CT Duo Launches Sparkling Water From Maple Trees
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On a trip to a Vermont maple farm, Adam Lazar was baffled by the amount of water discarded during sap collection.
In order to produce maple syrup, the sugar is completely removed from the sap, leaving behind pure, tree-filtered water, the Cos Cob resident said. For every 50 gallons of sap collected, maple farmers would get just one gallon of syrup and 49 gallons of water, which was being completely thrown out, he said.
“I said, ‘Wait a minute, there is a thirsty world and you are telling me this happens every year?'” Lazar said. “The light bulb went off.”
Lazar said this inspired him to create Asarasi, which produces unflavored, sugar-free, sparkling maple tree water with a mild carbonation. The company was founded in July 2014, but Lazar said it became fully operational this year through investments by Connecticut Innovations and by graduating from reSET, a Hartford non-profit specializing in advancing the social enterprise sector.
“People describe it as the crispness of a cucumber, but without the flavor,” he said. “When we serve it to people, even at an open bar, they are ordering this over alcohol.”
Adam Lazar, left, and Brian Pare, right, pose for a portrait with a package of Asarasi water in Sturbridge, Mass., on July 8.
(Emily Kask / Hartford Courant)
The company taps 30,000 trees at a maple farm in Western New York to make its product. Though it is headquartered in Greenwich, the company bottles the water in New York as well, allowing them to take advantage of both markets, Lazar said.
There is nothing else like this on the market, he said, though this type of water is important from an environmental standpoint.
Lazar said there is an estimated 600 million gallons of water being discarded by the maple industry right now, which amounts to 7.2 billion bottles of water being thrown away in the Northeast.
“Realistically, only 1 percent of our world’s water is drinkable, and that’s decreasing every day,” said Brian Pare, Asarasi’s chief marketing officer. “From a standpoint of having water that is safe and available to drink, it’s becoming a huge issue.”
A package of Asarasi water. (Emily Kask / Hartford Courant)
The maple season typically starts at the end of winter and concludes at the beginning of spring, so the company only has six to eight weeks a year to collect its water, Pare said.
Lazar said the price is also comparable to other water products on the market: a single bottle ranges from $1.89 to $1.99 and a four-pack prices at $1.50 a bottle.
“If we can show people it’s a different resource at the same price, what is preventing you from doing the right thing?” Lazar said. “We all want to do the right thing, but oftentimes your wallet prevents you.”
Currently, the water is sold in about 65 to 70 restaurants throughout Connecticut, including West Hartford’s Harry’s Pizza and Unionville’s Cure, and about 100 stores throughout New York and New England, Lazar said.
He said his vision is to involve thousands of maple farmers nationally in the production of this water, as it is important to sustain local farmers.
“I tell people we don’t sell a bottle of water. We sell a paradigm shift in the way we think about how we consume our natural resources,” Lazar said. “It’s all wrapped up in a bottle of water, but it gets you thinking about all these things, whether it’s conservation or economic prosperity for farmers … or encouraging children to drink more water.”
