Best Sparkling Water: Waterloo

There's not much I can say about Waterloo that ABBA hasn't already said: Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war // Waterloo, promise to love you forever more. 

The slight difference here is that unlike the Swedish pop stars, I'm referring to a can of sparkling water. Waterloo, an Austin-based fizzy water brand that hit shelves in September 2017, is a relative newcomer to the sparkling water ball game. Just like its competitors, it has no calories or sweeteners. Unlike the others, it truly gets to "the heart of the fruit flavor," takes the bubble quality up to 11 and has already been turned into a lip balm. 

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I used to be one of those people who was decidedly in "camp carbonated water = liquid filth." But even the original Waterloo flavor tastes like a mouthful of happy dancing elves (a good thing), and I found myself instinctively reaching for the open can throughout the morning, rather than my usual still water. The coconut is like a deskside piña colada that I can drink at 10 a.m. without getting any side-eye, and the watermelon has notes of Jolly Rancher and long summer nights. I may be sipping the Kool-Aid here, but this one's definitely not made from concentrate.

Other Waterloo flavors include lime, lemon, black cherry and grapefruit, and every one of them is worth your money. You can find them on Amazon, at NYC-based Whole Foods stores, Costco and hoarded en masse underneath my desk.