My Recent Brew
What's the tea?
Ok this technically isn't tea. Then again, if we want to be pedantic, a lot of things folk call "tea" isn't actually tea. Tea comes from a specific plant and all those chamomile, mint, verbena, whatever herbal or fruit concoctions- well those aren't teas. If it doesn't contain the tea plant then it's technically a tisane. There are some other caveats too, rooibos isn't a tea or a tisane, it's roobios which is its own plant. Since a tisane is an herbal tea (without the actual tea component), this water flavor product my sister recommended is kinda like a a tisane. Therefore I'm reviewing it.
For background, my sister is not a straight-up water drinker. She never has been, and has always preferred something flavored over the refreshing H20. Recently, she went on a work trip and one of the coworkers there tells her about Waterdrop, a company that is making water flavor cubes that offer an impressive list of accomplishments. First- the flavors are all plant-based, which is why I feel like I can argue it's a tisane. Second, there are no added sugars, or artificial sugars. Third they practice sustainability which is a big deal for me. Additionally, there are a lot of flavor choices.
I figured why not try it, I don't mind plain water, but a flavor option that is natural sounded intriguing as well. So, for Mama's day, I ordered myself one of the combo packs that included a 20oz (591ml) steel bottle with a sampler pack of flavors. I picked up their energy and hot tea as well. My significant other and I have been slowly making our way through some of the flavors and while not all of them are amazing, none of them have been bad either. For instance, Love (pomegranate, goji berry, and acerola) tastes fine, but I'm not a huge fan of pomegranate and guess what, it tastes like pomegranate. The flavors are nice and light when diluted in 20oz (you can do as little as half that if you want a more intense flavor experience). One of my favorites so far is the flavor Youth (peach, ginger, ginseng, aloe). I'm looking forward to trying the merry mint hot tea (again actually a tisane) as well as combining this with some tonic water and gin at some point. Because, by the way, you can drink these with still or sparkling water if'n ya so choose.
Overall, I'd say the value is there if you're interested in flavored water but don't want to buy things full of artificial stuff. The packaging is all biodegradable, with the exception of the capsule wrappers themselves but those are a recyclable plastic. Their website explains why they had to go with that particular packaging. If you check it out, drop me an email and let me know what you think!