Less & More: The WFH Mom Edit

Last summer, I discovered pickle lemonade and it was life changing, so I know just how important new beverages are for the summer season. I also carry over quite a few Dry January options with me past the month they are named for – Olipop, Recess and Ritual all make appearances throughout the warmer seasons of the year. But lately, I’ve noticed that there are a LOT of new drinks in town and I’m planning to taste test a whole bunch of them (hopefully, with the help of my swim team buds) to find some new favorites to throw into the rotation. Let’s see what our upcoming options are, shall we?

We’ll begin with electrolytes (as I recently said to a friend – who would have thought I’d be shelling out money for salt packets?). After conducting a little electrolyte exchange with a friend (I gave her a packet of my grapefruit flavored LMNT and she handed over this Popsicle Firecracker flavored Liquid IV), I realized I need to branch out more in the salty water options because now the brands and flavors extend way beyond my previous awareness. Here’s what’s in my Amazon cart:

Liquid IV Sugar Free Rainbow Sherbert

They went straight for my 90’s summer nostalgia and it worked. I have to see if it’s as good as that sweet summer treat of my childhood.

Bloom Rocket Blast Electrolytes with Collagen

I enjoyed the other popsicle flavored option, so I thought I’d give this a shot. Plus, they are upping the ante with protein and collagen. So that makes it a bit more interesting.

LMNT Lemonade Electrolytes

From the brand I’ve been drinking for years, a flavor I’ve never had! There’s also an Iced Tea + Lemonade flavor, but it DOES have caffeine, and since I have to stop drinking caffeine by around 10:30am every day to preserve my sleep, it’s sometimes tough for me to add in other sources outside my coffee.

OK, on to soda! A nice Orange Poppi or Zevia Root Beer has been my go-to for a long time, but I’ve added a couple others in too – I sometimes miss my days of Diet Coke, but I don’t miss what’s in them, SO on occasion, I have been enjoying the Zevia Caffeine Free Cola. It’s not EXACTLY the same, but on ice with a straw? It comes close! I’ll also occasionally mix it up with the Sprite flavor from Olipop. But there are some new sodas that recently came out I want to try:

Olipop Shirley Temple

I’ll be honest, it’s PROBABLY going to be too sweet for me, but since every soda company and their mother is coming out with this flavor, I feel a little compelled to see how it is. I’ve heard from multiple people that the Olipop version is better than Poppi, so I’m going to start there.

Poppi Berries and Cream

Apparently, you can currently only get it from Sprouts. Not super convenient for me, but I can make a trip over there to pick some up!

Spindrift Concord Grape Soda

I was never particularly fond of the grape flavor from Poppi, but I still want to give this one a try!

HOP WTR

These aren’t new, per say, but they have a lot of interesting flavors that I’ve never tried, so I’ve got my eye on the variety pack to check out over the summer by the pool.

Then there are all the options with iced tea.

We can (and do) go the easy route and buy iced tea – I’m excited to try these canned sparkling options from BrightLeaf!

If you want to keep the “bomb pop” theme (which, who doesn’t?), there are some canned options from Ryl.

But also, our family loves to experiment with loose leaf and bagged tea to make our own concoctions. Here are some that look intriguing to us for the summer:

Republic of Tea Blueberry Lavender

Celestial Seasonings Red, White and Blueberry

Celestial Seasonings Fruit Sampler (mix and match flavors to create new colors and taste profiles)

And of course, I could not post about summer drinks 2026 without mentioning the viral trend from Utah: Dirty Soda. I’m combing through all the options – they will now have these at McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, but you can get more of the “original” from Swig or another place we have locally called Sips N Dips. None of these options (so far) have been what you would call “healthy” and I generally prefer not to drink my calories (you’ll notice most of the picks on my list are fairly low in sugar and calories), so I’m still on the fence about this. I think if I’m GOING to try it, I would either make it myself OR check out Swig and/or Sips N Dips for the “realest” experience. If I’m looking for something without caffeine, the one below with a shark in it looks like it might be a good

In other news, Smoothie King came out with a Grillo’s Pickles Smoothie and while no one loves pickles more than me (unsubstantiated claim), I’m just not so sure about this one (that’s putting it mildly). But, I’ll probably have to try it because … are you serious?

Starbucks also released some interesting drinks for Summer 2026 and I have my eye on this Butterfly Drink. You can even order it with NO caffeine, so it could be an afternoon/evening treat as well! Look at those colors.

In addition to dirty soda, there seems to be a HUGE wave of “refreshers” being launched. I could honestly probably do a whole separate post on non RTD/make at home drinks (quick service drinks? restaurant drinks?), so maybe if I venture out and try some of these crazy things or try making them myself at home, I will do that. But for now, just know that EVERYONE is getting in on “refreshers” – Starbucks, Panera, McDonald’s, Sonic, Dutch Bros (still need to check this out in of itself) and more. The base is green tea, which is NOT my favorite to begin with, so not sure how that will shake things out, but the name itself just makes you want to grab one for a hot summer afternoon, doesn’t it? TBD.

Time to get shopping!