Why I Dump My Coffee for a Glass of Swamp Juice Every Morning (a.k.a. Homemade Gator Aid)

Look, I love coffee. It smells like productivity and tastes like survival. But lately, I’ve been waking up and reaching for something that looks like it came from a frog’s smoothie bar: my homemade “Gator Aid.” It’s murky. It’s weird. It’s deliciously hydrating chaos in a cup.

What’s in it? Oh, just coconut water (aka nature’s sports drink), tart cherry juice (muscle whisperer), lime juice (for sass), high-mineral salt (fancy salt, not table peasant salt), and raw honey (bee magic). It’s basically the Avengers of morning beverages.

After one glass, my brain stops buffering, my muscles stop creaking like a haunted rocking chair, and I suddenly remember how to form sentences. Tart cherry helps with inflammation (read: my 30-year-old knees), and coconut water replaces all the electrolytes I apparently sweat out just by existing. The salt? Keeps me from evaporating emotionally. And honey? Just sweet enough to make me believe in mornings again.

So yeah, I drink a salty-sour cherry swamp every morning now. Coffee still flirts with me, but Gator Aid gets me feeling like a hydrated wizard by 9 a.m.

Try it. Your organs will thank you. Probably in Morse code. Through extra pee.