There’s something about the latest and supposedly greatest health crazes that make me raise a skeptical eyebrow. Sure, kale is OK. But you lose me at tempeh, wheatgrass shakes and kombucha.
As you can imagine, my BS radar was ready to go off as I dialed into a call with DRINKMaple Co-Founder Kate Weiler about the company’s maple water offering. After speaking with her, though, it’s easy to see how this locally grown beverage startup has flourished in the last year or so.
Maple water is making waves
DRINKmaple taps into maple trees, taking their sap (which is naturally light and far from syrupy) and pasteurizing it so it’s a potable. When we last checked in with the company in 2014, it was fresh off of its launch and only in about 20 stores throughout the Greater Boston area.
"We actually don’t even add an ‘S’ to ingredients. It just says ‘ingredient.’”
Not the case anymore. Weiler and other Co-Founder Jeff Rose have grown their startup significantly since then, showing up on shelves in around 1,200 stores in different parts of the US, UK and Australia.
With the company becoming so popular so quickly, you can’t help but wonder whether this growth is only a product of yet another health food fad that will soon fade. Weiler doesn’t think so.
“There is a trend of people trying to go back to simple ingredients, looking at labels and making sure the ingredients are clean,” Weiler explained. “We fit into that. But we’re not just another fad.”
“Other fad waters are forcing the issues,” she added. “They try to make their waters more palatable with sweeteners and other additives. We’re taking what’s coming straight from the tree and that’s what people are loving about it.”
She pointed out that maple water has been around for hundreds of years, so it’s not like they’re creating anything new. They’re just bottling it and making it readily available year-round.
Jury's still out - sort of
Weiler, who has a Masters in Nutrition from Northeastern and is an IRONMAN triathlete, claims that maple water is better than your run-of-the-mill H2O because it contains micronutrients. These include electrolytes, calcium, maganese and malic acid. The latter two are believed by some to help with blood sugar control and muscle fatigue respectively. However, there’s still not enough scientific evidence to ensure those claims are solid.
Weiler referenced a study conducted at the University of Rhode Island that proved the benefits of maple water. However, that’s only one case, and it supported maple water being a "functional" consumer beverage when pasteurized, not necessarily that it had any health benefits.
It still hydrates and they're still growing
Even though the benefits of these micronutrients may be pending further proof, maple water is definitely not terrible for you. Unlike maple syrup, maple water isn’t condensed so it's not sticky-sweet. In fact, maple water has about half the sugar of coconut water, and its sweet source is the tree’s photosynthesis - not outside sweeteners.
On top of that, DRINKmaple is all-natural, straight from the tree and contains no additives.
“A lot of people look at the label and expect to see ‘citric acid’ or some other ingredient listed,” Weiler told me. “They’re surprised when nothing else is there. We actually don’t even add an ‘S’ to ingredients. It just says ‘ingredient.’”
Also, it’s important to note that maple water does a bang-up job in the hydration department. For those of us who have to consciously chug plain old water - myself included - the sap could be a tastier alternative.
“People who have initially been attracted to maple water are healthy, active consumers,” she said. “There are also people who don’t like the taste of regular water, know importance of hydration, but don’t get enough.”
What’s on tap for DRINKmaple? Weiler said they’ll be tackling the Pacific Northwest and most of California in 2016, which have been untouched so far. As the startup continues to grow, the Co-Founder made a point of saying they want to keep it personal.
“We’re still growing in a methodical way,” Weiler clarified. “We’re not going just anywhere and everywhere. We want to be in-person. We want to educate, do samplings and demos for people."
Image provided.
