These Healthy-Ish Sodas on Amazon Make Really Fun Cocktails
Poppi, the popular gut-friendly soda, is my cocktail secret ingredient.
Photo Courtesy of Poppi
Whenever I get bored of my same-old gin and tonic, I’m not sure where to turn. I don’t like club soda as a mixer; the liquor comes through too strongly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, ginger ale and cola taste great, but they’re so sticky-sweet that I don’t want to drink them often.
Enter Poppi: The company advertises its prebiotic, apple cider vinegar-enhanced drink as a low-calorie, low-sugar alternative to mainstream sodas. In contrast with sparkling waters that embrace fruity flavors, Poppi also evokes classics like root beer and grape. Poppi is bolder in flavor compared to seltzer, but it’s much less sweet than a standard soda, which makes it an excellent mixer for cocktails and mocktails.
Whenever I’m in the mood for a quick cocktail at home, Poppi is my go-to for mixing up something that tastes good without a lot of effort. Here’s why I’m a fan.
All About Poppi
Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth started drinking apple cider vinegar over a decade ago to relieve her gut health issues. The problem was, she could hardly stand the taste. She started experimenting in her kitchen, hoping to come up with a fruity, shelf-stable drink that would make the vinegar taste good. Allison’s husband Stephen helped her develop a vinegar-infused soda, which they named Mother Beverage. The duo began selling it at a nearby farmers’ market in Texas.
The soda was an immediate success. After only three weeks, a buyer from Whole Foods helped them put it on local shelves. The Ellsworths quit their jobs and soon appeared on Shark Tank, where they received an investment. They rebranded the soda as Poppi and officially launched in 2020.
- Flavors: Poppi comes in 12 flavors inlcuding Lemon Lime, Wild Berry, Strawberry Lemon, Orange, Doc Pop, Ginger Lime, Raspberry Rose, Grape, Cherry Limeade, Watermelon, Classic Cola and Root Beer.
- Ingredients: Poppi is sweetened with a few different ingredients. It contains organic cane sugar, stevia and agave inulin, which doubles as a sweetener and prebiotic. Each can also contains about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, which may help with digestion. It’s flavored with juice and natural flavors. Note that some of the flavors, like Classic Cola and Doc Pop, contain caffeine while others, like Ginger Lime, do not.
- Nutrition Facts: Each 12-ounce can contains 25 calories or fewer, five grams of sugar or fewer and two grams of dietary fiber.
- Price: A 12-pack of 12-ounce cans from Poppi’s website ranges from $23.97 to $29.99, depending on the flavor. A 12-pack of 16-oz Wild Berry costs $35.88. This is an average of two to three times more than the average 12-pack of mainstream soda.
Photo Courtesy of Poppi
How I Drink Poppi
I do enjoy Poppi on its own. I find it to be a great afternoon pick-me-up at the office and a fun nonalcoholic beverage to sip on at dinnertime. My favorite flavors are Ginger Lime, because I love all things ginger, and Raspberry Rose because it’s unique. I’m not big on florals, but the rose taste is subtle, almost fruity. I also like Strawberry Lemon when I want something summery.
If you’re looking for an alternative to regular soda, I’d say the Orange and Lemon Lime are the best dupes of mainstream brands. Coca-Cola is my favorite soda in general, and while Classic Cola Poppi grew on me the longer I drank it, it’s going for a more old-fashioned taste that I personally don’t prefer — less sweet and with a flavor almost like root beer. Lemon Lime, on the other hand, is strongly reminiscent of Sprite.
Would I ditch sugary sodas altogether for Poppi? No. Nothing beats a syrupy-sweet fountain soda at the movies, in my opinion. However, I drink Poppi much more often without fretting about how much sugar is in it, and it lends itself better to mixed drinks than the average soda.
How I Use Poppi in Mixed Drinks
Poppi is flavorful but light, which is the perfect balance for cocktails. It can stand up to other ingredients, including liquor, without overpowering them. Use Poppi to add bubbles to a margarita, top off a highball or mix with your favorite flavored syrups. The wide array of flavors offers endless creative possibilities.
I tried spinning a couple of classic cocktails into Poppi-fied versions. To make a Moscow Mule, I combined vodka, fresh lime juice, ginger liqueur (a personal favorite) and topped it off with Ginger Lime Poppi. It was much less sweet than a standard Moscow Mule, which uses ginger beer, but the amped-up ginger and lime flavors still made the drink bold and refreshing.
I also tried a couple of variations on a margarita. I started by following a recipe for an orange-jalapeño drink on Poppi’s Instagram; the only change I made was swapping the tequila for mezcal. I had a lot of fun mixing it up, and I found the result impressively balanced and flavorful: smoky, spicy, sweet and tangy, all in one. I followed the same outline to make a pared-down version with just mezcal, lime juice, honey and Lemon-Lime Poppi, plus a Tajin rim. I preferred the orange version — the fresh orange juice really takes it over the top — but it proved to be a flexible recipe.
I also drew from the flavors themselves to make up some new combinations. The winner was Raspberry Rose Poppi with vodka, fresh lime juice and a rose syrup my friend had left at my apartment. I think gin would have been even better at bringing out the floral notes, but I was happy with how it turned out.
Poppi cocktails are clearly forgiving, but I do have a few tips for success. Don’t be afraid of adding liqueurs and syrups; they boost the flavors in Poppi without covering them up. Fresh citrus juice adds necessary brightness and acidity. A spoonful of honey blends well with every combination I tried and rounds things out, but surprisingly, agave seemed to clash with the other flavors. Maybe since Poppi already uses an agave-based sweetener, the flavor stood out too much to me. Lastly, one can of Poppi perfectly makes two drinks, so these are great to share with a friend.
Where Is Poppi Sold?
Poppi is sold on the company’s website, Amazon and major retailers including Costco, Whole Foods, Kroger, Target, Publix and 7-Eleven.
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