10 Brands Like Recess to Try in 2026

If you want a Recess alternative, start with Hiyo for the closest calm-in-a-can swap, De Soi for an evening pour, HOP WTR if you want zero sugar and zero calories, and OLIPOP if you just want a good daily can. Every brand here is hemp-free and alcohol-free.

Recess built a category. A slim can, a light fizz, and the promise that you would feel a bit calmer twenty minutes later. Plenty of people love it and keep buying it.

Plenty of others go looking for something else, and the reasons are consistent: the price per can adds up fast, the flavors land as too faint for some palates, and the effect can feel inconsistent from one night to the next.

There is also a fork most roundups ignore. Recess sells a broad-spectrum hemp sparkling water alongside its hemp-free lines, and a lot of shoppers specifically want the calm without any hemp in it. Every brand on this list is hemp-free.

Which Recess are you actually replacing?

This is the part other lists skip, and it changes the answer completely.

The hemp-free Recess range does two different jobs. Recess Mood is the wind-down can, built on a 53mg proprietary magnesium blend plus L-theanine and lemon balm, at 20 calories with no added sugar. Recess Zero Proof is the alcohol replacement, built on guayusa with L-theanine and lemon balm, at 25 calories.

Those need different substitutes. A magnesium sipper does not replace a mocktail you pour into a glass at 6pm, and a bitter apéritif is a strange thing to drink at 10pm. Sort by the job first, then by taste and price.

How we picked these brands

• Hemp-free and CBD-free. Every brand here is checked. The big competitor lists lead with cannabis-infused drinks, which is the opposite of what most people searching this are asking for.
• Named ingredients, stated doses. "Adaptogens" on a label means nothing. 1,700mg of a named blend means something you can compare.
• A format you would actually swap in. Cold drinks you can pour or crack. Hot mushroom lattes are a different habit, so they are not here.
• Buyable direct today. All ten sell straight from their own store, and most are in national retail too.
• Honest about taste. Where reviewers genuinely split on flavor, we say so rather than pretending everything is delicious.

At a glance

1. Hiyo

Hiyo is the swap most Recess drinkers land on first, and the formula explains why. Each can carries 1,700mg of functional ingredients: ashwagandha, L-theanine, lion's mane, lemon balm, passion flower and ginger. That is the highest stated dose in this roster, and the brand names every ingredient rather than hiding behind a blend.

The effect gets marketed as "the float", which is exactly as vague as it sounds, but reviewers who feel something usually feel it here.

Best for anyone who liked the idea of Recess Mood and wants a bigger, more clearly labeled dose in the same slim-can format. Twelve-packs run around $45, so it is not the budget pick.

2. De Soi

De Soi was co-founded by Katy Perry and distiller Morgan McLachlan, and it is built for the 6pm slot rather than bedtime. The Social Spritz line carries over 1,000mg of adaptogens at 25 calories, under 5g of sugar, caffeine-free and 0% ABV.

The range splits cleanly: Social Spritz flavors are bright and lightly energizing, while the Classic Cocktails line (St. Moritz Mule, Haute Margarita, Spritz Italiano) leans rich and relaxing.

Best for replacing Recess Zero Proof, or replacing an actual drink. Variety packs start around $45, which puts it at the premium end.

3. Kin Euphorics

Kin Euphorics sells botanical "euphorics" with no alcohol and no CBD, and it organizes the range by time of day rather than by flavor. Lightwave and Dream Light are the evening and night products, Kin Spritz and Actual Sunshine cover daytime.

Worth being straight about the reviews: people love the ritual, the bottles and the way it feels to pour, and they split hard on the taste. Several testers describe it as delivering on vibe more than flavor.

Best for shoppers who want the ceremony as much as the effect, and who would rather mix something than crack a can.

4. HOP WTR

HOP WTR is sparkling hop water with adaptogens and nootropics, at 0 calories, 0 sugar and 0 carbs. It is the only genuinely zero-everything option on this list.

Because it is built on hops, it tastes like the aromatic, slightly bitter side of an IPA without the beer or the alcohol. That makes it the natural swap for someone whose evening drink was a beer rather than a wine, and a good pick for anyone avoiding sweeteners entirely. Twelve-packs sit around $30, which is the friendlier end of this category.

If it turns out plain fizzy water is what you were really after, the loud-can end of that shelf is covered in our Liquid Death alternatives.

5. Juni

Juni is sparkling green tea with ashwagandha and lion's mane, at zero sugar and 5 calories a can, with USDA Organic marked on the label. Flavors run light and fruity: lemon zest, peach, raspberry, tropical.

Because there is real green tea in it, this one lifts rather than winds you down. Treat it as a 3pm drink, not a 10pm one.

Best for the afternoon slump, and for anyone who wants function without sweetness. It is also one of the easier brands here to find in a normal store, with Target, Whole Foods, Kroger and Sprouts all listed as stockists. Variety packs start around $30.

6. Moment

Moment positions itself as "drink your meditation" and backs it with L-theanine and ashwagandha, no added sugar (it uses organic erythritol and stevia), no caffeine and no artificial flavors. The brand appeared on Shark Tank and pledges 1% of profits to mental health non-profits.

