No soda challenge with Waterdrop
No this is no fancy cocktail and actually, it is ordinary water, just with some flavor.
At the beginning of July, I started seeing these advertisements for waterdrop® (https://en.waterdrop.com/pages/what-is-waterdrop) everywhere on my social media. I was slacking a bit in the water drinking department and barely got 1 liter in at that time and was upping the rest of my fluid intake with about the same amount of Cola Zero. So the advertising did its job and I purchased a big 1l steel bottle, a 600ml steel bottle, and the starter set with 6 “cold” flavors. Even before they arrived I placed a second order with another 500ml steel bottle and the big packs of the same and additional flavors that weren’t in the starter pack. Tip from the wise, wait till you have tried the flavor before ordering the bigger packs as some flavors sound ok but may not exactly be to your taste.
However, a lot about the taste is up to you. You can already solve the drop, or flavor cube, in a smaller amount of water and then dilute with more water; you can use less water in case you want more flavor; you can use sparkling water or even hot water for the drops that are indicated as cold drinks as well.
As they launched 2 new flavors since I discovered waterdrop®, they now have 13 micro drop flavors and 4 micro tea flavors. The 3 main ingredients are mentioned on the pack and none of them contain sugar. They are mainly fruit extract, plant extract, or berries with added vitamins and minerals without any preservatives in a little cube. For some flavors, you may have to shake your bottle a bit, but most of them dissolve without any stirring and it is kind of zen to see this process happen. That is why I also bought a glass bottle. These glass bottles come with a sleeve to keep the drink cooler a bit longer and give the bottle some extra protection. However, I don’t dare take mine out of the house as I’m afraid it will fall and shatter to pieces.
My latest order also contained a taster pack of teas and only drank them cold so far, and there is one flavor I favor the least. But maybe hot this might be very nice.
For the flavors that aren’t really your thing you can use more water, e.g. 1 liter, and combine a lesser drop with the one you actually like very much.
I looked at these drops as a way to cut my soda intake, so I didn’t try the suggestion yet that was given in one of the Facebook groups to mix tonic with a “clean” drop. But it has been said that this would mimic the taste of a g&t. On the official socials of waterdrop® and also on the aforementioned Facebook groups you can find actual cocktail and mocktail recipes with the drops, or flavor combination suggestions.
When new flavors are launched they also launch new bottles and some other merchandising, so be aware that this can be quite addictive.
As those new flavors are temporary in stock it can be a guessing game on how much to order and how soon they will be sold out. They also brought an old favorite flavor of many back and while sales for this flavor were limited to 2 boxes per person they were sold out in less than 24 hours.
I’m now close to 90 days without Soda. I didn’t reach my 2-liter goal each day and if you use the drops with natural caffeïne in them you actually should drink a bit more. However, if you want to reach that goal of 2 liters and you want to be rewarded when you do this each day, you can download the waterdrop® Hydration App. The app gives you a nice overview of which drops you use the most and when you obtain certain streaks of days when you reached your goal you can also earn points in the waterdrop® club when you are a member.
Becoming a member of this waterdrop® club, even before doing your first purchase is beneficial. You will earn points when visiting the website, liking on Facebook, following on Instagram, purchasing products, or returning the empty blister packs to an official waterdrop® store. When you have enough points you can exchange them for free products such as bottles, coasters, tumblers, beach towels, cups, bags, etc.
That first order took about 10 days to arrive, but later orders came all in around 7 days and when I didn’t receive a track and trace code or my package showed delivered and it wasn’t the customer support team was very helpful. Also when a box of drops was missing they solved it swiftly by offering extra club points or sending another box (unfortunately the one ordered was a very limited edition, so it wasn’t the same flavor, but it had the same value).
However, I can’t wait for my delivery of the Advent calendars somewhere in November.
If you tried it, are you as excited about this product as I am, and what is your favorite flavor, or didn’t you like it?
