The healthiest drink is a no-brainer (water!). But here are 10 healthy options if you want a hint of fruit flavor or juice, a low-sugar soda, an unsweet iced tea or coffee, or a low-cal non-alcoholic beverage. 

A serving of any of them is low in calories (40 or less) and, of course, modest in sugar (7 grams or less). All are either unsweetened or add only a teaspoon of sugar or a splash of fruit juice, stevia extract, or monk fruit extract. Those extracts are safer bets than the sucralose, acesulfame potassium, and aspartame that are used to sweeten Diet Coke, Crystal Light, and many other diet drinks.

This article comes from  Nutrition Action. We don't accept any paid advertising or corporate or government donations. Any products we recommend have been vetted by our staff and are not advertisements by the manufacturers.  

1. Unsweetened flavored sparkling water or drops

LaCroix, Bubly, Polar, AHA, Nixie, Waterloo. Whatever your preference, there’s a brand of calorie-free carbonated water with natural flavors and no sweeteners for you. Prefer stronger flavors? Try Waterloo. Less fizz? Try Bubly. Fun seasonal flavors? Try Polar.

Using an at-home sparkling water maker? Ways to flavor yours: 

• Buy a bottle of natural flavor with no added sweeteners like SodaStream Bubly Drops or Ninja Thirsti Seltzer
• Squeeze in a wedge of lemon or lime
• Toss in a lightly mashed slice of cucumber and sprig of fresh mint 

2. Sparkling water with a splash of real fruit juice or purée

“Taste is everything,” says Spindrift’s website…and its drinks deliver. They use just a splash of fruit juice and/or purée to turn sparkling water into a special treat.

That gives every 12 oz. can of Spindrift Sparkling Water only 5 to 20 calories and 0 to 4 grams of sugar. The refreshing flavors go beyond Lemon or Lime to pairings like Peach Strawberry or Blood Orange Tangerine. There are also lightly fizzy lemonades and fruit-tea combos like Mango Black Tea or Half Tea & Half Lemon.

New sparkling San Pellegrino Ciao! takes a page out of the same playbook and adds a little juice (plus natural flavor), but even less of it: Each 11 oz. can has just 5 to 10 calories and 0 or 1 gram of sugar. 

Spindrift and Ciao! cost about $1 per can. For a homemade money-saving version, start with plain sparkling water and add a couple tablespoons of fresh-squeezed juice from a lemon, lime, or clementine. Or lightly crush a handful of fresh or thawed frozen berries in the bottom of the glass before you pour.

3. Stevia- or fruit-sweetened soda

Want a healthyish soda? Zevia, Poppi, and Spindrift do far better on calories, sugar, and ingredients than regular sugary sodas or big diet brands.

Stevia-sweetened Zevia Zero Sugar Soda is an easy swap for diet soda: zero sugar, zero calories, and no food dyes or risky low-calorie sweeteners (sucralose, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, or aspartame). Its 17 flavors run the gamut from Lemon Lime Twist to Ginger Root Beer. There’s even a Caffeine Free Cola.  

Then there’s more-expensive Poppi Prebiotic Soda. Its gut health pitch is weak (here’s why), but you might prefer its taste. Like Zevia, Poppi is sweetened with stevia extract. But it also adds some sugar (up to 4 grams per can), fruit juice, and a dash of apple cider vinegar, which yields a nice sweet-tart blend and helps tamp down the aftertaste that some folks detect from stevia.  

Poppi’s sugar and juice gives each 12 oz. can 25 to 35 calories. That’s still less than many flavors from competitor Olipop (35 to 50 calories). And it beats a regular Coke (140 calories) by a mile. 

On the downside, some people are sensitive to the inulin or other prebiotic fibers in Poppi (or Olipop), which can cause gas. If that’s you, try Spindrift Soda. Its pitch: “No tricks, no shortcuts, no unnecessary additions like prebiotics or fiber.” 

