Answers
How do I sweeten sparkling water without sugar or an aftertaste?
There is nowhere for an aftertaste to hide in sparkling water. No fruit, no acid, no aroma to cover it. That makes it the truest test of a sweetener, and the reason so many sweetened sparkling waters taste faintly of something that is not sugar.
What can I use at home?
The honest options are all compromises. A splash of juice adds sugar back. Liquid stevia or monk fruit drops sweeten in a few drops but many people taste a bitter, licorice-like or fruity note in plain water, where nothing masks it. Erythritol tastes clean but needs spoonfuls and can cool the mouth. TomorrowSweet™ is not sold as a tabletop sweetener; it is an ingredient that brands put in their drinks.
Why does sparkling water make aftertaste so obvious?
Because the water is otherwise empty. In a cola the acid, the caramel and the aromatics all compete with a sweetener's side note. In sparkling water the only two things on your tongue are the carbonation and the sweetener, so whatever the sweetener brings besides sweetness is the whole story.
What do brands use?
Most sweetened sparkling waters use stevia, monk fruit, sucralose or a blend, and most add a strong fruit essence partly to distract from the sweetener. A newer approach is a protein that tastes like sugar: TomorrowSweet™ is brazzein, the sweet protein from the oubli fruit, reimagined so its sweetness arrives up front and leaves clean. Version 1.9 is 90% identical to sugar in taste, and in a plain sparkling base the water reads as fully sweet within seconds of the first sip.
Is there one I can buy?
Yes. Lion Hydration's drink sweetened with TomorrowSweet™ launched nationally at Walmart.
What does a protein sweetener do in the body?
It is a protein: digested down to amino acids like any other protein, with no glucose response, no insulin response, and no microbiome effects. About a thousand times sweeter than sugar, used in milligrams, calorie-free in use.
I make a sparkling water brand. How do I try it?
Request a sample and send your base. TomorrowSweet™ is heat and pH stable across common processes, and Tomorrow's team supports formulation from bench to launch.
The truest test of a sweetener is a glass of sparkling water.
If it tastes like sugar there, it tastes like sugar anywhere. TomorrowSweet™ is brazzein reimagined: the same natural amino acids, rebuilt for better taste. Taste it in LION, or in your own base.
Keep reading
Sources for the general facts above: the published literature summarised at Wikipedia, Sugar substitute. Statements about TomorrowSweet™ are Tomorrow's own. Published 2026-09-07.