How to Mix Sea Buckthorn Juice With Water

Sea buckthorn juice is best mixed with plain water at room temperature, roughly 20 to 30 ml of juice in 100 to 200 ml of water. That is the whole answer for most people. What follows is why those numbers, and what to avoid.

Why dilute it at all

Sea buckthorn is one of the tartest fruits in common use. Taken neat it is sharp enough that many people give up on it within a week, which is the real argument for dilution: a juice you can drink daily does more than a stronger one you avoid.

Dilution also spreads the acidity across a larger volume, which makes it easier on a sensitive stomach, and it adds water to your morning, which nobody has ever regretted.

How much water

Start with 20 to 30 ml of juice in about a glass of water. If it still tastes too sharp, use more water rather than less juice — the amount of fruit reaching you stays the same, and only the concentration changes.

There is no advantage in taking it neat. The nutrients do not become more available because the drink is stronger.

Room temperature, not hot

This matters more than it sounds.

Vitamin C degrades with heat, and so do some of the more delicate compounds in the fruit. Mixing sea buckthorn juice into hot water or hot tea undoes part of what you paid for. Cold water is fine. Room temperature is ideal, and easiest on the stomach.

If you want it cool in summer, chilled water is better than ice-cold, though this is a comfort question rather than a nutritional one.

What you can add

Honey

A small amount of honey takes the edge off the tartness. Add it to the diluted drink rather than to hot water.

Lemon

Some people add lemon. It does not clash, though sea buckthorn is already high in vitamin C, so this is about taste rather than nutrition.

Other juices

Amla, aloe vera or other wellness juices can be taken alongside, though there is an argument for keeping them separate so you can tell what is doing what. We compared two of them in sea buckthorn versus amla.

What to avoid

Do not mix it into hot beverages. Do not add sugar — the point of a juice without added sugar is somewhat defeated by adding your own. And do not mix a large batch in the morning to drink through the day; vitamin C oxidises on contact with air, so dilute it fresh each time.

A simple morning version

Fill a glass with room-temperature water. Add 20 to 30 ml of juice. Stir. Drink it twenty minutes or so before breakfast.

That is the entire method. If you want variations, we set out five easy ways to work it into a morning.

One note on the bottle

Shake before pouring. Sea buckthorn pulp settles, and the settled part is not sediment to be avoided — it is the fruit. A juice that never settles at all is worth a second look at the ingredient list.