Pocono Maple Water And The Clean Hydration Story - Nicole Bentler

Water from a tree sounds like a joke until you taste it. We’re joined by Nicole Bentler from Pocono Maple Water, a Pocono Mountains brand bottling the very first sap that flows from tapped maple trees. Nicole breaks down what maple water actually is, why it’s nowhere near as sweet as people assume, and how it delivers a clean, crisp kind of hydration that surprises first-time drinkers. If you’ve ever wondered what “maple sap” tastes like before it becomes syrup, you’ll finally get the answer. 

We also get into the real story behind the bottle: an organic maple farm in Pennsylvania tapping 15,000 to 20,000 trees each season, hosting tours and tastings, and turning a regional resource into a product you can put in your fridge. Nicole shares who maple water is for, from yoga and Pilates communities to high-end athletes, plus why the company leans into a boutique subscription model that brings maple water right to your door. Along the way, she connects maple water to recovery, naturally occurring minerals, and the practical realities of building a local beverage brand. 

Then the conversation widens to the part everyone should care about, even if you never buy maple water: water sourcing and water packaging. We talk bottled water myths, microplastics, how long water sits in transit, and why the container matters more than most labels admit. Nicole shares what she learned firsthand comparing glass, aluminum, and TetraPak, and why asking “Where does my water come from?” is a health habit worth building. 

If you enjoy local business stories, clean hydration tips, and smart consumer questions, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s the one thing you look for before you trust a bottle of water?

Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Joe Longo.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you in need of a refreshing drink? Well, something might be closer than you think. And today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Nicole Bentler, and Pocono Maple Water. Nicole, thank you so much for being here. How's it going?

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. Um, it's going good. It's been so much fun, you know, really kind of bringing this product to life and um having something that's right from our back door.

What Maple Water Really Is

SPEAKER_02 0:45

We are so excited to hear and learn about it. Could you tell us about Pocono Maple Water and really what maple water is?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah, of course. So um we're basically sister companies with Pocono Mountain Maple. So Pocono Mountain Maple is one of the largest uh organic maple farms in Pennsylvania. Um, we tap um anywhere from 15 to 20,000 trees every year. Um and basically the very first product that comes out of the tree is maple water or sap. Um, and it's most people think that it would be really sweet, but it's really not. It's only 2% sugar. Um, but it's one of the cleanest sources of water you get on the planet because it gets filtered by the tree itself. And it's that fresh spring water that the tree is essentially bringing up to its root through its root system to bring back the tree um back to life. And so um, so basically we bottle that up um to send it out so people can enjoy it and it comes straight from the poconos. Um, a lot of times you don't know where your water's coming from or if it's even coming from a reliable source. So uh we were so excited to be able to really bring this up to fruition and and get it going.

How Nicole Got Into Maple

SPEAKER_02 2:01

It's so amazing. When I first heard of it, I'm like, what are you talking about? Water from a tree. Like we all know that the tree is taking water, but actually something that we can then extract from it as as well. Um, how how did you get into this business?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I'm originally from the Pocono's, so born and raised in the Pocono Mountains. I came about back about almost nine years ago now, um, kind of in search of something that was closer to home or reason to visit. And we kind of stumbled upon this maple farm. Um, my family's been in our agriculture forever. My uncles did maple syrup, so um, it's something that was kind of near and dear. Um, we really didn't know what we were getting into because it's such a huge labor of love. Um, the maple syrup business, you're not gonna, you know, be a billionaire or anything like that. Um, you know, it's a lot of work to maintenance the the forest and the the trees and things like that. Um, but we really enjoy, you know, we have a lot of, we do tours and tastings every weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Um, and guests get to come out and really try all the products. And all the time, you know, when they try the maple water, they're like, wait, like, especially kids, they're like, this turns into maple syrup because it tastes like if you were to taste maple water, it's it's a very subtle hint of maple on the back end. It almost just tastes like spring water. So it's it's it's it's a very um mild maple taste. So kids are just like, how does this turn into maple syrup? It's magic.

