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How Do You Like it? Water Enhancer With or Without Chemicals

June 28, 2011   52 Comments

If you don't think this little bottle in front of you is cute - you need your eyes checked. The concept - add a some flavor to your water is a good one.

MiO Water Enhancer Review

And, Kraft, has come out with a marketing campaign that is making this stuff FLY off the shelves. My research (spoke to one stocking guy at Stop & Sop) says people are buying it like crazy.

Yes, Snack Girl paid her $4 to try this in the hopes that it would be another route to less soda consumption. MiO is zero calories and promises such flavors as strawberry watermelon, berry pomegranate, and sweet tea.

Here are the ingredients:

mioingredients

What do you think it tasted like? I was hoping for something that tasted like strawberry watermelon - but it was more like a bitter flavor of KoolAid. Yes, dear readers, it was like drinking CHEMICALS - no surprise here since that it what it is made with!

Instead of going on and on about how we need food companies to serve us less chemicals and more FOOD - I am changing the subject.

blueberrytwist

Doesn't that look good? No chemicals here unless you count spices as chemicals. I found this amazing book, "Cool Waters", on Amazon.com (see below). It has 50 recipes on how to infuse water with flavor using fresh fruit, spices, and ZERO sugar.

I know it is hard to believe, but you don't need artificial colors or sweeteners to get some flavor in your water. Sorry, Kraft.

Below is a blueberry lemon flavor (with an added ginger kick). The book also features recipes for strawberry kiwi, watermelon with basil, and pineapple and lime - seriously delicious water.

Take the $4 you would have spent on MiO and buy some fresh blueberries instead. You will love how they taste and they are so much better for you.

Blueberry Twist Recipe

recipe and photo reprinted with permission from "Cool Waters" by Brian Preston-Campbell (serves 4)

1/2 cup fresh blueberries
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 large pinch of ground ginger
1 cup still water
4 cups chilled sparkling water

1. Place the blueberries, lemon zest, ginger, and still water in a blender. Blend on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pitcher.

2. Add the sparkling water, stir gently, and serve.

For one serving - 10 calories, 0 g fat, 3 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 0 g fiber, 0 mg sodium, 0 Points+

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First 20 Comments: ( See all 52 )

I tried mio about 2 months ago. I have to agree it is disgusting. It left an aftertaste in my mouth and I felt like it upset my stomach as well. I'll stick with just plain old water over this! I also felt weird because it was full of color, like was I coloring my insides?!?!?!

i have to disagree. i like the berry pomegranate flavor. i drink a ton of water and sometimes can't take the bland flavor. i figure if it's between not drinking water and drinking some chemicals, i'll take the chemicals.

I saw this one day and out of curiosity, I read the ingredients. It sounds gross on ingredients alone.

Thanks for the book suggestion. I'll be looking for it.

On another note, how come Gatorade hasn't sued Kraft yet for the misleading packaging?

@tea-bag - I didn't try the berry pomegranate - I wish I had tried all of them before I wrote the review but the price was prohibitive. I will keep it in mind next time I go shopping. Thanks for your comment!

Try True Lemon or True Lime packets... it's crystallized lemon and lime in packets. All natural, no presevatives whatsoever.

What a horrifying little bottle! My teenage daughter was just telling me that her friends are really into this stuff - always so scary when kids are the ones drinking this crap.

I wanted also to give a shout-out to Vitamin Water Zero as an alternative to plain water (especially if you're on the run and need to get something at the gas station). From what I've read, it only uses Truvia and a miniscule amount of fructose, no artificial colors, etc. I'd love to see snack girl review these drinks, but as of right now, I haven't seen anything scary about them!

I love water just the way it is and drink it all day long. I have since I was a kid and I'd carry my plastic collapsable cup to school. Thanks for posting this. No need for chemicals when we have fruit if you want to add some taste to your water!

I love drinking sweet delicious (no added flavor) WATER!

water tastes AMAZING if you eat some steamed/boiled ARTICHOKE first!

I'll just stick to the chemicals in my Propel Zero, thank you very much.

Or for pennies a glass you can make some suntea. Or learn to drink plain water. It's good!

I understand some people's need to flavor their water. I live in a place where the water is not delicious. So I filter it and add citrus flavor (lime juice is my favorite).

thanks for the review, sg. i've avoided buying these due to the cost, and wondered how they worked. herbal teabags are the best and quickest way to add flavor that i've found. i'm not a fan of anything carbonated, so i drink tea very often. green, black, oolong, you name it. i'm a huge fan. hot or cold. i love it all. sweet as a treat, unsweet most often. to add some nice flavor to any tea i keep the herbal (celestial seasonings) tea bags on hand and throw one in with my plain black or green tea bags as they brew. they add a nice flavor. you can mix them up or do them on their own: peach, blueberry, apple, and the list goes on. it's 20 tea bags for about $2.50 at our walmarts here in texas so you can't go wrong there! just brew up a peach herbal tea bag all by itself and chill it for your own "flavored water"!

Besides water, there is not one real ingredient in that list. Propylene Glycol is used to make anti-freeze. They also put it in many deodorants and cosmetics - I can't use them because it makes my skin burn. Half of those ingredients are derived from genetically modified corn. What a travesty to the human body.

I've never tried it nor would I ever...sucralose is just another name for Splenda...and who would want to drink/eat/consume something w/that along with the other slew of chemical crap in that?

I'll stick to natural fresh made juice, smoothies and adding my own fruit to water to make a great infused drink.

I work at a tea shop so this time of year I ice so much white tea. It's full of antioxidants and very hydrating and my store only buys loose tea without preservatives, colors, or chemicals. Plus, there are a bazillion yummy flavors!

I remember writing this before but if I want flavor water, I pour boiling water over fruit. It works best with berries and it doesn't need any sweetener. Brown pears are good too. Other than that I enjoy plain water, almost everything else just makes me thirstier.

I have to agree with you snack girl, I bought this in hopes that it would taste like tea, since sometimes it's just a pain in the booty to brew a cup then ice it. I have to say it was gross, it hurt my stomach and my girlfriend tried it as well with the same results too sweet and tastes like chemicals. I think I'll stick to brewing tea.

In response to Mitaukano, you can buy cold brew iced tea bags. Check it out! :)

I have recently embarked on my quest to stop drinking soda. I can't cut it out cold turkey - I drank too much every day, but I'm down to one serving a day and hope to wean myself off it within the next few weeks.

I am lucky in that I've always like drinking water with lemon juice added. I don't even need any sugar with it. But my beverage of choice has become iced Tangerine Zinger tea.

I have a little 4-cup coffee maker at home. It has never seen a single coffee bean. Instead before I get in the shower in the mornings I pour 3 cups of water in, then put 3 teabags into the carafe, and finally turn it on. Before I leave for work, I fill my water bottle (32oz) with ice, then pour the brewed tea over the top of it.

Yum!

I have some berry pomegranite Mio in my drawer at work right now. I bought it on sale. Yuck. There is a reason it is still in my drawer. The crystal lite and even sugar free Hawaiian Punch singles taste better than that stuff. :P

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