Apple cider vinegar is the darling of the wellness set. These ACV drinks make downing the stuff a whole lot more pleasant.
Apple cider vinegar is thought to have numerous health benefits. Believers in ACV swear that a few ounces taken daily helps promote a healthy gut, strengthens the immune system and can even aid in weight loss and regulate blood sugar. But vinegar is vinegar and not everyone has the stomach for a shot of the stuff every morning.
If you seek the potential benefits of apple cider vinegar without having to down a few sour ounces every morning, there’s a lineup of tasty apple cider vinegar beverages and sweetened shots to ease you into that ACV lifestyle. These vinegar-based beverages are often mixed with fresh fruit juice, honey and ginger (also thought to have health benefits) and are meant to be enjoyed, not endured.
I tried six of them including an ACV sparkling water, some fruit juice blends and a few premade shots. Below you’ll find the best sippers and shooters to get your daily fix of apple cider vinegar that won’t strip the enamel from your teeth or turn your stomach inside out.
Read more: The ABCs of Apple Cider Vinegar: Benefits, Precautions and Proper Dosage
Best apple cider vinegar drinks
Braggs refreshers contain apple cider vinegar along with juice, lemon and other natural ingredients to create a refreshing beverage anchored by healthy apple cider vinegar. The beverages come in four flavors, but I liked the lemon ginger refresher best. The 40-calorie refreshers taste a lot like kombucha and are best consumed cold or poured over ice.
From Bragg’s website, Refreshers cost about $5 or $6 each, but you can bag a four-pack for $12.40 on Walmart.com.
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Bragg
I’m a massive sparkling water drinker so it’s no surprise that I connected with this ACV drink. It’s lighter and less intense than Bragg’s Refreshers. The sweetness of the blood orange and a bit of stevia helps to offset the tartness of the vinegar.
ACV is the second ingredient after water in this 5-calorie beverage, but this balanced sparkling drink is one I could see myself happily downing every day. If you’re a habitual seltzer drinker, you’ll likely find it easy to incorporate into your daily routine too.
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Remedy
This fun and flashy line of low-calorie sodas is marketed as aiding in digestive health and boasts apple cider vinegar as the third ingredient after water and cane sugar. Poppi prebiotic sodas come in several flavors; I tried lemon-strawberry and ginger-lime and found both delicious. The ACV flavor is tamer than in some of the other beverages I tried, and with 4 grams of sugar, the sodas aren’t too sweet and have just 25 calories.
A 12-pack of Poppi’s healthier ACV sodas costs $24 on Amazon or $11 for a four-pack at Target.
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Poppi
If you prefer to down your ACV in one gulp, there are premixed apple cider vinegar-based shots to try. Remedy’s version is intended to aid in digestion and contains apple cider vinegar, prebiotic zinc and vitamin D along with ginger, honey and cayenne pepper to balance the tart flavor.
A 12-pack of 2-ounce shots goes for $50 on Remedy’s website.
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Remedy Organics
Bragg has a line of ACV shots available in several flavor combos. All of them are pretty tasty, but the carrot-ginger and pineapple-cayenne were my personal favorites. The 20-calorie shots are sweetened with organic honey and fruit juice and go down smoother than rum punch in July. A pack of four 2-ounce shots costs about $11 on Bragg’s website or $12 on Amazon.
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Bragg
If you want your ACV with an extra shot of immune-boosting vitamins, try Emergen-C’s daily immune support packets with added botanicals for energy. Each 35-calorie packet contains 260mg of dehydrated ACV. It’s unclear if powdered ACV is as potent as vinegar in its liquid form, but the powdered elixir contains loads of vitamins C, B-6 and B-12, so it certainly can’t hurt to slug one mixed with water during cold and flu season.
These drink mixes taste OK but were my least favorite of the bunch. I missed the punch of fresh juice and tartness that comes with the other beverages on this list. A package of 18 packets is $12 on Amazon.
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Emergen-C
