Brita water bottle

Love this product! The cap that covers the straw which keeps it clean when at the workplace or in a backpack. Keeps even just tap water cool. Will be buying another!

Hate it

I seem to be in the minority, but I simply cannot fathom why people want this water bottle. I mean, I usually think filtered water tastes better, but filters are an extra expense, the bottles themselves are insanely expensive (37.79 at time of writing) and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my issues with this water bottle.

Read on for a detailed review, or scroll to the bottom for a summary of my thoughts!

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Taste
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Bottom line, when it comes down to a water bottle that charges through the nose and claims to taste better; does it? Well, no. I wanted to be sure we had an honest experience and so I conducted a blind taste test. First I poured two different glasses of water for my partner, singing to disguise the noise of the water bottles being poured. Fun fact, the Brita is basically impossible to pour and will only dribble out through the hole, not the straw, so I had to serve small drinks. He couldn’t taste any difference.

Next, he did the same for me. I thought I could taste a small difference, but not enough so that I would care and I’m a supertaster (more tastebuds than normal). So if you want to spend this much money on an extremely minor difference of slightly crisper water, who am I to stop you? But I feel it’s a bit mad.

Considering filters costs avg $4 per filter (at time of review, lasts 2 months) you’ll spend $24 on filters a year, not a bank-breaking amount, but kind of insane that it’ll take you more than a year to spend on filters what you spent on the bottle and either way, it’s an extra cost. You can also elect to just not put a filter in, I suppose.

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Design
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For fans of turquoise, Sea Glass is definitely the prettier colour, but overall the design is good-looking. I do like the ‘press button’ to open the bottle as I frequently drink with only one hand free, but that’s the only good thing I can say about the design functionality.

In terms of functionality, I feel this is a straight up fail and don’t understand the love for it. The ‘chunky straw’ dispenser is made of silicone. First of all, this attracts dust and dirt (on my drinking spout!? It’s more likely than you think). Also drinking from the straw with a sucking motion gives you what? Those of you who answered ‘Gas’ get a bonus point!

Apparently, some people really like this ‘straw’ type of drinking bottle, but it’s a really weird feeling. For a start, there is no option to tip and pour it into your mouth, if you try and tip the water bottle it just leaks out a weird hole behind the straw. Secondly, the straw takes so much strength to suck up very little water, you swallow a ton of air and don’t really quench your thirst. I feel like I’m drinking from a kiddie cup, which in public is frankly embarrassing and I’m not a fan of it in my private life either. I’m also the kind of person who bites straws (I know, I know, I can’t help it!) so the last thing I want on my water bottle is tooth marks.

The other thing I worry about is biofilms. Even with a bottle brush, I feel like it’s impossible to clean in that spout well, not to mention all the casing curves/bends and fiddly bits around the filter. I don’t feel confident at all that there wouldn’t be gunk or germs in there and would love to see a study done on this! It’s probably ok if you have a dishwasher, maybe not even then, but I don’t so it’s a moot point.

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Summary
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Overall, this is a big failure in design for me. The water bottle is like a kiddie cup that you must suck from, feels awkward, doesn’t dispense enough water and is generally just not my cup of tea.

Pros:
+ Water is very slightly crisper (from the point of view of a super-taster, and a VERY minor difference in taste).
+ Filters are reasonably cheap ($4 per filter, $8 every 4 months).
+ Design is pretty.
+ Button to open makes one-handed operation easy.

Cons:
- Bottle is ludicrously expensive ($37 at time of writing).
- Silicone straw dispenser attracts dust and dirt.
- Straw is too hard to suck up water; tons of effort, very little water.
- Straw being soft, but firm makes it difficult not to dig teeth in, will leave tooth marks over time.
- No way to pour water out into a cup, or into your mouth even and when tipped up, it leaks.
- Feels like drinking from a kiddie cup.
- Impossible to clean well without a dishwasher. Bio-films and gunk will accumulate in this.

Recommended: No. The cost is far too high and I personally hated it!