‘Healthy Coke’ recipe baffles internet after TikTok video goes viral

(WXIN) — The latest TikTok food trend has combined two words you generally don’t see together: “healthy” and “Coke.”

In a video posted this week, TikToker Amanda Jones introduced viewers to what she called a healthy alternative to classic Coca-Cola, or a “healthy Coke,” as she called it in an on-screen caption.

“My Pilates instructor makes this drink, almost like, every day, I think she told me,” she says at the beginning.

Viewers then watch as Jones puts a splash of balsamic vinegar into a glass filled with ice, and then fills the rest with LaCroix sparkling water. According to Jones, it does not matter what brand or flavor of sparkling water you choose. (She used guava LaCroix.)

“I am not joking you — it tastes just like a Coke. And you’re gonna think I’m insane,” she says.

“So good,” she adds, after taking a sip.

Despite her claims, plenty of viewers didn’t seem to be buying it.

“This needs to affect your credit score somehow,” one person commented. Another account responded, “This is why I don’t take advice that begins with ‘my Pilates instructor.’”

In the video, the drink looks like a cola and appears to fizz like a cola, but does it actually taste like Coke?

Reactions were mixed among those that actually tried it.

One writer for The Guardian called the drink “disgusting” when he tried it with plain sparkling water. It was a little better with lime-flavored sparkling water, he said, but not much. “Tasted like a lovely glass of Coke had been left out in the sun for weeks and started to ferment,” he wrote.

Another writer for The Cut described the beverage as “weirdly pleasant” and felt that people who enjoy drinks with apple cider vinegar would probably like it.

Jones has since responded to the reactions to her initial video in a follow-up, where she appeared to express slight remorse after seeing the comments.

“I’m debating on saying I was just kidding, because this is just — this is too much,” she said.