We tested the Air Up bottle considered a school must-have & agreed on one thing
Whether you are familiar with Air Up bottles will depend, in great part, on whether you or your children spend a lot of time on TikTok. The trendy water bottles are a playground must-have in our neck of the woods at least, with kids carrying them into class in a rainbow of colours.
But with prices starting at £24.99 before you buy any of the pods that give the bottles their name they're a similar price to a posh Chilly bottle, and I wouldn't send my nine-year-old into school carrying one of those either.
Since my children were old enough to drink water, we have unashamedly been a house with a cupboard full of Sistema bottles. They're easily dishwashed, virtually indestructable and cost just a few pounds so if one gets lost or left behind somewhere it's not the end of the world. However, this summer as we began pulling together the school uniforms, new bag and other bits of kit needed for September I got the dreaded request.
"Do you think I could get an Air Up bottle for this year Mummy?"
I wanted to say no. I really did. But having not lost a bottle at all over the previous year and, aware that she's getting to that age having the must-have thing sometimes really matters to her now, I agreed grudgingly to give it a try. Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants, right?
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You can get a starter set of an Air Up bottle and three pods from about £34.99 depending on the size and style of bottle you choose. Meanwhile, Air Up pods start at £4.99 for three.
This, of course, brings us to the thing that makes Air Up different to other water bottles. You can attach a pod to the mouthpiece that makes plain water taste like its flavoured. The manufacturers say that 80% of what we think of as taste is actually smell, so as you drink the water natural scents are transported through your mouth to your nose, meaning you feel like you're drinking something fruity or cola flavoured.
The Air Up can be used with a wide variety of flavoured pods (Narin Flanders)I was a bit dubious about how this would work but activating the pod by lifting it up and then sipping the water really did trick all of our brains into thinking you were drinking something mildly flavoured (the entire family gave it a go - the novelty of it is definitely a big selling point).
You have to make sure you don't tilt the bottle as it's all about the angle of the neck making you get the scent but it ends up working the same way good fruit teas do and definitely feels like more than just fruity smelling water. Similarly to such teas, the pods are filled with all natural ingredients including fruits, spices and herbs put in a 'fleece' or air-permeable mini bag.
There's a constant rotation of different flavours available. I counted 26 different options last time I looked at the Air Up website and the genius of the brand is that while some of them are inevitably not going to appeal there are others that make you think 'ooooooh' even if you start off being a bit disinterested.
I went from being a woman who had no interest in drinking from an Air Up bottle to wondering if I should pick myself up some iced coffee pods to try in an attempt to slow down my caffeine intake during the day while drinking more water.
Each pod lasts for around 5 litres of water, so I'm working on the basis that'll be one pod each week for school because, yes, this has become September's firm favourite water bottle.
We tried the 480ml classic silver steel bottle. The bottle was really sturdy, as you'd expect of something made of stainless steel, but unlike some other bottles I've had the water coming out of it didn't taste metallic.
You drink through a straw and mouthpiece, both of which are made of food-safe branded silicone, easily removed and cleaned. Meanwhile, the flavour pods sit on the outside so it's easy to see what flavour you're drinking from the sticker around the pod.
Manufacturers say the bottle will keep water cold for up to 14 hours and we definitely noticed it still being pleasingly refreshing at around the ten hour mark, although at that point the water was finished.
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This was the thing I didn't expect as an adult testing this bottle with my child - does it all seem a bit overhyped to me and not much different to any other stainless steel bottle? Yes absolutely. Did it give my squash loving nine-year-old a new-found love of drinking water on its own? Also, surprisingly, yes.
I liked how sturdy the bottle was and how, despite spending a week throwing it into bags for various school holiday excursions, it didn't leak at any point. My one minor gripe is that it isn't dishwasher safe, but to be honest at that price I'd be handwashing it anyway to make sure it lasts properly.
As for the younger Flanders tester, her water intake has noticeably increased, she is remembering to take her stylish bottle with her everywhere she goes (two things I often find myself nagging about) and is happily pondering what she'll choose for next week's flavour.
I've gone from being convinced this was something overhyped and overpriced to cautiously converted to my daughter's view that for her this is a 'must-have' for school. I won't lie though, at this price I was relieved when my seven-year-old tried sipping from it, screwed up his face and asked if he could have a standard Spider-Man themed water bottle for a fraction of the price instead.
Is 'my friends all have one' a good reason to give in to requests for school must-haves? Normally I'd say absolutely not, but in this case when it means she's ended up better hydrated as well as happy it's absolutely worth the price tag. That said, I'll be keeping an eye out for Black Friday deals for a second one before I start trying Iced Coffee flavoured pods myself any time soon.
I'm just hoping the Prime fad has faded completely before either of my kids get old enough to be interested in it.
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