Flavoured water: flavouring, juice, sweetness – an overview

Anyone who doesn’t drink enough because plain water is boring often turns to flavoured water. There’s a wide variety of these on the shelves: bottles containing some fruit juice, sweetened drinks with fruit images, varieties with sweeteners, syrups and sachets for mixing yourself – and drinks that contain only flavouring. Here’s how to spot the differences from the ingredients list.

What is flavoured water?

Legally speaking, this is not a distinct term. As soon as flavouring, juice or sweetener is added, it is no longer pure mineral water, but a soft drink. The Bavarian Consumer Service therefore puts ‘flavoured mineral water’ in quotation marks and refers to these products as soft drinks. The guidelines for soft drinks describe what is typically included: water plus flavouring ingredients such as fruit juice, extracts or flavourings, with or no sugar and additives.

Whether you Flavoured water, whether you call it ‘flavoured water’ or ‘aromatised water’: what matters is what’s on the ingredients list.

The four types of flavoured water

• Containing sugar: Sugar, fructose or other energy-containing sweeteners add calories. According to VerbraucherService Bayern, Stiftung Warentest found up to 15 sugar cubes per litre.
• Containing sweeteners: According to VerbraucherService Bayern, only waters sweetened with sweeteners are calorie-free. When testing water-based drinks, the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Centre found sweeteners in five out of seven sweetened products.
• Contains juice: If fruit juice is included, it is usually in small quantities of between 5 and 10 per cent – and with it comes fructose.
• Flavoured only: water, carbon dioxide, flavouring, often a little acid. No sugar, no sweetener, no juice. This version tastes of fruit, but isn’t sweet.

The table in the article ‘Flavouring, Juice or Sweetener’ shows how these types of drink differ in terms of sugar, calories and labelling.

Flavoured water no sugar: take a closer look

‘No sugar’ does not necessarily mean ‘without sweetness’. Many sugar-free products are sweetened with sweeteners; the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Centre advises moderation here and points out that it is not compulsory to state the quantities of sweeteners on the packaging. Our overview of sweeteners explains what the individual sweeteners are.

If you don’t want either sugar or sweetener, look for three things in the ingredients list: no sugar (not even under a different name), no sweetener, and no juice concentrate. You can find out how to do this under ‘Reading the ingredients list’.

Understanding flavourings: ‘natural lemon flavouring’ is not the same as ‘flavouring’

The label reveals where the flavour comes from. If it states ‘natural flavouring’ with a source, such as ‘natural lemon flavouring’, then according to ‘Lebensmittelklarheit’, at least 95 per cent of it must come from the foodstuff named. In the case of ‘natural flavouring’ without a source, the source material does not have to be specified. If it simply says ‘flavouring’, it is highly likely to be chemically produced, according to the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Centre. Read more about this in the article on natural flavourings.

Make it yourself or buy it ready-made?

The easiest way is to make flavoured water in your own kitchen: simply add lemon, cucumber, mint or berries to a glass. You’ll find recipes and quantities in the article ‘How to make your own flavoured water’.

For when you’re on the go, our three flavoured varieties are available in cans. They contain water, carbon dioxide, citric acid and natural flavouring with the source specified – no sugar, no sweetener, no juice, 1 kcal per 100 millilitres:

• Pink Grapefruit – with natural grapefruit flavouring
• Lime & Mint – with natural lime and peppermint flavouring
• Citrus – with natural citrus flavouring

A comparison of all three: varieties with flavour but no sugar or sweetener. The store finder shows you where to buy them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. Consumer Service Bavaria: Fruit-flavoured mineral water, 18 August 25. vis.bayern.de
2. German Food Codex Commission: Guidelines for Soft Drinks, revised version of 10 April 2024 (BAnz AT 16 May 2024 B3), 10 April 24. deutsche-lebensmittelbuch-kommission.de
3. NRW Consumer Advice Centre: ‘Flavoured Water’ – water products containing sweeteners and flavourings, 29 June 2026. verbraucherzentrale.nrw
4. Food Clarity (Federal Association of Consumer Organisations): Extract or natural flavouring – what the differences are, 11 September 26. lebensmittelklarheit.de