Brita Water Filter Bottle: our verdict
I rarely leave the house without a bottle of water, but when I'm heading further afield, making one easy to carry bottle last all day can be a bit of a pain. So I was excited to try out Brita's Water Filter Bottle, which can be filled up anywhere.
With a tiny charcoal disc to do the filtering, I was able to fill the bottle up from public water fountains as well as the hard water that comes out of my kitchen taps, without worrying about the taste or impurities.
The filter slots easily into the bottle's lid, there's none of the soaking involved in filter jugs. I did find the spout a little bit stiff to pop up - it's not one you can do with your lips or even your teeth - so you need two hands, which didn't make it ideal for driving. The water flows easily through the filter disc, you don't need to suck hard or wait for it to drip through.
However, the flipside of a stiff spout is that the bottle is totally leakproof. The lid itself is cleverly designed so that it compresses the spout when it clicks closed, so there's no way for water to escape if the lid is closed.
While I'm not averse to tap water, I live in an old house with old pipes, in a hard water area, so I make sure all our drinking water is filtered. It was nice to be able to fill up my Brita bottle from the tap, as it's cooler than the water in my filter jug, and I don't have to wait for it to filter.
On days when I was out for the whole day, it was great to have that extra filter when I filled up my bottle from a public drinking fountain. However, you shouldn't fill up a filter bottle from a non-drinking water source, so it was more of a nice-to-have. It did make me less likely to buy a bottle of water though, as I wanted to make the most of it.
Related: The best water filter jugs for clean, fresh water at home