Creators take over Tiktok with water recipes

On Tiktok, creators share their recipes for their drinks: water and ice, plus sugar-free syrup and a packet of powder. The taste of the water then resembles a cocktail. The company that sells the sugar-free syrup reports record sales.

Drinking enough water is important. Some take this as a loose motto, others have specific goals for how much water they need or want to drink on a daily basis. For some people, this is easier if the water tastes like something: like a piña colada.

In the Tiktok niche “Watertok”, creators share their recipes: How big is your drinking vessel? How much water is in it, how much ice? Which flavor powder goes in the cup, how much of which sugar-free syrup? The videos have thousands of likes, comments and shares.

For example, a video by creator Tonya mixing her piña colada “Water of the Day” has 250,000 likes, 2,300+ comments, and 8,500+ shares. The video has three million views. By the way, the Stanley Cup is often seen – a large, insulated drinking cup with a capacity of more than one liter, which is already a trend on social media (and has a hefty price):

The hashtag #flavoredwater now has 318.5 million views (as of April 12, 2023). #hydrationtiktok has 8.5 million views, #watertok has 92.1 million. What is impressive is that the majority of the videos are actually thematically related when you first scan them – hashtags are often quickly hijacked by off-topic content in order to use the range.

The syrups used are mostly from Skinny Mixes. They sell syrups and sauces, like those you know from coffee shops: from vanilla to butter toffee to unicorn syrup, which probably tastes sour after the artificial aroma “blue raspberry”, cotton candy and creamy frosting. The “Skinny Syrups” are without calories, without sugar.

Mentioned creator Tonya has a collaboration with the brand and sometimes tags it in her videos, as seen here:

Across from Fast Company says the founder and CEO Jordan Engelhardt that she can hardly save herself from orders and purchases. It is currently impossible to keep the products in stock – the syrups are immediately sold out both in retail and in the online shop. “It’s obviously wonderful for our company,” she says.

There are basically only two camps among the spectators: Some are enthusiastic and report that, thanks to the sugar-free syrups and flavor powders, they are finally drinking more water and no longer reaching for soft drinks and the like. The others energetically discuss whether the drinks are still water – or whether they are already juice because of the flavor packets that are actually used for soft drinks.

While the first emphasize that it is primarily important for their health to reach their water goal, the second group criticizes that the artificial flavors may not be healthy and that pure water would be the better choice.