You open the cap and cherry scent wafts into your nostrils. Just as you start to pour the beverage into your mouth you stop and wonder to yourself, “What on earth is Facebook water supposed to taste like?” Perhaps the sweat of 450 million people? No, that would be gross. How about a pleasing mix of black cherry and lime combined with water and sugar? While that’s not what first comes to my mind, the users of Facebook voted for this sugary concoction. My conclusion: don’t crowdsource recipes.

Back in January we wrote about the new flavor and within weeks we had samples sitting on our desks. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to try out the beverage until I was digging through all of my stuff prior to moving across the country. I decided to stop for a brief refreshment break, hoping that my thirst would be thoroughly quenched. As the syrupy beverage dripped down my throat I realized that I would have been better off drinking tap water, as that’s all one really needs.

While you can occasionally find me sipping on a gatorade as I’m walking home from the gym, it’s a rare sight. I’ve tried to reduce my overall sugar intake as my sweet tooth naturally guides me to consuming a couple hundred grams of sugar a day. However I’d much prefer chomping on a chocolate croissant rather than downing a bottle of Vitamin Water’s new Connect flavor.

While it’s a testament to the influence of Facebook, it does no justice to the brand as a whole. While there may be a lot of young employees at Facebook, this feels like something a bunch of teenagers at a concert would pick up as a freebie at the Vitamin Water booth. In other words: you’d take it for free but you aren’t going to be craving a bottle of it anytime soon.

The only other similar drink I could compare it to is “Purple Drink”, a tasty beverage that Dave Chappelle is a fan of. The main ingredients are “sugar, water, and of course purple”. In the Vitamin Water Connect beverage it tastes just like “sugar, water, and red”. I’ve embedded his description below, however be warned that there is cursing in the video! Given that Facebook is phasing out the Connect brand, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Vitamin Water do the same thing.