Disclaimer
KnowSips explains how drinks are made and how they taste. This page sets out, specifically, the questions it does not answer and the limits of what a drinks reference can responsibly tell you.
What this site is for
KnowSips publishes general information about drinks without alcohol: what they are, how they are prepared, and what changes their flavour and texture. That is the whole of what it sets out to do.
It is a reference for making and understanding a drink. It is not a source of advice about your body, your diet, or your health.
Not health, dietary, or medical advice
Nothing on this site is medical, dietary, or nutritional advice, and nothing here should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent, or manage any condition.
KnowSips does not publish, and will not publish:
- claims that a drink treats, prevents, or cures anything;
- weight-loss, detox, or cleanse guidance;
- advice about medication interactions;
- guidance specific to pregnancy, breastfeeding, or feeding children;
- a "safe maximum" intake figure for you.
Those are questions for a qualified professional who knows your circumstances, not for a drinks reference. Our editorial policy explains why we hold that line even where it would be easy to write otherwise.
Caffeine figures
Some guides carry a caffeine band and a figure in milligrams. Those are descriptive ranges for a typical serving as normally prepared, drawn from published reference sources and named on the page.
They describe the drink. They are not a recommendation about how much you should have, and they cannot account for your sensitivity, your health, or anything else you consume.
Why our numbers are ranges
Real drinks vary, and a single confident number would usually be wrong. The caffeine in a cup of coffee depends on the bean, the roast, the grind, the dose, the water, and the brewing time. The strength of a tea depends on the leaf and how long it sat.
So where the real-world range is wide, we print the range rather than narrowing it to look authoritative. Your cup can still fall outside it.
What we mean by a serving
A figure on this site describes a stated serving of a drink prepared in a stated way. Where a guide gives a volume, that volume is what the number refers to.
This matters more than it sounds, because the everyday words are not fixed. A cup is not a standard measure across countries or kitchens. A mug at home is commonly twice the volume of the cup a reference figure was measured against. A single espresso and a double are different drinks with the same name on a menu, and a large takeaway coffee may contain three shots without saying so.
If you are comparing a figure here against something else, check that both describe the same volume and the same strength. Most of the wildly different caffeine numbers that circulate online are not disagreements about the drink; they are comparisons between different sizes of it.
Regional differences
Drink terms are not standard worldwide. What a name legally means, what a category may contain, and how a product must be labelled all vary between countries, and a term that is regulated in one place can be pure marketing in another.
Guides here describe the mainstream meaning of a term and say where a definition is a legal one. They cannot track every jurisdiction, and they are not a guide to the rules that apply where you live. Where something turns on a legal definition, the authority is the regulator in your own country, not this site.
The same applies to products. Formulations differ between markets under the same brand and the same name, so a description here may not match the version on your shelf.
Food safety
Storage times, temperatures, and handling notes on this site are general guidance for the drink being discussed. They cannot account for your kitchen, your equipment, or the condition of your ingredients.
A caution appears on the specific guides where it applies, not as one sentence attached to every page, because a warning that applies to everything tells you nothing about the drink in front of you.
Practical rules that override anything here:
- If something looks, smells, or tastes wrong, do not drink it.
- Follow the storage instructions on the packaging of anything you bought.
- Follow local food-safety guidance where it applies.
Storage figures on this site describe quality rather than safety unless a guide says otherwise. Tea going flat, coffee going stale, and juice separating are changes in how a drink tastes; they are not the same kind of statement as how long something is safe to keep, and the two should not be read as interchangeable. Where a guide does discuss a safety window, it says so plainly and names what the window depends on.
Allergies and ingredient labels
Guides here name common ingredients, but they cannot know what is in the specific product on your shelf. Formulations differ between brands and change over time.
If you have an allergy or an intolerance, the manufacturer's ingredient list is the authority, not a guide here. Always read the label.
Equipment and hot liquids
Preparation guides involve boiling water, hot pans, pressure, and glass. Follow the instructions that came with your own equipment, which is the authority on how that specific item should be used and cleaned.
Take normal care with heat and with glassware, and stop if something does not seem right.
Where a guide explains how a brewer works, it is describing the mechanism common to that kind of device. It is not a substitute for the manual for your model, and it cannot know how yours has been maintained, whether a seal has aged, or whether a part has been replaced with something that does not fit. Pressure brewers and stovetop pots in particular depend on their valves and gaskets being in good order, and that is a question about your specific item.
Equipment named in a guide is named to explain what that kind of tool does, never as a recommendation to buy a particular product.
Sources and corrections
Factual claims are checked against reference bodies rather than against other blogs. An article that leans on a specific source lists it at the foot of the page; an article without that section is not citing sources it did not use.
When we find a factual error we change the article itself. If you spot one, please tell us through the contact page. Corrections are the most useful message we receive.
No products, no ratings, no sponsorship
KnowSips does not sell anything, run affiliate links, accept payment for coverage, or rate products out of ten. There is no scoring system and no review schema anywhere on the site, so nothing here has a commercial reason to prefer one brand over another.
Where a guide names a piece of equipment, it is describing how that kind of tool works, not recommending a product to buy.
External links
We link to outside sources so readers can check a claim. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, which can change after we link to it.
A link is not an endorsement of everything else on the other end of it. We link to a source because it supports a specific claim, not because we vouch for the organisation, its other publications, or anything it may publish later.
Accuracy, completeness, and age
Guides are researched carefully and corrected when we find an error, but this site is offered as general information with no warranty that it is complete, current, or suited to your particular situation.
Every page carries a published date, and an updated date once it has been revised. Use them. Facts about products, labelling, and availability age faster than facts about how brewing works, and a guide that was accurate when written can drift out of date without anything on the page looking wrong.
Completeness is a limit too. A guide answers the question it sets out to answer. It is not an exhaustive account of its subject, and the absence of something from a page is not a statement that the something does not exist or does not matter.
Acting on what you read
Reading this site creates no professional relationship of any kind between you and KnowSips. Nothing here is tailored to you, because nothing here knows anything about you.
The judgement about what you prepare, drink, and serve to other people is yours. That includes deciding whether a guide applies to your ingredients, your equipment, your kitchen, and the people you are serving. Where a guide and the instructions on your own product or appliance disagree, follow the instructions that came with the product.
To the extent the law allows, KnowSips is not liable for loss or damage arising from acting on information published here. Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, nothing on this page limits it. Our terms of use set this out in full.
Alcohol
This site does not cover alcoholic drinks and gives no guidance about them. Wine, beer, spirits, alcoholic cocktails, and home alcohol production are outside its scope by design and are not quietly included under another name.
Where a guide covers a drink sold as an alcohol-free version of something alcoholic, it describes that drink on its own terms: what is in it, how it is made, and how it tastes. It does not advise on drinking, on cutting down, or on anything to do with alcohol itself.
Changes to this page
This disclaimer can change as the site changes. The version on this page is the one in force, and the review date above is the date it last had a proper read rather than the date of the most recent trivial edit.
If a change materially narrows what the site claims, it is made here rather than buried in a guide, because a limit worth stating is worth stating where the limits live.
Contact
Questions about this page go to editors@knowsips.com or through the contact page. See also our terms of use and privacy policy.