A good chai with the added cocoa isn’t bad at all! You have to go lighter on it, but it is yummy.

I’m not much of a drinker myself, and I’m very particular about wine. But there are grape juices that aren’t sweetened. In my head canon, benden would have been similar to a zinfandel, only slightly sweet, but very low tannin, and those unsweetened grape juices are as close to that as you can get to what I’ve imagined the experience would be.

I’m curious though, why hasn’t Pern aged well? I’ve always found it to be a fun series for the most part. No weird commentary, well balanced characters, solid plot development, and a consistent “vibe”. It was one of the better series for female main characters as well, which was very unusual in sci-fi or fantasy when it was started.