What's the hottest flavour for food manufacturers in 2016?

Coconut water is so last year. Small beverage companies like Wahta, Oviva and Maple3 are touting maple water instead—a low-cal, gluten-free drink that has the consistency of water but is slightly sweeter. (Drink Maple, an American maker, is already available in 800 stores.) In recent years, a slow drip of products with maple flavour has increased to a spring-thaw gush, including everything from icing, chips, ice cream, tea, coffee and even beer. Last January, Quebec entrepreneur Bastien Poulain sold his first bottle of maple syrup–sweetened 1642 Cola; by October, he had sold 260,000 bottles and now plans to crack the Asian market.

But maple water isn’t the only maple-flavoured product hitting store shelves—it’s popping up in everything from granola to beer. The staff at Canadian Grocer's sister publication Canadian Business decided to put some of the new maple products to the test.