Ya, I actually started to gag on it. But, I tried leaving out the cayenne and drinking it separately. I did this by getting a shot glass of water and adding the cayenne to that, then tossing it like a shot. There was a couple of times where if just squeezed the lemon and drank it, tossed the shot, then enjoyed 2 tblsps of wonderful maple syrup sloooowwlly. THEN drank a big glass of the mineral water. It made a huge difference for me.