Detox redux

Hey, remember how I kicked my 25-year Pepsi habit a couple of years back? How I developed various creative ways of getting my fizzy fix without resorting to a can full of HFCS? How I was pretty sure I didn't even like the stuff anymore?

Wrong again. I fell off the wagon.

As with so many other things, I blame last year's intercontinental move. You'd think I would know this by now, and have figured out some way to combat it, but the chaos engendered by packing up your entire life and shipping it halfway around the world is pretty much total. It disrupts routines that you thought were so embedded that they were part of your DNA, and it takes months for the dust to settle. In the meantime, your household, eating, and exercise routines fall apart completely, and suddenly you find yourself guzzling Pepsi by the liter, morning, noon, and night.

Or at least that's how it is with me. Please feel free to weigh in if you've also experienced the Intercontinental Discombobulation Phenomenon. (Or not -- maybe I'm just weak-minded.)

Anyway. We've been back in Canberra for eight months, and moved into our house for five, and with every month that passes I find the brain space to re-establish another disrupted routine. This month it's getting back on the no-Pepsi wagon. I didn't even cut back this time; I just stopped. I know I can, because I've done it before; plus this time I think I've figured out a way to get the caffeine, and the fizz, that kept me hooked for so long.

Green tea fizz
In preparation for making this, I cold-brew four green teabags in a quart (~1 litre) of water. Feel free to fiddle with that ratio if you like yours weaker (or stronger!).

1/2 cup/4 oz/120 ml green tea concentrate (see above)
1/2 cup/4 oz/120 ml sparkling water
1 tsp/5 ml lime juice
1 tsp/5 ml simple syrup

Half-fill a drinking glass with ice. Combine all ingredients, stir and consume. Congratulate yourself for resisting the lure of Pepsi yet again.

Serves 1. Can be multiplied to share.