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Hint Flavored Water – A Bridge from Pop to Tap?

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Readers of this blog know where we stand on soft drinks, vitamin waters, and juice drinks. They’re either full of sugar, or full of chemicals. The best hydration solution is tap water and y’all know it.

However, many of us have become so accustomed to flavored beverages that is nearly impossible to drink plain water. Not to mention kids who once sampling apple juice, Kool-Aid or Coke, can’t seem to enjoy water anymore.

Into this

We were recently contacted by Hint, a small company that makes unsweetened, flavored waters. We had a sample case sent to Crystal, a Fooducate blog reader. Here is what she had to say:

I received HINT water in six different flavors.  HINT water is just that, water.  HINT does not have contain any sugar, contains no artificial sweeteners or colors.  What is does contain is water, real fruit flavor and ‘natural’ flavors.    Their motto is “Drink water, not sugar”, which is great!  My family does not drink sodas of any kind, high fructose corn syrup or any food that contains any artificial colors or sweeteners, so I was very happy to be trying this product.  They are available nationally at Whole Foods and Starbucks, and many other grocery stores.

Of the six flavors sent to me (Blackberry, Mango Grapefruit, Strawberry Kiwi, Pomegranate Tangerine, Raspberry Lime, and Watermelon), there was a big difference in perceived sweetness, how close the taste was to product name (did the watermelon taste like watermelon), and how long lasting the taste stayed in your mouth.

Some of the waters were too ‘sweet’ for my tastes (Strawberry Kiwi), but my 17 month old daughter called it ‘juice’, and I felt comfortable giving it to her, knowing it was just water, she drank her whole sippy cup of Strawberry Kiwi HINT ‘juice’.  The Mango Grapefruit was a ‘no go’ for me, it didn’t taste like either fruit, and was just un-enjoyable.  The Mango Grapefruit HINT was the only flavor I did not finish.  The Pomegranate Tangerine had a nice, subtle, refreshing flavor that I really enjoyed, and the Watermelon had a very light ‘hint’ of flavor, I might buy this one.  However, my absolute favorite was Blackberry!    The Blackberry was unbelievably fantastic, true to taste, not overly sweet, and actually made me smile.

As an expecting mom with a toddler, I am always reading labels in the grocery store, and usually walk right by the water section, but now I think I will keep a look out for HINT, for a nice break from my 2 Liter per day water routine.  I would definitely recommend HINT water to my own friends and family.  It would be a great replacement for all those other sugar laden ‘vitamin waters’ for those who just don’t drink tap water.

Thanks for letting me try this product!

What you need to know:

This is an easy product to write about because there is really nothing to say about it nutritionally. No calories, no artificial sweetener, or artificial anything. The company is small and still owned an operated by its founders, a wife and husband duo and parents to 4 kids.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you can avoid buying drinks at the supermarket – good for you. Tap water is safe, free, and abundant. For those who still need some flavor, you can easily add a wedge of lemon or some mint leaves to your water pitcher.

But, if you want the convenience of a prepared drink, Hint may work out well for you.

Disclosure: HINT contacted us and offered to send  us samples. We had them sent to a family of volunteer testers. We did not pay for the samples. We were not paid to post this blog nor were we instructed in any which way regarding its content. In fact, we forewarned the company that we are skeptical and scathing of most  products sent our way. If you would like to have something new and possibly tasty sent to you, why not become a Fooducate Product Tester? Just shoot us an email with your mailing address, telling us why you’d like to be a product tester. blog [at] fooducate [dot] com.

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  • http://www.betterschoolfood.org Dr. Susan Rubin

    I’ve heard that scheme before: “a bridge from soda to tap water”.
    Back when the Two Angry Moms movie was still in post production, Amy Kalafa and I had a meeting with Darrius Bikoff, the owner of Vitamin water. He was a smooth talker, sent us each a giant case of the stuff and then took us out to a fancy vegan restaurant in NYC. Told us that exact line: how Vitamin water was the perfect step for those getting off soda. I didn’t buy it. That was the claim of the “light” cigarette manufacturers too!
    He wanted to fully fund Two Angry Moms. I’m glad Amy didn’t take the money because if she did, I would have walked away from the entire project and there wouldn’t have been a movie.
    A few months later, Darrius sold his company to CocaCola for $4 BILLION dollars.
    IMHO, This HINT product is bad for kids and families and bad for the planet. Here’s why. These “fake flavors” further disconnect kids and their parents to the real thing: fresh clean tap water.
    They are paying thousands of times the cost of water. Parents wasting money on this silliness could be saving money for their kid’s college or something else that will make the world a better place.
    Most importantly, we don’t need another plastic bottle on the planet. Both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are loaded up with plastic garbage. Not to mention the potential for chemical leeching into the already chemicalized “water”.
    Let Lewis Black explain it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGWn-aWn5g

  • phriend of groc

    Yup great idea so I ran with it. I filled my water bottle and added a coupla frozen berries. Not into spending $$ and wasting plastic. Maybe it would be good if they offered something like this at McD’s instead of pop.

