The 3 Best Hydration Drink Mixes Compared

Discover our Favorite Electrolyte Drink Mix

This is a different kind of post for the Bubbly Side of Life, but an important one for all of us who love traveling and enjoying all the bubbly! We are going to be taking a look at hydration drink mixes. We took a few along with us to Bubbles Fest as a proactive measure to stay hydrated while we were tasting bubbly for basically 2 full days. Now we are breaking down which ones we loved and which ones we didn’t.

Why Hydration Drink Mixes?

I have always loved wine tasting…in fact when people ask me my favorite hobby that’s usually my answer. And I lived 30 minutes outside of Oregon Wine Country…what else is there to do in the rainy, winter months?

And as hard as I try, once I start wine tasting I don’t drink water (even if I bring it with me). Why? I have no clue. I mean my normal water consumption on any given day is 100+ ounces of water…no I am not kidding. I love water. Plain water. Sparkling water. I love it all. So, yes, it’s odd that once I start drinking the real bubbly, I stop drinking the H2O.

So, I had to come up with a fix for the fact that I generally stop drinking water and dehydration issues follow shortly after. Once I discovered how good these hydration drink mixes were, I had to dig in and try all the competition.

So, when I brought my girlfriends to Bubbles Fest in Oregon, I armed them all with Liquid IV so that we could be proactive in our hydration before tasting over 20 different bubblies each day. And we all loved it and the results. So, I came home and promptly ordered the competitors that were coming up on my Instagram feed.

The Good, the Bad, and the Rehydrated

Now keep in mind, I am not a medical professional at all. And I am just reading labels and websites, trying products and seeing how I feel afterward. This post is not sponsored by any of the hydration drink mixes and all opinions are entirely my own. This is simply me wanting to add the best product to my daily routine and doing my homework to choose the right one for me.

The Competition

I ordered Hydrant in grapefruit (because in my opinion any flavored grapefruit is amazing) and Drip Drop sample pack which came with berry and lemon. And I already had the lemon-lime from Liquid IV from our trip to Bubbles Fest.

Liquid Comparison

As I was digging into the research on all three of these hydration drink mixes the one statistic that stuck out the most to me was on the Liquid IV packaging: 1 stick = 3 bottles of water. Basically, 16oz of water + 1 Liquid IV = 48 oz. And I was looking for a similar statistic on the other two, but it wasn’t there. So I kept digging to be able to actually compare products.

Hydrant

Ok, now I have to be honest, once I tasted the Hydrant, I gave up on the research aspect. Remember what I just said above about my love for grapefruit flavor….well this was awful! And at first I blamed the fact that I had brushed my teeth just a few minutes before, but I tried it 3 more times and officially gave up.

Now the nice part of Hydrant, is you can use one pack in 8 oz of water, but even ice cold water, I could barely get it down. So that one was automatically out in my research and sadly, Amazon won’t take back my unopened pack.

Head to head: Liquid IV vs Drip Drop

Similarities

Both are backed by doctors.

Both are 1 stick to 16 oz of water.

Both of them refer to hydration being needed for travel, workouts/sports, high temperatures/being in the sun, over-indulgence/too much bubbly tasting :), and even to fight illness/stay well.

The biggest difference I found came directly from their websites.

Built on 50 years of proven science, DripDrop ORS is a patented Oral Rehydration Solution that treats and prevents dehydration.
With 3x the electrolytes and ½ the sugar of sports drinks, DripDrop ORS hydrates more effectively that water or sports drinks.
DripDrop

Liquid I.V.’s Hydration Multiplier is a great-tasting, daily electrolyte drink mix that utilizes the breakthrough science of Cellular Transport Technology (CTT)™ to deliver hydration to your bloodstream faster and more efficiently than water alone.
Liquid IV

They do basically the same thing. Use electrolytes to help get your system hydrated faster than plain water.

The Taste Test

Since I have been doing this hydration drink mixes experiment, I wanted to keep everything as consistent as possible. I would fill a 16.9 oz water bottle almost to the top and then put it into the freezer for about 30 minutes. If I am not ready for my hydration stick quite yet, then I put that in the fridge until I am. Bottom line, I like to drink these drinks REALLY cold.

I tasted the DripDrop and really enjoyed it, in fact, from initial taste I thought it was better than Liquid IV. I have been drinking the lemon-lime Liquid IV and that taste took me a bit to get used to.

I do have a friend that loves to drink her water hot…all day long. So when it was time for Liquid IV, she put it in hot water. Both Drip Drop and Liquid IV say that you can use them in cold or hot water.

The Labels

Since I didn’t have anything conclusive from my taste test or website research, it was time to sit down to compare nutrition labels.

Liquid IV has less calories, sugar, and carbs than Drip Drop. And no, I am not a nutrition counter, but that seemed like an important differentiator especially when you’re adding it to your diet each day. It’s also important to note that DripDrop is 2 servings per packet. Which seems awfully silly to me, since what on earth would I do with half a packet.

UPDATE: As of April 2021, Drip Drop also has 2 different sizes, an 8 oz and 16 oz. Comparing the 16oz Drip Drop to Liquid I.V. (which goes into 16oz of water) the above information is still accurate.

Liquid IV also has other vitamins like Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12 which if you’re anything like me, I need all the help I can get with getting these vitamins.

The Winner Is….

Liquid IV won for me. I definitely think it was the best hydration drink mix overall. I don’t mind the taste and its nutrition facts are better than DripDrop.

I personally buy them directly from Liquid IV mainly because they have all the flavors readily available unlike stores like Costco and Amazon. And they did give me a code: BUBBLY22 to use that is always 20% off and free shipping.

I included all three of them to the Stay Healthy Travel Pack list on Amazon if you want to do your own experiment.

And by the way, since I am asked all the time, my favorite flavors are lemon-lime, tangerine and sugar free lemon lime. If you like passion fruit, that one tastes exactly like it.

Get your own and let us know how you like it! If you’re anything like us, you’ll never want to run out of stock!

Sugar Free Electrolyte Drink Mix

By popular demand, Liquid IV created several sugar free hydration drink mixes for all those wanting to cut down on the amount of sugar. Personally, I have had to run to Costco and stock up on the sugar free lemon-lime when it was on sale to make sure I don’t run out.

The sugar free electrolyte drink mix has less flavor than its sugar counterpart. And by that I mean, it doesn’t linger on the palate as long, not that it’s a bad flavor.

Are We Still Enjoying Hydration Drink Mixes?

When we created this blog post in 2020, we just started trying out the whole electrolyte drink mix craze. And now, Liquid IV has many new flavors and there are so many more hydration drink mixes on the market now!

As with anything, you need to find the electrolyte drink mix that works for you, your body and your lifestyle. Liquid IV won’t be the perfect hydration drink mix for everyone and that’s ok. The important this is that you’re hydrating in a way that makes you feel good.