When it comes to homegrown ingredients, it doesn’t get more quintessentially Canadian than maple. It’s right there on our flag. Maple syrup is part of our DNA, but unless you grew up tapping trees and sipping sap straight from the bucket, the fact that you can drink maple water may be lost on you. Canadian producers are working hard to change that, making inroads at home and abroad.
With its subtle maple flavour and slight sweetness, maple water is sap, pure and simple. While maple syrup contains roughly 66 per cent natural sugars, maple water has just two per cent, and it retains nutrients such as calcium, manganese and antioxidants the tree stores during the winter. Making one litre of maple syrup takes about 40 litres of sap. Because it’s 100 per cent sap, maple water is ready to be packaged once filtered and pasteurized.
After Yannick Leclerc, co-owner of Maple 3 in Quebec City, was featured in a recent BBC article, he received inquiries from around the world. While the visibility was welcome, the international interest was nothing new. Roughly 70 per cent of Maple 3’s sales are global, with distribution in countries including Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, France and the United States. In Canada, its maple water is available in over 1,200 stores, such as IGA, Metro and Whole Foods.
Maple 3’s annual revenue has roughly doubled every year since 2021. Leclerc attributes the growth to the product’s uniqueness. “The concept of drinking water that comes from a tree, and that all its nutrients come naturally appeals to many customers in the trend of natural, organic, good-for-you things.”
As a maple water pioneer, Maple 3 started in 2013 from a product that didn’t exist, says Leclerc, and there’s still work to be done. “It’s a growing market. And in Canada, we don’t even tap 50 per cent of the potential maple trees. So, continuing to expand and diversify syrup, water and other (products) helps to grow the potential to tap trees. And by tapping trees, we also protect the ecosystem,” he says. “Our end goal is to help shine (a light on) this product that comes from our forest.”
According to Jo-Ann McArthur, president of Nourish Food Marketing, with less than half the sugar and calories of coconut water and high in manganese, electrolytes and antioxidants, maple water “qualifies as a functional beverage and is better than a high-calorie sports drink.” She notes that consumer interest in hydration grew 74 per cent in the past 12 months, suggesting an emerging opportunity. “Flavoured waters help people drink more of it, addressing the common challenge of finding straight water boring.”
For brothers Jake Carrick and Josh Carrick, hydration was in the back of their minds when they launched their organic maple syrup business, Carrick Bros., in 2020. Growing up in south-central Ontario, the Carricks made syrup with their grandfather on his 40-acre farm. Today, on their 800-acre farm in Madawaska, they produce maple syrup, maple sugar, maple cream and maple water from 46,000 taps in four forests.
“One of the reasons we wanted to make maple syrup full-time was to launch this beverage. We used to drink the sap out of buckets as kids,” says Jake, one of four brothers. “We all grew up playing hockey, and Josh and I were the ones that didn’t go professional. We always thought it would make a great sports drink.” (Sam Carrick is a centre for the New York Rangers, and Trevor Carrick is a defenceman for the Charlotte Checkers.)
Now, they’re focusing on educating consumers on the health benefits of maple water and finding distributors to get their products, including a new 500-mL carton launching this spring, into grocery stores. Maple water is 20 per cent of their production, and though Jake and Josh see great potential, they consider awareness the biggest barrier.
Many people confuse maple water for a byproduct of syrup production, “but we’re just taking raw sap from the tree,” says Jake. People also wonder why they call it maple water and not sap, which comes down to marketing priorities when it emerged as a commercial product roughly 12 years ago. Josh adds: “Maple water sounds more refreshing.”
Consumers are increasingly interested in buying local and supporting sustainable practices, and “few things are as Canadian as maple syrup,” says McArthur. She notes that maple water has low consumer awareness, but “with proper positioning, packaging and marketing, that could change.”
Since Nancy Chapman founded Sapsucker in 2015 using a SodaStream in her Flesherton, Ont. home, the product has morphed from flat maple water to sparkling water sold in seven flavours and thousands of stores, including Loblaws, Sobeys and Freshii restaurants. Though they’ve exported Sapsucker to Korea, Switzerland and Germany in the past, their priority for the next several years is growing in Canada, says Ynez Vinieris-Giancola, VP of finance and operations.
Education is central to that plan. Sapsucker refreshed its branding last year with new “tap into sap” messaging that explains the process from start to finish and highlights the Ontario producers they partner with.
Maple syrup is a key Canadian commodity, so the confusion is understandable, adds Vinieris-Giancola. People often ask about sweetness and colour, associating maple water with maple syrup. “What’s so interesting about our product is that it is in the maple syrup family. It’s in the same manner of production, but the product’s clear, it’s light, it’s low-glycemic index, low-sugar. It’s a nice, healthy alternative.”
Adding natural flavours such as blackberry has helped expand the brand, says Alex Argiropoulos, Sapsucker’s senior business development manager. “How to grow maple water is finding unique ways to use it,” he says, adding that it can be an everyday refreshment or a non-alcoholic alternative.
Argiropoulos expects Sapsucker’s greatest growth ever this year. He’s most excited about “the Canadiana of it” — putting a homegrown product on the map. “That’s why we’re so focused on Canada. You have to win your backyard nationally and get your true consumers, Canadians, behind it before you take it elsewhere.”
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