What drinks do you always have in the house?

[AlltheFs]

At the risk of sounding crackers, I find offering drinks to guests (family aside) really quite stressful! Partly because I don’t drink normal tea (I drink occasional green tea) or coffee so hate making it.

If I am expecting visitors I tend to panic buy drink options. If I have unexpected ones that’s even worse!

What would you say is “normal” to always have in? Not alcoholic drinks, I mean teas, coffee, soft.

DD is having more playdates now so it’s generally mums and kids that I don’t know well and often quite last minute.

We have coffee (instant and beans for the coffee machine) because DH drinks it, and some regular tea bags which neither of us ever drink but are there for guests. I also find making this stressful, because I don't drink tea but I know people can be particular about how they like it.

We don't ever have any squash, juice, or fizzy drinks.

Tea/coffee/herbal teas and squash, and I always have alcohol free drinks like AF beer, tonics, various other mixers, but I assume that's not what you mean.

For a playdate, squash for the kids and tea/coffee for adults is fine.

Tea (I drink tea so breakfast and roibos tea), coffee (dp drinks it), elderflower squash, orange squash, and the ever reliable... tap water!

If I knew someone was coming round I might buy something like a fizzy elderflower type drink.

Very very rarely will I get a bottle of lemonade or coke in. But three teen boys here, who just guzzle the stuff it's in, so avoid it.

Tea (normal black tea and some herbal teas), coffee (cafetière or instant), water, elderflower cordial. Just get a small box of teabags to live at the back of the cupboard, and some azurro instant. People love fancy coffees but it’s fine if you aren’t a coffee drinker to say “I don’t tend to drink coffee but I’ve got this instant if you’d like some”.
Also usually have hot choc.

Lots of different teas and coffee machine for Americans. Never buy fizzy drinks, juice or squash

Always instant and filter coffee, breakfast tea, squash. Sometimes we'll have fruit teas but none in at the moment.

I usually buy special teas or whatever if I know what people like. Same with milks if someone is vegan or can't have dairy.!

Too many. Tea, green tea, fruit tea, herbal tea, decaf tea, tea leaves, coffee, decaf coffee, ground coffee, I keep a little jar of cheap shit coffee for a relative who only likes that type, those pods for the dolce gusto in all the varieties, coke, orange juice, squash in a few flavours and I think there's a couple of cans of cream soda in the fridge somewhere.

Yorkshire Tea and Earl Grey
Alta Rica coffee
Diet Coke
wine in fridge

Instand defaf and regular coffee, coffee machine coffee pods, decaf and normal teabags, a couple of different flavours of squash, diet coke... It's only because we drink all these ourselves that they are there. You can have a glass of water if I've nothing you like.

Instant coffee - not the cheapest, and I have a cafetière so easy to bung in some ground coffee. I keep it in the freezer so it's always fresh. Other than that, we have instant decaf, ordinary tea bags and Earl Grey tea bags.

We have a range because DH and DS drink tea and coffee. I drink neither.

We have instant coffee plus decaf and some of the instant sachets of frothy coffee things. We don't bother with the beans etc any more. We have normal teas, red bush, green tea and then a whole bunch of fruit/flavoured teas such as ginger, peppermint, raspberry etc. and a few earl grey rather than morning type teabags.

We always have squash and a fizzy can selection and bottled/tap water.

No one takes sugar/bakes with sugar so that tends to be something I need to remember to keep in.

Just buy some tea bags, instant coffee and a pack of mixed herbal teas.
Some long life, one-serving juice cartons for the kids.

Shouldn’t be a ‘panic’, particularly as you’re having play dates, so people at your house isn’t entirely unexpected…….

Always have...

Coffee
Tea
Herbal teas
Hot chocolate
Orange juice
Apple juice
Squash

Never have fizzy drinks in the house. Rarely have alcohol

tea, coffee and Squash

I always have Yorkshire teabags in, a few different squashes, a little coffee machine with a few different pods to choose from, milk, and that's basically it. We have an American style fridge with water and ice, and a soda stream if anyone wants something fizzy.

I drink tea without milk or sugar. Adult DCs buy their own soft drinks and rarely have hot drinks.

In theory, I can offer tea or coffee, but often when I go for the instant coffee it's gone solid through lack of use and if DCs have been baking, without telling me they're out, there might be no sugar.

I once had a guest decline tea because I couldn't offer a sweetener, but that hasn't made me buy them.

I'll pinch one of DCs cans if I need a soft drink for someone, there's usually an old bottle of squash and probably some old mint tea.

I keep meaning to buy sachets of coffee for guests to avoid the old manky jar.

Always have filter coffee and tea bags (the earl grey that I drink plus green tea that my best friend likes and herbal teas). Don't really keep anything else in.

Do Americans particularly enjoy coffee from a machine?

Tea - regular and mint

Coffee - instant, neither of us drink it.

Full-sugar fizzy drinks

Diet fizzy drinks

Squash

Wine

We have a range of teas and coffees and always have loads of mixers / sodas because we have a fully stocked home bar and drink mixed drinks and cocktails often.

If you’re not confident in making coffee, buy coffee bags. Just as easy as making tea and it stays fresher than instant if not used regularly.

Coffee (I drink it), green tea and mint tea (DP drinks occasionally), milk (and Nesquik chocolate powder), oranges to make juice, wine, sparkling water, and Coca Cola (because DP needs in case of hypoglycemia).

I'm surprised how many people don't have juice at home....we get through loads of it.

I was a bit 🤔when we went round to a relatives house a while ago and they only had water available

Tea, coffee, peppermint tea, blackcurrant squash, milk, oat milk and sometimes fruit juice.

Tea- black, herbal, rooibus
Instant + cafetiere coffee
Squash
I bottles/cans of diet fizzy drinks (cream soda, tropical, lemonade, ginger beer) but they aren't in the fridge until summer

Strangely, as a guest somewhere, I usually ask for a diet coke, even though I don't drink it otherwise, nor even have it at home! I only have 1 coffee a day and generally don't like other peoples coffee.

We sometimes have it but it tends to get forgotten in the fridge as we always just have water with meals.