Spindrift’s new sodas are sweetened with 30 to 40 calories’ worth of fruit juices, purées, and extracts, but no stevia and no added sugar. Those fruity ingredients mean you get to choose from flavors like Ginger Ale, Orange Cream Float, and Shirley Temple. Just don’t expect any colas, root beers, or Dr Pepper dupes. With no stevia, Spindrift Sodas are a lot less sweet-tasting than Poppi or Zevia. For some, that’s a plus. 

A note on caffeine

Spindrift Sodas don’t add caffeine, but Zevia and Poppi flavors that mimic typical caffeinated sodas have roughly as much caffeine as half a cup of coffee (38 to 55 milligrams per can). The caffeine crew includes: 

• Zevia: Cola, Cherry Cola, Dr Zevia, Mountain Zevia, Vanilla Cola
• Poppi: Alpine Blast, Cherry Cola, Classic Cola, Doc Pop

Other flavors of Poppi and Zevia have no added caffeine. 

4. Water enhancers without food dyes or artificial sweeteners

“Water enhancers” are tiny bottles of concentrated liquid sweetness designed to flavor your water. The concept—just one zero-calorie squeeze of the concentrate does the trick—is brilliant. You’re not buying a big plastic bottle (or bottles), you can take it with you on the go, you can add as much or as little flavor as you like, and you spend less per serving than you would on most beverages. 

The problem: additives. Mio Berry Pomegranate, for example, gets its sweetness from sucralose and acesulfame potassium and its color from Red 40 and Blue 1 food dyes (all of which we rate as “avoid”). Ditto for Crystal Light Blueberry Raspberry liquid water enhancer. 

In contrast, Stur—available in some supermarkets and on sturdrinks.com—is an ingredient upgrade. Its Blue & Blackberry water enhancer, for example, gets its sweetness from stevia extract and its color from dashes of fruit and vegetable juice.

Tip: The drops can jazz up sparkling water, too. A squeeze of Stur in a glass of plain seltzer beats a bottle of a colorful, sweet fizzy drink like Sparkling Ice or Bubly Burst. Both are sweetened with acesulfame potassium and/or sucralose.

5. Powdered drink mixes without food dyes or artificial sweeteners 

Like water enhancer liquids (see No. 4), powdered drink mixes have pluses and minuses. You can stockpile dozens of servings without lugging plastic bottles home from the supermarket, you can easily find calorie-free and low-calorie versions, and you can dilute the powder in enough water to suit your taste buds. But Crystal Light and most other big brands of mixes use sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and/or sucralose, which we rate as “avoid.” Some also add food dyes.

Solution: True Lemon. Empty a packet into 16 oz. of water to add stevia extract, 1 gram of sugar, 10 calories, and a citrusy or tea flavor to your glass. (The company offers a range of Lemonades, “True Lime” Limeades, and Iced Teas.) If you like your drinks less sweet, start with half a packet.

6. Iced tea: Unsweetened or made with safer low-calorie sweeteners

For a healthier iced tea, you’ve got plenty of options—brew-it-yourself or store-bought, tea bags or bottles, unsweetened or pre-sweetened. 

Brew your own, then ice it

Fruity white teas or caffeine-free herbal teas like tart hibiscus taste great when iced. Or add mint, berries, or lemon or orange slices to black or green tea. If you want sweetness, just add stevia extract or a teaspoon of sugar (15 calories).

Quart-size brew pouches like The Republic of Tea Iced Tea (sold at some supermarkets and on republicoftea.com) make brewing your own tea easy and delicious for 0 to 15 calories per cup. Many are unsweetened; others get subtle sweetness from monk fruit extract or coconut water crystals. Republic’s range—from typical black Sweet Tea to inventive flavors like Pineapple Orange Guava Green Tea or Matcha Green Tea made with Coconut Water—is impressive!

Buy a bottle or can

Most store-bought bottled teas that are sweetened with sugar add too much. But Just Ice Tea—a new brand from the creators of Honest Tea—offers a pair of full-flavored, no-sugar options in its glass bottles: Original Green Tea and Original Black Tea. Just look for the “Unsweetened” below their names. (If it says “Just Sweet Enough,” the flavor’s got added sugar.)

For sweet-tea taste with no calories, grab a can of stevia-sweetened Zevia Zero Sugar Tea. It goes beyond the usual green tea or black tea with lemon to flavors like Passionfruit Hibiscus and Blood Original Earl Grey. Way to go, Zevia!

