Kind of a rant — I drink water and flavored-water beverages, and I don’t wanna buy 24-packs of water and trust my local municipality to recycle. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Either way, it’s not recycle, it’s “reduce, reuse, recycle.” I’ll drink a Gatorade (Zero) and reuse it a few times and then toss it.
But if I want a reusable bottle — there’s one by Aladdin (Thermos) I like, and one by Zojirushi, I’ve bought two of each over the years. Just tossed the Zojirushi. Zojirushi is a Japanese brand, very high quality, but a bit over-engineered. It’s got this rubber gasket and plug that, you can clean them daily, they get black spots. Not sure if it’s mould or what, but it’s kinda gross and I don’t like it. The Aladdin/Thermos one is a bit better, didn’t think there was any mould anywhere until I dropped it, the cap flew out, mould farm inside! Nowhere that touched the beverage so that was nice. But I’m kinda done with both of them. I would rather just waste plastic than risk drinking from a mouldy reusable cup.
Are there reusable bottles that aren’t mould farms?
Gaskets are consumables, whatever bottle you get, make sure you can source additional gaskets.
been using the same bottle for over a year. insides are 302 stainless with a silicone gasket. I only keep water in it, nothing but water.
I wash it with a bottle scrub every four weeks.
- hot rinse (hottest from tap)
- soap wash (scrub)
- vinegar rinse with hot to steam
- rinse with cold until I don’t smell vinegar
I rinse it every week using the same steps above, I just don’t scrub it. I pay close attention to the gasket and make sure it gets a full exposure of the vinegar.
The kind that is cleaned properly.
Tape some bubblewrap around a mason jar taps forhead
I make brewed teas and cold coffee and bring them to work in mason jars. Started a trend at work.
Put them in the dishwasher after every use. If it is not dishwasher safe, throw it away and get one that is.
They actually had a special on drinking bottles recently and I was thinking about buying one. Then they had a report on TV about such non-dishwasher-safe bottles, and that you simply don’t get them clean with washing them by hand. They had some nice pics of such bottles building up things in nooks and crevices. Gave up on that special offer, as they were not dishwasher safe.
I bought a metal tumbler for this exact reason, easier to clean and longer lasting.
get a non-plastic bottle. plastic is notorious for harboring bacteria, and mold, because they are prone to microscope crevices from forming. probably a metal one. you might want to use soap and hot water for metal containers.
Hard agree. My water bottle is stainless steel. The lid screws off, there’s no complicated nozzle to get clean, you drink from it like a normal bottle. I don’t have a dishwasher, just wash it in hot soapy water, rinse and refill. A bonus is that it takes a lot of punishment - I dropped an expensive plastic one once and it exploded. Also it’s a thermal bottle, so cold drinks stay cold.
flip top stainless growler, get a bunch of extra gaskets and rotate them. I put them in the dishwasher in the cutlery tray that has a lid to keep things from flying out, then boil them submerged under a stainless trivet to get any smells out.
the bottles I just use soap and a brush and if it smells like anything after that then PBW or oxy powder.
bottles with straws, slide seals, the other type of flip lid, hollow lids, etc will inevitably have unwashable areas that will get nasty.
runner up is this. they fit the same opening
it looks like they dont sell the growler flip any more but I bought several for my klean kanteen knockoff (unintentional kkk) standard size bottles too.
Guaranteed to keep your water cool.
Well I use a nalgene and a Kleen Kanteen. Both have that standard open mouth design. You’re gonna need to clean the caps and O-rings but they’re pretty good
The Contigo Cortland chill. I love this bottle so much if I lose it I buy another. I’ve been using this bottle for at least 6 years now.
Because it’s a button spout it’s very good for air sipping (water falling). Since I don’t put my mouth on it, there is less chance of bacteria developing in the bottle and lid.
The Lid folds open on the inside which makes it easy to clean by hand.
I see they have new filtered variants, I haven’t tried those yet.
I am the same with the steel version from them! I like that it’s made out of metal, but I do eventually fuck up the base because I drop it on the regular.
Same haha, once its so beat up it doesn’t stand up I get a new one.
Mine is the leaning tower of hydration right now
The solution to your problem is not to buy one specific bottle. The solution is to have two separate water bottles, so that you can swap and clean them on your own time.
Yeti wide mouth because it’s easy to clean. I just flush it with hot tap water and a drop of Dawn, let it sit for a few minutes, then hold my hand over the mouth and shake. Rinse thoroughly, then dry right side up so condensation doesn’t build up inside. The part to really pay attention to is the mouthpiece, but that is quickly cleaned with some soapy water and a rag.
Also, DON’T use your dishes rag/sponge on your water bottles, as it always has residual dish gunk (no matter how many times you rinse it) that will actually make your water bottle dirtier. Keep a separate rag for washing drinking bottles and wring it properly when you’re done.
Yeti’s are also one of the few that are dishwasher safe
That wide mouth is the real big money.
Agreed, but I never put water bottles in the dishwasher and always hand wash them. The soaps they use can leave behind a residue after drying, something I can smell and taste.
Iirc this might have more to do with your water quality being hard/soft or the ph or something, than the soap itself.
It’s quite possible, as I’m on conditioned well water.
a bottle brush is more appropiate.
It’s only used for water, so there’s nothing to scrub away. Hot soapy water is enough.
I have one of those and it’s the easiest bottle to clean that I have. Takes like 1 min from wet to totally dry. However, it’s not insulated so that may be an issue for them.
I saw an insulated one when i just checked. Price £40.
Edit: Here
Oh nice, missed those.
I have about 10 protein/gym shakers, that I use for shakes (obviously) but also just water. I have so many because they will sometimes come free when i order supplements - but they can be bought for a few dollars. I rotate them daily and just run them through the dish washer. Because they’re wide and the lid comes off they are super easy to wash and dry.
I’ll normally get a couple years out of them before they need replacing.
Using 2 bottles atm. Both from LTT (youtuber merch).
After use I clean them witg fresh water and dry them over night in a reverse position.
So far it was sufficient to not develop any smell. On ocassion I’ll clean it with dish soap.Anything that’s wet all the time is going to grow mold or algae or whatever.
Whether you rinse or scrub, if you just shake off the drips or even towel it off before you fill it up again it’s going to get gross.
It needs to spend a significant amount of time completely dry.
The solution is to have 2 bottles and switch them every few days.
