So, I had this bottle of NUUN last week on a bike ride. It’s the tri-berry kind, so it’s purple (go huskies!). Anyway, after an hour or two the solution was colorless. What gives? Did my plastic bottle soak up all the goodies, or was there some kind of photochemistry reaction going on? It didn’t happen to my friend’s bottle, but he had some lime kind of flavor. I guess I gotta drink the stuff fast.
I use the lemon lime Nuun and I notice that the color fades after a while. I don’t think the electrolytes disappear, though…and I can still taste it. Not sure of the why for all that.
The first time I noticed it I thought one of my friends swapped out my bottles with plain water (he’s a big fan of messing with my stuff…like hiding a bike shoe during transition practice) and was giving him crap. He swore up and down he didn’t do anything but I didn’t believe him. The next time I rode I noticed by the time I got to the second bottle it was colorless.
I’m not sure if it’s caused by heat, sun or just elapsed time but the color does fade but the electrolytes don’t go anywhere.
there’s a simple answer here. the colours are from natural sources (riboflavin (vit b2) for the yellow and beets for the red). these are UV unstable, particularly the vit b2. so in light they are broken down and the colour fades. if you had a black bottle this wouldn’t happen (but then you wouldn’t see the difference either!). the change in colour does NOT affect the electroyte content.
hope that helps
tim
haha yeah, i remember the first time i used the berry flavor, in the sun 30 min later it was light yellow!
Love the stuff - especially my hot and humid climate. Must say though that I stumbled across the “new” Kona Kola flavour and this doesn’t do it for me I’m afraid. May work for some but it leaves me wanted the real stuff! I’ll stick the other other flavours which are all fab.
Out of interest, as the drink is held in a bottle, why add colour to it anyway? If the taste is still there why the need for the colour?
I love Nuun. Last year during a ride I was sorely disappointed when I took a drink to realize that I had put an Airborne tablet in my water bottle by mistake… They look a lot a like.
No matter how tempting it may be NEVER lick the NUUN tablet before you drop it in the bottle. It does not taste good at all and the taste takes a while to dissipate. I’ve tried the Berry, the Cola and the Lemon Lime all with similar results. 
And yes, I notice color changes as well, though the cola tends to stay the same color. The first few rides with Berry I thought I had grabbed the wrong bottle.
No matter how tempting it may be NEVER lick the NUUN tablet before you drop it in the bottle. It does not taste good at all and the taste takes a while to dissipate. I’ve tried the Berry, the Cola and the Lemon Lime all with similar results.
I will see your dumbass move, and raise you eating two NUUN tablets right before bed the night before a race. I spent the entire night, and the first half of the swim the next morning, burping up lime NUUN. MMMmmm OTOH I did go on to have like the best race of my life…