I Tried Jetty, the New Drink Brand by the Co-Founders of Poppi
Here’s how it tastes — and what a dietitian has to say.
Energizing, hydrating, protein-boosted or gut-friendly — whatever beverage you're reaching for, chances are, you're asking it to do something good for you while tasting good, too.
Husband and wife duo Allison and Stephen Ellsworth founded the prebiotic soda brand Poppi in 2018 with that idea in mind. The drinks contain apple cider vinegar and less sugar than traditional sodas. The brand became a big enough success that PepsiCo bought it for nearly $2 billion last year.
This week, the Ellsworths announced their new better-for-you beverage brand: jetty. I met with Allison Ellsworth in October to learn about the new products and taste the lineup ahead of their launch.
What is jetty?
Jetty is a self-described “hydration brand” offering bottled electrolyte drinks and powders for mixing into water. As opposed to typical electrolyte products, jetty is geared towards everyday consumers rather than pro athletes.
“Consumers are leaving traditional sports drinks and looking for better-for-you ways to hydrate,” Stephen Ellsworth, CEO and Co-Founder of jetty, says in a press release. “These brands have long been engineered for men, athletes, exercise and performance.”
In contrast, jetty is meant for “people navigating work, travel, social plans, parenting, late nights, early mornings and everything in between,” he says.
The inspiration for jetty came from Chief Brand Officer Allison Ellsworth's struggle to stay hydrated.
“Like many Americans, I was suffering from chronic dehydration,” she says in the press release. “I went to the grocery store and noticed every electrolyte drink I found was made for high-performance athletes, high in sodium and full of artificial ingredients, and there was no brand I related to.”
Jetty products contain “100mg of sodium, 310mg of potassium, 100mg of magnesium, B vitamins and prebiotics, alongside 6g of sugar and 45 calories per bottle” and no artificial colors or sweeteners, the brand says.
So far, jetty comes in five flavors — Watermelon, Orange Mango, Fruit Punch, Black Raspberry and White Cherry — in both bottled and powdered forms.
What do dietitians think of jetty?
We asked a dietitian if jetty is actually good for you.
“Looking at the jetty labels, there appears to be some mindfulness regarding ingredient quality, using coconut water as a base along with Himalayan sea salt and plant-based colors,” registered dietitian and certified athletic trainer Dana White tells us.
She cautions that it's dangerous to consume too many B-vitamins, but they're safe at low levels.
“Like many popular beverages, jetty is filled with several unnecessary extra B-vitamins, some of which can be toxic in large doses,” she says. “The amount in one drink is not concerning but when combined with other sources can stack up quickly.”
She also adds that the amount of electrolytes in jetty is “miniscule.” As the brand says, it's meant for everyday activities, not as a substitute for Gatorade during your next workout.
How does jetty taste?
I was among the first to try jetty's bottled drinks in advance of the brand's launch, and here are my thoughts:
I reached for the Orange Mango flavor first, since that's the flavor I'd normally gravitate towards. I thought it tasted light and refreshing, but surprisingly, it was my least favorite of the lineup.
I enjoyed the Watermelon flavor more than I expected. It reminded me of the classic Jolly Rancher but with more of a real fruit taste — and there's a reason for that. Ellsworth asked us if, as food editors, we could taste the secret ingredient, and we were stumped. Turns out cucumber gives it that spa water quality.
The Fruit Punch was also nostalgic for me — it tasted just like the Capri-Sun. Reading the label, I couldn't believe how little sugar it contained because it reminded me so strongly of those childhood juice pouches.
My favorite flavor was easily the Black Raspberry. My colleague and I commented that we’ve rarely seen raspberry-flavored drinks and have never had one that tasted convincingly like the fruit. (Honestly, the only comparison that comes to mind is the White Claw flavor, which hardly tastes like berry at all.) But this one definitely tastes like raspberry and offers something a little different than the other drinks you’ll find in the increasingly packed beverage coolers at the grocery store. I could see myself buying a bottle in the future.
(Full disclosure, I declined to try the White Cherry flavor purely based on personal preference. As in: I despise cherry-flavored anything and didn't believe jetty would change my mind.)
Overall, I thought jetty did a good job of tasting refreshing and juicy over cloyingly sweet while minimizing that stevia aftertaste so many of us dislike. The drinks do contain some stevia in addition to cane sugar and fruit juice, but I could overlook it. Personally, I was also relieved to read those nutrition labels and find zero grams of protein there.
Where and when can you buy jetty?
You can get jetty now, online at Target and Amazon and on shelves at Whole Foods nationwide. Note that Target currently only stocks the bottled version.
Shop jetty
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