The range covers sparkling sodas, mocktails and botanical teas, so you can stay inside one brand across the day.

Best for the caffeine-free wind-down drinker who wants no added sugar. The collection runs $59, or $51 on subscription. If you dislike stevia, this is not your brand.

7. Ghia

Ghia is a Mediterranean-style non-alcoholic apéritif, and it is the most grown-up-tasting thing on this list. Properly bitter, botanical, 0% alcohol, no added sugar, no caffeine, vegan.

It comes as a 500ml bottle you mix yourself, plus canned Le Spritz and sparkling Le Fizz if you want it ready to go. The bottle is $38 and a four-pack of Le Spritz is $60.

Best for hosting, and for anyone who finds most alcohol-free drinks cloying. Bitter is genuinely rare in this category. If the apéritif shape is the part you like, we go deeper on that shelf in our Ghia alternatives roundup.

8. Curious Elixirs

Curious Elixirs makes numbered non-alcoholic craft cocktails, from No. 1 Pomegranate Negroni Sbagliato through No. 9 Sparkling Rosé with Key Lime. Each recipe is built on named adaptogens, including rhodiola, damiana, American ginseng, holy basil and shatavari, which puts it ahead of most of this category on transparency.

These are cocktails, not seltzers. Bigger flavor, more complexity, and a price to match at $36 to $69 depending on format.

Best for the shopper who misses the drink itself rather than the buzz.

9. Wildwonder

Wildwonder takes a different route to feeling better: prebiotics and probiotics rather than adaptogens. Each can is USDA Organic and vegan, at 40 calories and 6g of sugar, with no caffeine.

The flavors are the draw, built around Asian fruits the rest of the shelf ignores: Guava Rose, Raspberry Lychee, Mango Gold, Pink Pomelo Limeade. The company is woman-owned and has also done its Shark Tank round.

Best for the gut-health crossover shopper who would rather have fiber and cultures doing the work than a nootropic blend. Twelve cans run $44.

10. OLIPOP

OLIPOP is the everyday answer. It is a prebiotic soda built on the OLISMART fiber and botanical blend, carrying 6g to 9g of fiber depending on the line, with 2g to 5g of sugar and 35 to 45 calories per can.

There is no calm claim here, and that is the point. With 20+ flavors (Vintage Cola, Cherry Cola, Classic Grape, Ginger Ale) it is the one you stock the fridge with rather than save for a moment.

Best for anyone whose real habit was soda, at a price you can drink daily. It is also the easiest brand here to find in a regular grocery store. For the wider prebiotic-soda shelf, see our OLIPOP competitors comparison.

How to choose a Recess alternative

Work backwards from the job, not the label.

If you want the calm can at night, go Hiyo. It is the closest formula match to Recess Mood, at a higher stated dose.

If you are replacing an actual drink, go De Soi for cans or Ghia if you would rather pour and mix. Curious Elixirs if you want the full cocktail experience.

If you want zero sugar and zero calories, HOP WTR is the only true 0/0/0 here. Juni is the runner-up at 5 calories.

If sweeteners bother you, check labels closely. Moment uses erythritol and stevia, HOP WTR uses nothing, and Wildwonder and OLIPOP use small amounts of real sugar.

If you want an afternoon lift instead of a wind-down, Juni has green tea in it. Everything else here leans calm or neutral.

If you just want a better daily can, OLIPOP or Wildwonder, and stop paying wellness prices for a habit that is really about taste.

If you are stocking a whole pantry this way, the same logic applies across categories, which is the thread running through our best DTC food brands list.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest drink to Recess?

Hiyo. It is the same slim-can, calm-forward format, it names all six of its functional ingredients, and at 1,700mg per can it carries a higher stated dose than most of the category. De Soi is the closer match if you are replacing Recess Zero Proof rather than Recess Mood.

Is there a Recess alternative without hemp or CBD?

All ten brands on this list are hemp-free and CBD-free. That matters more than most roundups admit, because many of the drinks commonly listed as Recess competitors are cannabis-infused, which rules them out for anyone who is drug-tested at work, pregnant, or simply not interested.

Do adaptogen drinks actually work?

Reviews are genuinely mixed and you should expect that. Some people report feeling noticeably more relaxed within about twenty minutes, others feel nothing or find the effect fades fast. Ingredients like L-theanine and magnesium have real research behind them, but the doses in a single can are usually modest.

What is the cheapest alternative to Recess?

OLIPOP, comfortably. It sits in normal soda territory on price and is stocked in most grocery stores. HOP WTR is the cheapest of the genuinely functional cans, at around $30 for twelve.

Which one should I drink before bed?

Kin Euphorics makes night-specific products (Dream Light), and Moment is caffeine-free across the whole range, so both work late. Avoid Juni in the evening, since it is built on green tea and does contain caffeine.

Can I buy these in stores or only online?

All ten sell direct from their own websites. Juni, OLIPOP and Wildwonder have the widest grocery distribution, so those are the ones you are most likely to find on a shelf near you. The apéritif-style brands like Ghia and Curious Elixirs are easiest to get online.