The 7 Best Water Flavorings of 2025, Tested

Water Flavorings We Also Tested

We tested eight water flavorings and enhancers, but only a small group made it to our final list of recommendations. The following products earned some honorable mentions; however, they ultimately didn’t meet our rigorous testing requirements.

• Buoy Energy Drops mix instantly and cleanly without residue or artificial aftertaste, making them ideal for those who dislike sweet or artificial additives. However, this product lacks clear dosing guidelines and is expensive for the value it provides unless you have very specific needs.
• Cirkul’s Starter Kit is a convenient all-in-one system that requires no mixing or stirring and offers user-controlled flavor strength. However, our testers found it to be overly sweet, with a lingering chemical aftertaste, and an environmentally wasteful design.
• Gatorade Propel Powder is a budget-friendly, familiar, and trusted brand, but the Propel powder fell short due to its gritty texture, overly sweet artificial flavor, and noticeable residue, which made the drink unappealing.
• Magna Magnesium Powered Electrolytes provide a traditional electrolyte flavor experience with added magnesium and a strong hydration focus. But it requires lots of stirring, leaves a mild residue in the bottle, and has an intense flavor that may be too strong for some.

What We’ve Updated

• Since publishing our initial list of the best water flavorings, we tested eight options ourselves, following our rigorous testing guidelines and dietitian recommendations.
• We spoke to a fourth dietitian, Eliza Savage, MS, RD, CDN, who provided guidance on nutritional quality and ingredient integrity of the products we recommend.
• We reworked our superlatives based on reader interest, adding new categories like best organic, best packets, and best zero-calorie.

What to Look for When Shopping for Water Flavorings

• Types of Water Flavorings: Water flavorings come in powdered, tablet, or liquid form. If you prefer to add flavoring to your water on the go, you may want to consider the easy-to-carry, single-serving products, which are generally found as powders and sometimes drops. There are also pre-bottled or canned flavored water options that do not require mixing.
• Electrolytes: Electrolytes help to maintain adequate fluid balance in the body. For most healthy individuals, eating a balanced diet and drinking enough water is sufficient to replenish electrolytes, but you may need more water and electrolytes when you’re exercising, ill, or traveling. In these cases, opting for a water flavoring with added electrolytes can be beneficial, as an electrolyte imbalance can result in a host of adverse effects on the body.
• Caffeine: There is often a concern about caffeine having a strong diuretic effect, but truthfully, moderate caffeine consumption (up to 400 milligrams a day) has been found to only have a minor, short-term effect. Choosing a water flavoring with caffeine is a personal preference, so consider how caffeine makes you feel. Some find caffeine gives them a helpful, added energy boost, while others can feel jittery and experience gastrointestinal discomfort, depending on the individual and the dosage.
• Sweeteners and Flavorings: It may be hard to drink enough water if you are used to drinking soda or juice, which tastes a lot sweeter. However, many of our picks provide plenty of flavor while leaving out excess sugar. Non-nutritive sweeteners like sugar alcohols, monk fruit, and stevia—deemed safe when used in moderation—are other ways to provide sweetness, but not everyone tolerates them well.

How We Tested the Water Flavorings

After narrowing down dozens of water flavorings to eight dietitian-approved options, we tested each one following a consistent rubric and paying close attention to aroma, taste, and texture, along with the ingredients list. When evaluating for each criterion, we focus on these key factors:

• Texture: Water should be a smooth experience. We tested each product to see how easily the water flavoring was incorporated into the mix and left it to settle to evaluate for clumping, separation and residue. Water flavorings that received a high texture score seamlessly blended in with our H2O. 
• Aftertaste: Alternative sweeteners, flavorings and other common ingredients can all contribute to a lingering aftertaste. After tasting each water flavoring, we evaluated whether any artificial flavor notes were present and, if so, noted how long they took to dissipate.  
• Smell and Taste: Smell impacts taste! When tasting each water flavoring, we noted whether the smell and taste aligned with its advertised flavor. Flavorings that received high scores for smell and taste won’t leave you expecting one thing and getting another. 
• Value: We looked at total price and crunched the numbers on cost per serving to disclose costs and share the best value water flavorings. 
• Ingredients List: We consulted with dietitians to evaluate the ingredient lists of each water flavoring we tested. We prioritized options with natural or no sweeteners and without food dyes. We also favored options with 20 or fewer calories per serving. 

Our Experts

The following experts provided insight into how water flavorings can help keep you hydrated and offered guidance on ingredients to consider when choosing which ones to add to your water.

• Callie Exas, MPH, MS, RDN, a New York–based registered dietitian and women’s health specialist who runs Callie Exas Nutrition & Wellness.
• Alena Kharlamenko, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietitian who specializes in health and nutrition research and supplement testing.
• Anne Cook Carroll, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietitian who works with patients to meet their health goals, including athletes looking to improve their performance.
• Eliza Savage, MS, RD, CDN, a New York–based registered dietitian and published author who holds a Master’s in Clinical Nutrition from New York University.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it okay to drink flavored water every day? 

Plain water should still make up the majority of your daily water intake but adding some doses of flavor along the way is a great way to stick to your hydration routine. Try alternating between plain and flavored each time you refill your water bottle.

What’s the healthiest flavoring to add to water?

If you want to add some flavor to your water with the simplest ingredient list consider adding fresh fruit, vegetables or herbs. Melon, berries, citrus, cucumber or fresh mint are just a few of the ways you can infuse water with flavor that is free of additives and calories. If you want to opt for a store-bought water flavoring, Clear Theory Water Booster is our top choice.

Can you drink flavored water if you have diabetes?

Being well-hydrated is an overlooked aspect of diabetes management. Water is very helpful for overall blood sugar balance. When using a flavoring, opt for products that use natural, sugar-free fruit flavorings or contain alternative sweeteners that are shown to have little to no glycemic impact, such as stevia, monk fruit, or sugar alcohols (allulose or erythritol, for example).

Does flavored water hydrate you?

Yes, the base of flavored water is still water, so the science of hydration theoretically works the same whether you are drinking plain tap water or you decided to start drinking water with added flavor. For certain groups of people, such as endurance athletes or people who find that they sweat heavily, drinking flavored water with added carbohydrates and electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, may further improve hydration.

Why Trust Verywell Fit

Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC, is a Verywell Fit writer, registered dietitian nutritionist, certified athletic trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and author of nine cookbooks. Dana is the sports dietitian and clinical professor of Athletic Training and Sports Medicine at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She has been practicing as a dual-credentialed clinician for over 15 years, working with adolescent, collegiate, and professional athletes. For this article, Dana hands-on tested several water flavors and evaluated their ingredient lists.

Additional reporting contributed by Casey Seiden

​​Casey Seiden, MS, RD, CDCES, is a Verywell Fit writer, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist. She specializes in pre- and postnatal health for women, with a specific focus on blood sugar and diabetes management. Additionally, Casey is the dietitian at Maternal Fetal Medicine Associates in Manhattan and the owner of the online private practice Casey Seiden Nutrition. For this article, she reviewed insights from our experts and the Verywell Fit testing team to determine the best types of water flavorings and what to avoid. Each flavoring was assessed based on ingredients like electrolytes, additives, and artificial flavors or sweeteners. She prioritized options that include simple ingredients without unnecessary additives.