Is there a much lower sugar version? They're always so sugary...
Like, can you buy apple dehydrate or something and spice to taste, every cider I come across is absolutley laden with it and my tastes are dryer these days
Apple juice is pretty much sugar water to begin with.
Winter comfort drinks are a mix of three things, fat (eggnog etc), sugar (cider etc) or booze (mulled wine etc) as they are what warms you on a cold night... a shit load calories.
Try a squeeze of lemon, half an orange, a little honey, a half-pinch of salt (it's really that little salt, it is just the tiniest bit to bring out the flavour) and about 2 drops of lysergic acid diethylamide. You'll thank me later.
I always make hot lemon-and-honey "tea" when it's fuck-off cold out. It's what my mom did for sore throats (which I did get, and still got, frequently in the winter) so it's super comforting.
Just squeeze about 1/2 of a lemon into a mug of hot water, then drizzle in honey to taste. Best done with a highly flavored local clover honey imo. And you can use a teaspoon or two of the storebought squeeze bottle lemon concentrate if its all you have.
Cider is two things. Hot cider is specifically a spiced apple juice, served hot. Cider also refers to alcoholic cider made from fruits, usual apples. If you go to a bar and ask for a cider in the States you will not receive hot cider.
The name means “baked tea” and it is just as popular on Christmas markets in the Visegrád countries as Glühwein (mulled wine) is in Germany. It probably isn’t sold where you live but you can make it at home.
Sterilize some jam jars.
Take all sorts of warm wintery fruit (apples, pears, oranges, plums, raisins, grapes, strawberries, cherries, mandarines, blackberries, blueberries, currant, raspberries, figs, anise, lemons) and chop it into small pieces, like 8x8x8 mm at most. Remains from juicers are OK. Add sugar (300 g/fruit kg) and cinnamon (1 tsp/fruit kg), perhaps some spices (such as clove).
Preheat your oven to 180-220 °C.
Bake in an open roasting pan for 30 minutes. Stir every 5-10 minutes.
(Optional) add 100 ml/fruit kg rum and mix it in while the fruit is still hot.
Fill the jars, wipe their edges, screw on the lids and leave them to cool upside down.
To make the tea, put 1-2 tablespoons of the mix into a mug with 250 ml of hot water. Once you've drunk the fruity tea, use a teaspoon to eat the fruit.
You may argue that it is actually food, and point taken. However, for some reason this is the thing I think of when someone says “beverage”.
Inka Polish grain beverage. Hard to find in US stores but can be ordered. Add the powder to fully boiling water then add what you like. My preference is honey and soy milk to end up like a love child of coffee and hot chocolate.
Korean Yuja tea is really nice during cold winter months. It's one of my favorite drinks when it's cold. It's sweet and it warms you right up. You can buy the marmalade at Asian grocery stores.
edit: It's not really tea, but marmalade dissolved in hot water. Sweet, thick and heartwarming. Also the rinds are nice to chew on :)
Are you looking to relax and willing to shell out $$? Kin Dream Light with pear juice and a little bit of lemon is a lovely non alcoholic nightcap.
Milk kefir is also good, or water kefir from tibicos.
None of these are literally warm, as I live where it's hot. But they are relaxing and non alcoholic. If you aren't sensitive to caffeine, do like the Spanish and have a coffee at night.