Myths About Taste And Sweetness

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yeah, the whole thing is is very magic, and it's quite delicious. I I had some at the Philadelphia Yoga Conference. You guys supplied a bunch of the water for the for the conference, and it I was, I was like really at first expecting, I think, this extra sweet treat. I'm like, oh, oh, oh, that's interesting. Good. It's so I don't know. It's it's really I find it to be very um interesting and and neat. Um, I'm wondering, have you found any myths, misconceptions about this? And maybe that's it, that we're expecting it to be extra sweet and it's really not so.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah, no, maple water has been around for hundreds of years. Um, Native Americans used to use it before going on long journeys and hikes and things like that. It was also something that was basically a celebratory thing between the seasons. But if you're not from the Northeast, um I live part-time in South Florida and like most people think it's gonna be like a maple syrup water. Um, they're like, no, I think I'm good. And it's like, no, it's actually one of the cleanest sources of water you can get. Um, so I think that that's probably one of the biggest misconceptions. Um, I think the other interesting thing about coming into this industry is how all other bottled waters are not the same and how there's no guidelines on some bottled waters, and you know, we don't know where bottled water is coming from necessarily. You know, Coca-Cola and all these other big companies own some different water brands. Um, you know, I think for me, it's also kind of like the farm to table industry of like knowing where your food's coming from. For us, I think the biggest thing that we're more excited about is really kind of educating people on where their water is coming from, because that's actually more important than where your food's coming from. You can't you can survive without food, you can't survive without water.

Who Buys Maple Water And Why

SPEAKER_02 5:21

So true. So true. So we all know that marketing is a big part of every business, like it or not. Yeah, you know, we we got to get out there and market. What what are what are you doing? What who's the target market and and how are you attracting them?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, so we're we're kind of streamlining our business as more of a boutique, first come, first serve. Like you basically have to um subscribe so you can get your maple water every month. It comes right to your door so you don't even have to think about it. That way it's always in the fridge. Um, but we're in a lot of like organic grocery stores up throughout throughout New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pilates, Yoga Studios, um, high-end athletes, anybody that is generally concerned about, you know, what they're putting into their body, you know, everything we put into our body is fuel. And so you really it we're really kind of targeting that customer that that's really aware of everything they're putting into their body, like you know, as far as like what's in their protein, what's in their food, and then also what's in their water and understanding that like this is one of the cleanest sources of water you can be putting into your body, especially after you've been out working out, or you know, if you're not feeling well, like when anybody gets sick, I automatically send them a case of maple water um to hydrate because it has naturally um occurring minerals and things like that from the soil that you're automatically getting. Um, there's a ton of manganese as well. So manganese is really great for your joints and really great for recovery. So if you're not feeling well, you know, you've got the flu, or um you're somebody's sick, um, or if you're working out, or you're just looking for a cleaner source of hydration that's not just water. Because the other thing is, is you know, there's more and more um information coming out too, that like if you're drinking just water, most of the time your body's not absorbing anything. It needs to have some sort of mineral content. Um, or you know, juice is always great, like fresh, real juice. Your body's able to really absorb that hydration. Whereas if it's coming from a bottled source and it's been sitting on a shelf for two years, your body generally isn't absorbing that as hydration and it's just going right through your body.

Why They Have Not Started A Podcast

SPEAKER_02 7:33

You know, staying in this marketing world, have you or anyone in the maple family where you are Pocono Maple or Poco Maple Water thought about having a podcast and talking about all of this?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

We definitely have. Um, but as I was saying before, um maple syrup is a huge undertaking in itself, and maple water has been a huge undertaking in itself. Um, I think we're we're super happy to to partake in in some of the local podcasts that are happening, but uh unfortunately our plate is very full. And we've got a we've got a really small staff right now. Um, definitely in the future, I think it's something that we will consider. You know, we've talked about having a YouTube channel. We have horses on the property, and there's we've got this big 54-acre private lake that's amazing, and every day has, you know, sometimes we have the swans are visiting, sometimes it's new ducks and different families of different animals. There's there's always something fun going on in the farm. Um, last week we had over 300 students come and visit. Um, they all did like this big field trip. So we split it up over three days, and we had like a hundred and some students come each day, and we did tours and tastings, which was really fun. And they did a huge luncheon up at the pavilion. Um, so we've we've always got stuff happening. It's there's there's definitely little to no downtime. Um, so so it's definitely something that's on our radar. Um, and then eventually at some time, at some point we'll we'll get to it.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

And you kind of already answered the next question, which is what do you do for fun? And it sounds like maybe you just hang out on the farm. But if when you step away, what are you doing for fun?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Um, well, I love actually doing triathlons whenever I can get to it. I usually do a triathlon like every other year. Um, I had a baby a year and a half ago, so I'm hoping to do a triathlon at the end of June in Florida. So um, so I'm predominantly trying to train for that. That was kind of what got me my background's health and fitness, and that was kind of what got me really excited about maple water and kind of bringing this product to life. And then the same thing about maple syrup, you know, maple syrup is actually a concentrate of maple water. So all of those really great nutrients are basically concentrated down, and that's what you're putting into um, you know, your on your pancakes or in your coffee. You know, we use maple syrup for everything around here because it is it's so good for you. Um, it has really great immune boosting benefits. It's also really great, it has a roboflavin in it, which is really great for anti-aging. So you can actually apply it to your skin just like honey. Um, is one of the cleanest sweeteners you can use on the planet. So um, so yeah, so it's like maple everything um is pretty much my life. Um outside of that, I'm chasing around an 18-month-old. Um, so it's either maple exercising or my 18-month-old, or probably the reverse, you know. Uh-huh. Chasing around my 18-month-old, 24-7, and then, you know, everything maple. And then whenever I can, you know, get a run in or a bike in or some laps in the pool, I try to get it in. So uh, so hopefully we'll uh we'll be doing another triathlon here soon. So I'm I'm excited about it, getting back on the horse, as they say.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Oh, that that that's awesome. And at least the 18-month-old is keeping you active and running around um for that for training for the triathlons.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Definitely.

