Aura Bora is the sparkling water brand that swapped citrus for cactus, and it worked. Instead of lime and grapefruit, cans carry flavors like lavender cucumber, cactus rose, and ginger meyer lemon, built from real herbs, fruits, and flowers rather than the citric acid most sparkling water brands lean on for tang.
The company started in 2019, in a San Francisco kitchen, when founders Paul and Maddie Voge got tired of the same handful of flavors showing up on every sparkling water shelf. They began mixing crushed herbs and fruit into a home carbonator, and their first real hit, Lavender Cucumber, came together almost by accident. By October of that year, they’d bottled their first 1,000 cans and put them in front of a small test market in five flavors.
Fast forward, and Aura Bora is now sold in thousands of stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, and Sprouts, and the brand picked up national attention after a memorable pitch on Shark Tank.
Aura Bora and Shark Tank
Paul and Maddie brought Aura Bora onto Shark Tank Season 12 asking for $150,000 for 5 percent equity. At the time, the company had already pulled in $200,000 in sales and was sitting in around 488 stores. Kevin O’Leary offered a royalty deal the founders weren’t thrilled about, but Robert Herjavec liked what he tasted and made a counteroffer. After some back and forth, they settled on $200,000 for 15 percent equity, and Herjavec became their investor.
The deal held up after the cameras stopped rolling, and the exposure gave the brand a real jolt. Paul Voge has said the company made more money in the four days after the episode aired than in the four months before it.
Who Owns Aura Bora Now?
This is where the story has shifted since the Shark Tank days. In February 2025, Aura Bora sold a majority stake to Next In Natural, a Brooklyn-based investment firm that also owns sparkling botanical brand Sound. Paul Voge stayed on as CEO, now focused mainly on product development, while Next In Natural’s CEO, Jeff Lichtenstein, took the chairman role.
The terms of that deal were never made public. What is public: Aura Bora had its best year yet in 2024, with sales around 12 million dollars, though the company was still not profitable at that point, mostly due to high freight and marketing costs. The brand had raised more than 10 million dollars total since its founding, most of it in a Series A round led by Siddhi Capital back in 2022.
Is Aura Bora Sparkling Water's Net Worth Public?
Not currently. Back in 2022, right after Shark Tank, the company was informally estimated at around 20 million dollars, a figure that circulated widely online. That number is old now, and since the 2025 sale of a majority stake to Next In Natural didn’t come with a disclosed price tag, there’s no updated, verified valuation to point to. Anyone quoting a specific current number is guessing, and so would I be if I gave you one, so I’m not going to.
What Makes Aura Bora Different
Most flavored sparkling water, including big names like LaCroix and Bubly, uses citric acid to help balance and preserve the flavor. Aura Bora skips it entirely. The company’s own site is upfront that this is a deliberate choice, since some drinkers get headaches or stomach upset from citric acid, and Aura Bora wanted to avoid that entirely.
Instead, cans are filled through reverse osmosis filtration, which strips out fluoride, PFAS, and other contaminants from the base water, then Aura Bora adds back a small amount of minerals for taste. The sweetness in every can comes from the herbs and fruit themselves, not from stevia, monk fruit, or any other sweetener. Every flavor is zero calories, zero sugar, and zero sodium.
Aura Bora Flavors at a Glance
| Flavor | Profile | Main Notes | Shop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavender Cucumber ⭐ | Cool, mellow, floral | Cucumber + soft lavender floral | Buy |
| Cactus Rose | Light, tart-floral | Prickly pear + rose flower | Buy |
| Strawberry Basil | Herbal berry, savory-sweet | Strawberry + aromatic sweet basil | Buy |
| Peppermint Watermelon | Crisp, cool-sweet | Juicy watermelon + herbal peppermint | Buy |
| Lemongrass Coconut | Tropical, rounded, zesty | Coconut + bright lemongrass | Buy |
| Grapefruit Elderflower | Citrus-floral | Grapefruit + elderflower sweetness | Buy |
| Ginger Meyer Lemon | Warm, zesty, lightly spiced | Meyer lemon + mild ginger warmth | Buy |
| Lime Cardamom | Warm spice, tart citrus | Lime + sweet cardamom spice | Buy |
| Raspberry Vanilla | Dessert-like, tart-sweet | Raspberry + rounded warm vanilla | Buy |
The Core Aura Bora Flavors, Reviewed
Lavender Cucumber
Lavender Cucumber is the flavor that started it all, and it’s still the brand’s signature. It’s cool and mellow, with the cucumber doing most of the refreshing work and the lavender adding a soft floral note rather than an overpowering perfume smell.
If you’ve never tried Aura Bora before, this is the flavor most people, including the founders themselves, point to first. It is pure, basic, and incredibly satisfying on a warm afternoon.
Cactus Rose
Cactus Rose pairs a light, slightly tart cactus flavor (prickly pear extract) with rose flower extracts, landing somewhere between floral and fruity. It’s one of the more polarizing flavors in the lineup.