  • http://www.awakenedwellness.com Rachel Assuncao

    I agree with Susan. It sounds like another marketing gimick to me. I’m always wary when the words ‘natural flavors’ appears on an ingredient list because there’s no way of knowing what it means. So long as it comes from a ‘natural source’ it can be listed this way, but it can be really adulterated before it ends up in your food and still be labeled as natural.

    Why not just make your own infusions? Pour some water into a beautiful glass pitcher and add some slices of cucumber, melon, tomato or any citrus fruit or a bunch of mint or your favorite herb to it. Let stand for a few hours on the counter or refrigerate overnight. It looks wonderful, tastes amazing, and you know exactly what’s in there.

  • Monica

    What are the “natural” flavors?

  • Paula

    You know the easiest way to infuse water with fruit or herbs? Tea! There’s plenty of fruity or other varieties that have no added flavors (other than the fruit or herbs) or weird ingredients. Plenty are caffeine free too.

  • http://foodtrainers.blogspot.com Lauren Slayton

    I have been a hint fan for a long time. I agree, water is best but compared to Vitamin Water or fake drinks I would choose this in a minute. And get this, they are coming out with a glass bottle.

  • Jeanne

    I read this on the site and bought Hint the other day to try it out. Personally, both my son and I didn’t care for it. My son commented that he’d rather have plain water. On the other hand, it’s important to note that my young daughter, who hates water (why?!), did like the flavor. So for her, it is a decent substitute until we can get her to drink plain water.

  • Nikkimayday

    I personally love hint. Being in my late 20′s I was raised in the Pepsi generation, and for the last 10 years have drank at least a 2 liter a day. Now that im getting older im starting to think of my health and what all of that soda is doing to my body. Even with all the nasties in soda, i found it extremely difficult to transition to plain water, especially during meal times when I’m used to drinking something flavored.

    Hint has really helped me start drinking more water… Tap during the day, and hint at meal time. Even if the “natural flavors” are unknown, it still has to be 98% better than what I WAS puttinG into my body every day.

  • Darla moon

    I was just wondering what the other natural flavors are.

  • Anon2000

    Don’t drink this water. My friend used to work for that company and they don’t pay their employees on time. Since he got the water for free, we replaced our regular water with the hint water and all of our friends got serious migraines. And we drink ALOT of water. Like 8 bottles a day. I had a headache nonstop for 6 days. I got rest, always eat well, bowed down to finally taking headache medicine and NOTHING WORKED. On day 6 I drank 2 liters of smart water and before 30 minutes my headache was gone. I have never had another hint ever again and I haven’t had any headaches either. A lot of my friends coworker quit that company because they don’t let their staff take pictures of black people or Mexicans and they don’t pay people on time

    • Grr headaches

      I too got serious migraines from Hint. I suffer from migraines anyways, but about 5 mins into a bottle of Hint, one will hit me VERY very hard. I’ve tested this several times always with the same result– I wish they had to label what “other natural flavors” was. Does anyone know if this contains Neotame?

      • http://www.facebook.com/larry.raiders Larry Raiders

        Neotame is an artificial sweetener. The bottle clearly states that there are no sweeteners, natural or artificial.

  • Anon2000

    Most people in this economy don’t have almost $2 to spend on one small bottle of hint water and so they probably won’t drink enough to cause migraines. But if water causes headaches, think of the small doses of non-water you are feeding yourself over time. Something is obviously wrong. Water should not cause headaches that another pure water can get rid of what proper rest and food and even headache medicine could not get rid of. Do yourself a favor and drink plain water.

  • http://www.bestsimplediets.com/ Brian

    I honestly can’t figure out why it’s so hard for people to just add some fruit to their water for flavor? Why the need for all these artificial drinks? Get some frozen fruit, extract the juice, put in water. Then you have flavored water with 100% natural fruit, complete with antioxidants!