Plenty of zero-calorie flavored waters now line shelves at convenience stores and super markets, and they make meeting that daily 64-ounce quota much more palatable. These waters are often sweetened with sucralose (Splenda), a great sugar knock-off (think Aquafina FlavorSplash, Dasani flavored waters, etc.). But like its artificial sweetner predecessors, sucralose has its critics. Whole Foods Market won't sell products made with the sweetner because, among other reasons, it's a chloronated compound. Whether or not sucralose is the safest sweetner on the market, flavored waters don't have to be sweet at all. Here's some unsweetened agua that makes hydration tasty, not a task.

Walter Cruz / DMN

Metromint

Web site: www.metromint.com
Flavors: Peppermint, spearmint, lemonmint, orangemint
Ingredients: Purified water and mint; the fruit flavors also have orange essence or lemon essence
Description: Metromint is the only brand of this lot to offer a cool mint aftertaste in all its bottles. It was the first "essence water" to hit my radar a couple of years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with it. But since then, competitors have hit the shelves with more flavors to choose from than M.M.'s mere four.
Bonus: Each flavor's "chill factor" is displayed on the front of the bottle, with peppermint being the coolest and orangemint being the least minty. Sleek, skinny packaging, too.
Score: 4 out of 5 lunch bags

Read the full review

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