If you’re a person who’s always complained that “water tastes like nothing,” the best water enhancers make staying hydrated a lot tastier. They’re great for school lunch boxes and camping trips. Leave a few in your car or at your desk at work to spice up those 64 ounces of H2O you’re obligated to drink every day. But what’s the best water flavoring of them all? That’s what we wanted to find out.
Whether you crave the taste of iced tea, aguas frescas, lemonade, or even candy-flavored beverages (whatever that entails), we have a water flavoring for you. Over the course of two separate taste tests, we tried a wide selection of water flavor enhancers, both generic and name brand, in search of flavored water that tastes bolder and better than bottled beverages—and not like a cheaper, diluted version of the real thing. After mixing numerous powders and liquids into our office’s filtered tap water, we found the nine best water flavor enhancers to help you stay hydrated.
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- Wyler’s Light Strawberry Lemonade
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Strawberry can go so wrong in artificially flavored beverages, but Wyler’s Light dodges all the mishaps with this strawberry lemonade water flavoring. For a low-calorie water enhancer, I can barely taste the artificial sweetener. These packets of powder make water taste a little closer to an agua fresca than actual lemonade, but I prefer that to the taste of overtart, lip-pursing lemon juice. Overall, the flavor is very light, bright, and refreshing. Even at the bottom of the list, Wyler’s Light Strawberry Lemonade is still one of the best water flavorings you can buy. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Bolero Advanced Hydration Sugar-Free Iced Tea Sachets
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If you know me, you know I hate things that are sugar free. Not foods that are naturally sugar free, but processed sugar free products. They always have such a weird taste. I’d rather just not eat the thing than eat a sugar free, chemical-y tasting, diet version of the thing. Bolero Advanced Hydration Sugar-Free Tea Sachets (aka, powder packets) taste good, though. I tried them at a food convention and was shocked by the flavor. They make flavored water that actually tastes like a lightly sweetened tea and not a diet drink. Good job, Bolero, for making one of the best water enhancers out there. —Jordan Myrick
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- Starburst Blue Raspberry
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I’ll admit, I was skeptical of Starburst water flavorings. Why would I want to drink candy? The cherry flavor didn’t really hit for me, but oh man, blue raspberry? It’s a game changer. Vibrant and bold, this powdered water enhancer has just the right balance of sweet and tart to make a candy-flavored drink taste actually refreshing rather than cloying. The concentrated blue raspberry flavor actually reminds me more of a blue Jolly Rancher than a blue Starburst. Many of you recommended the Sonic water flavorings in the comments. While Sonic water enhancers, Ocean Water included, were a little too forgettable for us to recommend here, we still found a blue flavored water that we really like. —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Great Value Lemonade
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This water flavor enhancer makes a great classic lemonade with just one squeeze. It’s sweet but not too sweet, and zippy without being sour. You can add just a little to your water for a lightly lemon-ed ice water or you can give your beverage a more generous squirt for a classic lemonade so good that it almost tastes homemade. And one of its best features is the price. It’s so unbelievably cheap. A great taste and a great price? You love to see it.
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- Klass Agua Fresca Cucumber Lemonade
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Not to sound gross, but this tastes like a spa. Not spa bath water, okay? I mean one of those cooling, relaxing beverages you’d be served alongside your cucumber eye mask after leaving thes sauna. While the flavor of lemonade doesn’t really come through in this powdered agua fresca mix, there’s a bold and fresh cucumber flavor enhanced by the lightest touch of sweetness. I’ve never personally been a fan of cucumber drinks, but I loved this.—Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Market Pantry Grape Liquid Water Enhancer Drops
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If you like grape-flavored things, this liquid water flavoring is giving full grape, and I love it. I was shocked to find out I liked this a smidge more than grape Kool-Aid! It’s a little grape-ier. Just a little bit of this squeezed into water and you have a tasty grape drink. It’s not particularly nuanced and I think that’s nice. It promises grape flavor and you get grape flavor. It’s one of the best water enhancers if you just want something sweet and fun. —Jordan Myrick
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- Klass Agua Fresca Hibiscus
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Klass makes some of the best water flavorings you can find, and they totally nailed this hibiscus agua fresca infusion. It’s so lovely, you guys. It has that bitter hibiscus kick with just the right touch of sweetness to match. No extra sugary syrups needed. Some hibiscus teas are too bitter to be super drinkable, but this is incredibly refreshing. It tastes brisk. I’m a firm believer that the right aesthetic can make you crave a beverage even more, and the gorgeous ruby hue here is just vibrant as the flavor. I’m a big fan! —Ariana Losch
Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon
- Kool-Aid Tropical Punch
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Listen, before you get on my case, let me say this: All Kool-Aid is delicious. Grab any form of any flavor of Kool-Aid and you will be happy. That being said, their Tropical Punch individual water flavoring packets outshines every other tropical punch water enhancer on the market, so it earned one of the top spots on this list. It’s perfectly balanced. No one fruit is more prominent than the others. It’s wonderful! And it’s one of our best water enhancers on the market. —Jordan Myrick
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- True Lemon Strawberry Lemonade
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I don’t know why you’d ever make lemonade from scratch when you can just buy True Lemon Strawberry Lemonade. It’s so sweet and tangy and citrusy. You get both strawberry and lemon, and not just some sweet mystery liquid. I ended up bringing all of these powder packets home and drinking one a day. I couldn’t get enough of this stuff. Plus, it’s made with natural ingredients like crystallized lemon, beet powder, and cane sugar. I love how simple and delicious this is and I will continue to buy it. After two taste tests, it’s still the best water enhancers at the grocery store. —Jordan Myrick
Credit: Merc / Walmart
Best Low Calorie
Best Sugar-Free
Best Candy Flavor
Best Budget
Best Calming
Best Fruit Flavor
Most Unique
Runner Up
Best of the Best
Other water flavorings: Great Value Grape, Kool-Aid Cherry, Crystal Light Strawberry Lemonade, MiO Sweet Tea, Great Value Energy Berry Blast, Crystal Light Berry Sangria, Skittles, Crush, Celsius, Stur Drinks Strawberry Watermelon Liquid Water Enhancer, Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea Artificially Flavored Powdered Drink Mix, SONIC Singles To Go Low Calorie, Ocean Water Drink Mix, SONIC Cherry Limeade Drink Mix, Welch’s Strawberry Pach Drink Mix, Starburst Cherry Drink Mix, A&W Drink Mix Packets Sugar Free
