The word “maple” often brings to mind the word syrup.
Definitely a great treat—but what about flavoring your water with maple? That’s just what two triathletes decided to do. Jeff Rose and Kate Weiler created DRINKmaple and claim it’s a natural and refreshing way to stay hydrated. Plus, maple sap contains 46 healthy nutrients.
The idea for the company sparked in 2013. “Kate and I were doing a triathlon in Quebec and we stopped at a small coffee shop. We found maple water manufactured by a small Canadian company,” said Jeff. “We hydrated before the race and fell in love with the product and the concept.”
Back in the states, they kept talking about the great maple water they had in Canada. When they started looking around, they couldn’t find anything similar. Sure, there are plenty of flavored waters on the market, including the forever-trending coconut water, but they couldn’t find a way to tap into maple water. They decided to create a company, but naysayers told them that getting it into a bottle would be an impossible feat.
“We were told it couldn’t be done,” said Jeff. “We’re pretty thick headed and we persisted.” And so far, that persistence has paid off. Their dream became a reality in May 2014, when they officially launched the product.
“We’re in 5,000 to 6,000 stores now and also in Europe. We also sell direct from our website,” he added. “By this time next year we’ll be in 10,000 stores. Some of the big retailers that carry our product are Whole Foods, Kroger’s, Wegman’s and we’ll launch in Sprouts next spring.” They collect the maple sap for their water from trees in Vermont. The water itself is vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, dairy-free and packed with nutrients.
They soft launched another product last year—watermelon water—and plan to launch in a bigger way soon.
“The athletic people were the first people to find our product, but it’s not just for athletes. It is very low in sugar. Our maple water has half the sugar of coconut water,” he said. “It’s super hydrating and it’s a perfect every-day hydrator for pretty much everybody.”
Bottles of DRINKmaple retail for $2.99.
