Traditionally China has been the same way: Whenever somebody gives you a glass of water it is always warm so that the receiver knows that it has been boiled, and is safe to drink. It often takes foreigners a while to adjust.

Lemon helps if possible. Lukewarm or hot water by itself = bu hao (no good). Lukewarm lemon-flavored water = much more drinkable.

/in China and Taiwan this year

Oddly enough, it is a custom in Taiwan to serve warm water. I totally don't get it because Taiwan in the summer is, as you said, really hot and muggy.

I was visiting someone in a mental institution in Taiwan and the nurses kept giving him warm cups of water when he really wanted a cold cup of water. Hilarity ensued.

Interesting language tidbit related to the warm/boiled water custom: a common term for drinking water in Taiwan is 開水 (kaishui3), which literally means "boiled water".

The first few times people asked me if I wanted "kaishui" I got confused because I thought they were asking if I wanted boiling water... but cold, ice-cube filled drinking water is also called kaishui to indicate that it has been boiled and so is for drinking.

I think those kinds of cultural-linguistic ties are cool in language.. I would love a book that gives you a linguistic tour of the world using words that reflect certain local customs.

I've found that hot tea is wonderful in warm weather. It's like you just stop pretending that a cold glass of water is going to make you any less hot & instead choose to enjoy the heat.

Hah! Tell that to the sweat stains on the back of my shirt! :)

Boil it then put it in the refrigerator?

There are machines in Taiwan that do exactly this. It's very convenient, because you can get really hot water for tea just by pushing the right button, or cold water if you press another button.

These machines definitely exist in the US as well. My work has one. It doesn't pre-boil the water, but it does keep a cool and hot section. If you just loaded it with boiled water to begin with, you'd be set.

They have electricity in Taiwan.

A couple of decades ago, they were these cube shaped metal things covered faux wood grain found in dorm rooms.

This might be Myth Busters material, but wouldn't it be more energy efficient to drink water closer to the body's own temperature? Less energy is needed internally to process warm water, than to heat cold water up to 98.6 F.

This is also similar to why it's bad to drink soft drink, the body consumes more water to break it down than it gains from the soft drink.

Fluids come as hypotonic, isotonic and hypertonic. Water is hypotonic, and before it can be absorbed, the body has to add in glucose and electrolytes from internal supplies. Hypertonic drinks, like Coca Cola need to be diluted with water from the body. An isotonic drink which is 6% glucose + electrolytes can be used almost immediately. That's why sports drinks are often isotonic.

>This is also similar to why it's bad to drink soft drink, the body consumes more water to break it down than it gains from the soft drink.

The longest one can last without additional water is something like 3 days, no? http://health.howstuffworks.com/live-without-food-and-water.... (it gives a couple of citations but I haven't checked them, I tried the sciam.com one but it's paywalled) gives 3-5 days + 1 for a "healthy" person.

So if this assertion is right then drinking exclusively soft drinks for about 5 days will kill you. A simple experiment to do.

You would also have to avoid juicy foods. You could probably avoid drinking water indefinitely if you ate enough apples.

Yes. And that is something that nomads in eg Mongolia practise. You sweat less and your body has less warming up to do.