Fans describe it as delicate, pretty, and clean with a gentle flowery finish. Some tasters find it closer to a perfume than a drink. It reads very differently depending on how cold the can is when you crack it — make sure this one is fully chilled.
Strawberry Basil (Basil Berry)
Strawberry Basil blends sweet strawberry with an herbal, slightly savory basil note. It’s an unusual pairing on paper, but it works beautifully.
The basil keeps the strawberry flavor from tasting artificial or candy-like. This is a very clean thirst-quencher with zero sweetness added.
Peppermint Watermelon
Peppermint Watermelon takes two flavors that rarely show up together and makes them work. The watermelon carries most of the sweetness, while the peppermint adds a cool, almost herbal finish rather than a toothpaste-style mint blast.
Founder Paul Voge has said the idea actually came from a peppermint watermelon salad he’d had at a restaurant, which tells you a lot about how this brand comes up with flavors.
Lemongrass Coconut
Lemongrass Coconut is tropical without tipping into piña colada territory. The coconut gives it a round, slightly creamy quality, while the lemongrass adds brightness and keeps it from feeling heavy.
It’s a good pick if you want something that feels a little more indulgent than the citrus and floral options in the lineup.
Other Standout & Limited Flavors
- Grapefruit Elderflower: Pairs sharp, tart grapefruit with the light floral sweetness of elderflower. Approachable, closer to a dressed-up version of standard grapefruit sparkling water.
- Ginger Meyer Lemon: Meyer lemon (sweeter than regular lemon) keeps the ginger warmth from turning too spicy. Strong pick if you want ginger bite without sugar.
- Lime Cardamom: Tart lime paired with the warm, sweet spice of cardamom. Makes a fantastic craft cocktail mocktail mixer.
- Raspberry Vanilla: A dessert-leaning combo of tart raspberry and soft, warm vanilla.
- Green Bean Casserole (Limited): A genuinely real Thanksgiving-inspired seltzer that Aura Bora released as a seasonal drop, picking up media coverage for being exactly as unusual as it sounds.
Aura Bora Variety Packs
The variety pack features a mix of Aura Bora’s core flavors (usually Lavender Cucumber, Cactus Rose, Basil Berry, Lemongrass Coconut, Peppermint Watermelon, and Grapefruit Elderflower). This is the absolute best way to trial the brand’s unique herbal profiles without committing to full cases.
Aura Bora vs LaCroix vs Bubly vs Zevia
Aura Bora sits on the premium end of the market, which is why it stacks up differently against standard grocery brands:
| Brand | Calories | Sweetener | Citric Acid | Flavor Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aura Bora | 0 | None (herbal extracts) | None | Herbal, floral, complex pairings |
| LaCroix | 0 | None | Not typically added | Natural essence, subtle |
| Bubly | 0 | None | Sometimes present | Natural flavor, light |
| Zevia | 0 | Stevia leaf extract | Yes | Lightly sweet, soda replacement style |
Aura Bora is priced noticeably higher than any of these three, generally running close to double what you’d pay for a can of LaCroix. That’s the trade-off: fewer, more unusual flavors, no citric acid, and a smaller-batch, more artisanal feel.
🌵 Aura Bora Botanical Finder
Answer 2 quick questions to find your perfect herbal, flower-infused match!
1. Choose your primary botanical vibe:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Aura Bora sparkling water healthy?
For most people, yes. It's zero calories, zero sugar, zero sodium, and free of artificial sweeteners and citric acid. If you're sensitive to strong herbal or floral flavors, that's a taste preference rather than a health concern.
Where can I buy Aura Bora sparkling water?
Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Sprouts, Wegmans, and Thrive Market all carry it, along with Aura Bora's own site, which also runs a subscription service for the Flavor of the Month releases you won't find in stores.
Was Aura Bora on Shark Tank?
Yes, Season 12. Founders Paul and Maddie Voge accepted a deal from Robert Herjavec, $200,000 for 15 percent equity, and the deal actually closed after filming, which doesn't always happen on the show.
What is Aura Bora sparkling water's net worth?
There's no current, verified figure. A 20 million dollar estimate circulated after the brand's 2022 Shark Tank era growth, but that's outdated now that Next In Natural acquired a majority stake in 2025 without disclosing terms.
What is Aura Bora's herbal sparkling water made from?
Carbonated, reverse osmosis filtered water, plus real herb, fruit, and flower extracts. There's no citric acid, no added sugar, and no artificial sweeteners in any flavor.
Is Green Bean Casserole a real Aura Bora flavor?
Yes, genuinely. It's a limited edition, Thanksgiving themed seltzer that Aura Bora has released as a seasonal drop, and it picked up a fair amount of media attention for being exactly as unusual as the name suggests.
What does Aura Bora Lavender Cucumber taste like?
Cool and mellow, led by cucumber with a soft floral lavender note underneath. It's the brand's original, signature flavor and the one most reviewers recommend trying first.
What does Aura Bora Lime Cardamom taste like?
Tart lime paired with the warm, slightly sweet spice of cardamom. It started as a limited release and became permanent after strong demand, and it works especially well as a cocktail or mocktail mixer.