeine-free version that I could drink without worrying about dosage too much, but hey… we all gotta die sometime.
What is this "water" you speak of? Seriously, I almost never drink it, I'm more into sugary drinks. But in light of the question asked, my one choice would be chocolate milk.
Much to the surprise of my doctor, I still don't have any sign of trouble. I'm 55 and just had my last check-up in February, and the only thing of concern is still my cholesterol.