Drinks ideas (non-alcoholic) for Long Covid altered taste and smell

I have found that some drinks taste so bad I am unable to have them. So far, I have identified that I am unable to have diluting juice, possibly due to the additives in it. I am also unable to have any juices which have passion fruit or kiwi in them. I have read stories of people with Long Covid who are unable to drink tap water. I am lucky enough to not have this problem, possibly because I live in Scotland and these stories are from countries where they treat water with different chemicals. I have heard that if this is an issue, bottled water can taste better but I cannot comment based on personal experience.

Dr Pepper

I saw a post on Instagram where someone else with parosmia had mentioned that Dr Pepper worked well for them so I decided to give it a go. 

I have found that it works really well for me too as it doesn't have an unpleasant taste for me and I can even taste some of the spicy flavour. I will definitely be having it occasionally instead of ginger cola or normal cola and it is also a lot easier to find in the shops than ginger cola 😃.

Ginger cola

This ginger cola was one of the first fizzy drinks I found I was able to have. It is ideal as I can taste the sweetness of the cola and the spiciness of the ginger syrup. Unfortunately this drink is quite hard to find in the shops but they do occasionally stock it in Home Bargains and I have found it sold online in Holland&Barrett.

Hot water with lime slices and brown sugar

For the past four months I have been avoiding all hot foods and drinks due to the smell from them being so bad for me. However, I decided to try some hot water with lime slices and brown sugar and have found this worked really well for me.

 I left the tea to cool for 10 minutes before drinking as I was worried I would burn my mouth after not eating or drinking anything hot for so long. I am not sure whether leaving the tea for a while made a difference but I enjoyed the drink anyway.

I could slightly taste the sweetness and it had no bad smell for me either. This tea will be especially good during the winter if I am still dealing with parosmia then. I have also tried this drink with lemon slices instead of lime slices and that worked well too.

Ginger beer

Ginger beer is another of my go to drinks at the moment. It has a fiery flavour which I am able to identify and I can actually taste the ginger. 

This photo was taken from a cafe which I was able to go to. Often, I avoid cafes at the moment as the smell of coffee can make me feel quite ill but this cafe had a seat beside an open door and was very open plan so the smells were manageable for me. I also went in the afternoon to minimise food smells so this helped as well.

Mocktail

Recently, I have been avoiding going to cafes, bars and restaurants as the smell of food and coffee makes me feel really ill or light headed. However, today I went to Largs which is a town by the sea in Scotland. When there, I went to a bar/ restaurant for a mocktail. I was able to have a table outside and there was not much food being served so this was ideal for me. Although there was still some food smells, I enjoyed being able to do something a bit normal. 

The mocktail I had avoided all my trigger foods and contained pineapple juice, orange juice, grenadine syrup, lime juice and tonic water. As the drink had lots of ice too, it was particularly good for me. 

Slush Puppie

At the moment, anything which is frozen is ideal for me as it is a change from eating many foods at room temperature or chilled in the fridge. This SlushPuppie was strawberry flavoured so I was unsure whether I would be able to have it but it was fine for me. As they are very sweet, I was able to taste some of it too. 

Cola

Cola is another drink I have found I am able to have. I usually drink diet coke so am unsure whether I would able to have the regular coke but this Aldi's own diet cola tasted fine to me. I have also found that ginger cola is amazing at the moment but unfortunately this drink is very hard to find in the shops. 

This weekend I also tried lemonade but found I was unable to have this as it tasted really disgusting to me. The Asda brand I tried must contain an additive I am unable to have at the moment so I might try another brand. I will update the blog if there are any improvements on another brand. 

Rubicon lychee juice

Since Rubicon sparkling mango juice was a success, I thought I would try the lychee flavour. It did taste very strange to me but I did quite like it so think it was a success. I am going to try the guava flavour next as it seems that this brand does not contain whatever additives taste unpleasant to me at the moment.

Rubicon Mango juice

I have found this sparkling mango juice works for me. I am able to taste it although it does not taste the same to me as how it tasted before my Long Covid😂. However, it was quite nice for me. Like the ice tea, it is especially good when it has been chilled in the fridge as I am able to determine the temperature of foods and drinks. 

Iced Tea

This is currently one of my favourite drinks. Although you can buy ice tea from the shops, we have been making our own at the moment in an attempt to boost my immune system. 

This ice tea was made by making a cup of tea using a 'Tetley immune tea' tea bag. Whilst the tea was still hot, we mixed some Manuka honey through it. This added some extra sweetness which I could taste and also has many added health benefits. 

This drink is best served after it has been chilled in the fridge, especially as I can tell the difference between room temperature and cold temperatures. 

As I mentioned at the start, you can buy pre-made ice tea and I have found I am able to take lemon flavoured ice tea so this could be a good option if your Long Covid gives you fatigue.