Question Your Water Source And Packaging

SPEAKER_02 11:08

So if you can tell our listeners one thing that that they should remember about pocono maple water.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I think for me, I wasn't it wasn't all about pocano maple water. For me, I think the bigger thing is asking where your water comes from. Um, there's actually been studies, and you know, you can Google this and find it out later, but there's so much um estrogen in our water source now that the fish and frogs and all these ponds and river creatures are actually turning from male to female. Um, and then you multiply that by everything else everybody is taking and dumping into our drains and dumping into everything. So I think for me, it's just really understanding where your water's coming from. And if you're on a city source, you know, get a filtration system or buy bottled water, which you're probably already doing, but not all bottled water is made the same. And I think that that's something that I also, you know, try to like people are like, oh yeah, I bought a case of you know$20 bottled water from um, you know, Sam's Club and it's like the 40-pack or whatever, and it's like, yeah, that's great, but there's probably a ton of microplastics in it, and you're like, eh, just drink the tap water then. So I think just just really being aware of it because it's something that like, you know, we grow up and it's something that is so readily available, we don't even question it. And I think for me, that's the biggest thing is is is getting you to question, like, huh? Like it was wild when we started this this whole journey of creating maple water and packaging and what packaging we were gonna be in, and all of these things, and then also testing all these other products, and and it's it was so funny. Um, there's one company that has glass and they also do aluminum, and I really wanted that really long, sexy aluminum can because I thought it like was very cool and trendy. This was you know, two or three years ago when they first kind of came out, and they were doing glass and aluminum, and what was wild to me is side by side same spring water company, but you could taste the metals in the water when you tried it. Um, I love glass, and if we could afford to be in glass, and that we've talked about maybe doing like um a more VIP line that would be in glass. Um, glass is just so heavy and expensive to ship, and it you always have break, breakables. Um, but glass is always the best thing to be in. Second to best is TetraPack um via our research. Um and so uh, so yeah, so it's it's just been such a journey. And I think just asking those questions, um, you know, what is what it where is my water sourced from? What is it bottled in? Um, how long ago was it bottled? You know, like if Fiji water is really getting bottled in Fiji, it's gotta come from Fiji. So then it's like on a container ship in the middle of the sea, hot, burning, sun, and then it's, you know, from one pallet to the next. So I think just kind of thinking about those things because I never even thought about it or questioned it up until we started kind of this journey. So, and then, you know, once you start doing that, you know, my personal opinion, maple water is one of the best things you can be putting into your body. Um, and I've we have tons of testimonies, we get so many great reviews. Um, we we post them every once in a while on our Instagram, but we get such great feedback from people that bought it for, you know, their sick husband who hasn't, you know, gotten out of bed in a couple days. And, you know, it really helped hydrate them. Um, you know, same thing with like training for different things. You know, this has really helped me. I can tell my body's able to, you know, absorb the nutrients and absorb the water, and it's really helping me hydrate better. Um, so yeah, so I think that that's it's it's really exciting stuff. I'm I'm really excited to kind of see where we're able to go. And I hope it's something that the region and the Poconos can be proud of because there's not a lot of products that are from our backdoor, and this is something that we should all be really excited about. And hopefully we're we're also one of the ones that are kind of helping turn the page and getting people to ask what's in what's in their water.

Where To Buy Visit And Try

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah, so true. So can you tell our listeners where they can learn more about Pocono Maple Water?

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, just on our website, poconomaplewater.com. Um, you can go online, you can check it out. You can also come and visit the tour the farm um any weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Um, we do tours and tastings. And at the tours and tastings, you can also try the maple syrup and try the maple water. So you get to try, you basically get to see exactly where the water is coming from, exactly how we do everything, and get to try it.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Wonderful, wonderful. Well, thank you so much for for being here, for being part of the show, and from everyone at the Good Neighbor Podcast. We truly wish you all of the success in the future. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Yes, thank you. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

You're so welcome. You're so welcome.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNEPA.com. That's GMP N E P A.com. Or call 572 928 434.