The River Floater’s Guide: Iced Drinks That Won’t Water Down in the Texas Heat
Central Texas summers have an unofficial uniform: swimsuit, sunglasses, tube. A float down the Guadalupe, Comal, or San Marcos is a few hours well spent, cool water, slow current, and actual relief from triple-digit temps. The cooler you pack matters. You need something cold that stays good through the whole float, not just the first ten minutes. Most iced coffee and tea fail the float test for a simple reason: they’re brewed at normal strength and poured over ice. As that ice melts in 95-degree sun, you get water in your drink, and fast. The fix is to start with something concentrated enough that dilution doesn’t wreck it, or something that handles the heat differently from the start. Two options hold up well: cold brew and shaken iced tea. 1. Cold Brew Coffee: Built for Dilution Cold brew is the right call if you want caffeine on the water. It’s not just iced coffee with a different name, the production method is fundamentally different, and that diffe...