7. Brew-it-yourself iced coffee

Nearly every beverage brand, from Starbucks to Califia Farms, now sells unsweetened iced or cold-brew coffee by the bottle, so it’s easy to skip the sugar. But it’s almost as easy to brew a little extra drip coffee in the morning and then refrigerate the leftovers. Voilà! Iced coffee for tomorrow. That’s also a good way to make your own decaf iced coffee, which can be harder to track down in many stores and coffee shops. 

Tip: Freeze some coffee in ice cube trays so the cubes don’t water down your homemade iced coffee as they melt. 

8. Tart drinks that don’t need much added sugar to taste great

A little acidity—whether from added vinegar or fermented kombucha—can transform a low-sugar fizzy drink into a complex, pleasantly sweet-tart beverage. If you prefer your vinegar-infused drink just a tad tart, try a Poppi soda (see No. 3). For a sharper bite, try a 35-calorie can of Trader Joe’s Organic Sparkling Apple Cider Vinegar Beverage, which blends half a cup of fruit juice with a tablespoon of vinegar and dilutes it all with sparkling water.

Sour aficionados may also like kombucha, which gets its funky kick and fizz as it ferments. A cup of most brands has just 30 or so calories from fruit juice or (sometimes) added sugar.

9. Hopped sparkling waters that can stand in for beer

Beer isn’t sugary, but its carbs and alcohol give it as many calories as soda. And drinking even three or four servings of alcohol a week is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. So it makes sense to consider a can of a refreshing hop-infused sparkling water. Most have just two main ingredients—water and hops—so they’re calorie-free. (Hops are the citrusy flowers that give craft beers like IPAs their character, but not their alcohol.) Try crisp Sierra Nevada Hop Splash or pick up one of the many varieties of Hoplark Sparkling Water. 

10. Mocktail-inspired sparkling waters

Looking to replace all the alcohol and most (or all) of the sugar in a cocktail? So are a lot of other people…and sparkling water brands have noticed! Among your options: 

• Spindrift Cosnopolitan: A fizzy riff on the Cosmopolitan (cranberry, orange liqueur, lime, and vodka), but with only 10 calories from cranberry juice, orange juice, and lime juice and extract.
• Spindrift Nojito and LaCroix Mojito: Rum-free, sugar-free versions of a mojito with its lime and mint flavors…and zero calories (LaCroix) or almost none (Spindrift).
• Waterloo Craft Collection Mocktails: Sugar-free canned sparkling waters with the natural-flavor essence of a tiki Mai Tai or Piña Colada or a citrusy Margarita.
• Good & Gather Sparkling Water: Target’s store brand lineup of unsweetened calorie-free sparkling waters includes a handful of cocktail-inspired flavors like Peach Bellini, Ginger Mule, and limited-edition Summer Sangria or Limoncello. 

What about electrolyte powders?

Healthy-beverage connoisseurs may have noticed something missing from our top 10 list: trendy powdered packets like Cure Electrolyte Drink Mix and Hydrant Hydration. Among their pluses: great taste and only 10 to 35 calories per packet from ingredients like fruit juice powder, coconut water powder, cane sugar, and stevia and/or monk fruit extract.

However, because their selling point is electrolytes, Hydrant and Cure have more sodium than most healthy drinks: roughly 250 milligrams per packet, which is about 10 percent of the recommended daily limit for adults. That’s not a deal breaker, but most of us consume too much sodium already. And you don’t need an electrolyte-spiked drink unless you’re engaging in sweaty, strenuous exercise for more than an hour without drinking water or snacking on food that contains sodium and potassium.

Then there’s the cost. Cure and Hydrant sell for a hefty $1 or so per packet.

If you can swallow that price tag and you prefer their taste for an occasional low-sugar treat, go ahead. Just don’t fall for the marketing hype that you need a hydration boost, when tap water will do just fine. And skip super-salty brands like LMNT unless you’re, um, trying to boost your blood pressure. (Every packet of LMNT has a whopping 1,000 mg of sodium.)