Throughout the summer, kids have continued to pester their parents to buy into the craze that claims to make water tasty. Celebrity endorsem*nts from the likes of Kim Kardashian and Ashton Kutcher have helped to drum up interest, but what's so special about Air Up water bottles, and are they really worth all the attention?
I bought one (along with a pack of the Air Up Pods you need for it) and used it for a week to find out. I often forget to drink enough water, so I had high hopes that Air Up would be a game-changer for me.
Read on to find out if it was a success, and everything you need to know about Air Up bottles and Air Up Pods before you buy them.
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What's so special about Air Up bottles?
When you attach an Air Up Pod to the top of your Air Up bottle, the pod releases a scent as you drink, giving you the impression that the water is flavoured when it hasn't actually had anything added to it.
According to the 'How it works' section of Air Up's website, 'around 80% of what we perceive as flavour is actually derived from what we're smelling'. So what makes you experience flavoured water is simply smelling what comes out of the Air Up Pod as you drink from the bottle.
When looking for a bottle to choose on the website, I came across two options:
- a 650ml tritan plastic bottle, available in five colours (charcoal grey, ocean blue, hot pink, sunset purple and royal blue)
- a 480ml or 850ml steel bottle, available in two colours (silver and black).
All come with a pack of three pods of the same flavour. Selecting 'create my set' lets you pick from the above bottle options and then choose a flavour pack of pods to go with it.
Prices range from £24.99 up to £66.98 depending on which bottle and pod options you choose.
You can also buy Air Up bottles and Air Up Pods from Amazon or eBay, although not from an official seller, and the prices tend to be more expensive than when buying directly from Air Up.
'Chunkier than a tube of Pringles'
I went for the 850ml silver steel bottle and a Favourite Five Pod Pack which contains five single pods of different flavours, so I could try a few different ones during my week of testing.
Opening the box, I was struck by how chunky the Air Up bottle was. Perhaps I was asking for it by going for the largest size, but I was still surprised to find it was taller and wider than a tube of Pringles. That aside, it appeared sturdy, stylish and easy to assemble.
You need to keep the bottle upright while drinking from it, as it uses a built-in straw. Once you've attached your Air Up Pod to the bottle, you need to raise the pod slightly to get the flavour, and lower it again to drink unflavoured water.
So far, so good. Now to try out the flavours.
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Air Up Pods - what flavours are there?
There's a variety of Air Up Pods available to buy direct from Air Up. Almost every pack you can buy contains three pods of the same flavour.
- £4.99- Lemon, Blackcurrant, Honeydew Melon, Pineapple, Peach, Apple, Cheery, Lime
- £5.99- Strawberry-Balsamic, Wild Berry, Raspberry-Lemon, Orange-Passionfruit, Iced Coffee, Orange-Vanilla, Basil-Lemon, Sweet Coconut, Guava, Watermelon, Mango Passion Fruit, Elderflower
- £6.99- Strawberry-Lemongrass, Kola, Ice Tea, Strawberry-Lemongrass, Orangeade, Yuzu-Rosemary, Cherry Kola, Lychee-Rose, Virgin Mojito
- £11.99- Favourite Five Pod Pack, containing 1x Watermelon, 1x Peach, 1x Orange-Vanilla, 1x Raspberry-Lemon, 1x Wild Berry
The flavours I tried (those in the Favourite Five Pod Pack) were a mixed bag, and I'm not just talking about the variety.
My favourites were the Orange-Vanilla and the Raspberry-Lemon. In both cases, one of the flavours was more dominant than the other (orange and lemon, respectively), but they gave my water a pleasant citrusy zing, and I enjoyed sipping away at those.
They were pretty mild, though, and the flavour diminished faster than I was expecting. It took less than a day for the flavour I was getting from each sip to lessen.
I was surprised at just how disappointing I found the Watermelon, Peach and Wild Berry flavours. They tasted incredibly synthetic to me – more like cheap sweets than fruit.
Air Up's website says 100% natural fruit, herbs and spices go into the flavours, and they're vegan. When I asked for more information on the flavourings, I was told: 'We only use food grade, natural flavours for our pods, which we source from one of Germany's leading flavour houses. All our flavours meet all legal requirements that are also used in the rest of the food and beverage industry.'
'Odd sensation and noisy slurping sound'
The experience of using the Air Up Pods took me a bit of getting used to. Essentially, Air Up mixes flavoured air with your water, and I found swallowing gulps of water that contain air bubbles an odd sensation.
The bottle also makes quite a noisy slurping sound when you drink from it with the Air Pod engaged. According to Air Up this is intentional, but I can't imagine how infuriating it must be for a teacher to have 30 of these things being slurped in their classroom. It's probably a good thing I'm not a teacher.
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How long do Air Up pods last?
Air Up says each Air Up Pod is good for flavouring a minimum of 5 litres of water - so 15 litres per pack of three.
The NHS Eatwell Guide recommends drinking at least six to eight cups of fluid a day, or more if you’re in a hot environment or particularly physically active. That’s a minimum of 2 litres a day (1 cup = 250ml), so a three pack of pods will last you roughly a week if it’s all you drink, with each one lasting a little more than two days.
Depending on which flavours you buy, that comes to around £20-£28 a month in pods, which is about the same as taking on an extra phone contract. Not cheap.
I did get an Air Up discount code emailed to me after buying a bottle, which gives you an extra free pack of pods, but you need to buy another two packs of pods in order to redeem it.
Each Air Up Pod lasted about two days as described, but the flavour seemed to lessen pretty quickly, even though it was still technically present.
'Piling up in my recycling bin'
I also frowned as finished pods started piling up in my recycling bin. In the sustainability section of its website Air Up says its pods use 88% less plastic than flavoured drinks sold in single-use plastic bottles - but is this the correct comparison to make?
To me, Air Up is really an alternative to flavouring your water with bits of fruit. I don't know how disposable plastic pods, which can be recycled a maximum of two or three times (as with all recyclable plastics), can possibly be better than using fruit, which you can eat or put in your compost bin once you've used it to flavour your water.
To make matters a worse, at the time of writing the plastic pouches the Air Up Pods come in aren't recyclable at all, although Air Up does say it's working on changing that soon.
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Is it worth getting an Air Up bottle?
There's certainly novelty in the way the bottle works, and it appears to be well-made. The steel bottle I bought is sturdy, looks good, and kept my water cool for a long time.
It also got me drinking more water for the week I used it, although that probably has more to do with my needing to write this article than any sudden strong desire to drink more water.
A key consideration is the premium you pay to get on board with this craze. Not only are the bottles more expensive to buy than competitor brands such as Chillys, but there's also the ongoing cost of the Air Up Pods. Without a pod attached, the bottle doesn't work - you'll need to keep an empty pod attached if you just want to use it as a normal water bottle.
I found the flavours in the Favourite Five Pod Pack very hit and miss, and I didn't like my favourites nearly enough to warrant parting with even more money to stock up on more. The whole time I used the Air Up Pods, I thought 'Why am I not just putting cheaper, tastier and more sustainable fruit in my drink instead?'
Kids obviously won't accept that as an alternative, though, as what they're really after is an opportunity to show off owning the Air Up brand to their peers, and to get excited about trying out the snazzy flavours.
Ultimately, if Air Up gets kids drinking more fluids that's no bad thing in my opinion, but if you can manage waiting a little bit longer until this craze finally passes, you'll save yourself some cash and avoid clogging up your recycling bin.
