[Review] Hydro Flask 12 ounce coffee and tea flask

 Several years ago, I bought the 18 ounce coffee and tea flask with the flip top lid and said that it was close to perfection. One of my recommendations was for Hydro Flask to shrink it down to 12 ounces for those of us who want a smaller portion of coffee or tea. (or possibly have limited bag/backpack space to fit a bottle on your daily commute). Either way, this bottle completely answered what I wanted!

So, after a year of use, here we go:

 I bought the white bottle because the powder coat paint job looks awesome. The little ‘hydro flask’ man logo and the hydro flask font are small enough that I think they look decent and don’t’ stick out too much. The white does, however, scuff a lot and show dirt easily (of course). Wash it regularly, though, and it’ll stay looking like new. If anything, the white forces me to keep it cleaner because I see the dirt. As for the inside, I clean it every other couple months or so to erase the coffee or tea stains that build up on the inside. Sometimes I scrub it with baking soda and a wire brush, sometimes I use some CLR (Calcium, Lime, and Rust) cleaner. With a little effort and a few grunts, you’ll have the inside of the bottle shiny and like new.

My biggest (and only) gripe with this bottle is the cap. In our family, we’ve actually had 5 of these 12 ounce bottles, and we’ve had to contact Hydro Flask warranty service because 3 of the caps either arrived faulty or broke within the first few days of use. This has me question whether Hydro Flask’s quality control is lacking. I have owned about 5 different varieties of Hydro Flask bottles and haven’t had problems with the caps until this 12 ounce version.  Another annoyance with this cap is that the small air vent always seems to get ‘clogged’ with a little bubble of liquid. This prevents your coffee or tea from flowing out freely until this clog is poked or blown out.

All in all, I would absolutely continue to purchase from Hydro Flask. Their bottles are a bit more expensive than other brands, but they also consistently perform better (keeping cold drinks cold and hot drinks HOT) than other brands and are durably built. They also are backed with the great customer service that Hydro Flask gives. I have been fortunate enough to have been able to review 10 or so other brands of double walled, insulated bottles, and Hydro Flask is up at the top.

I give this bottle 4 out of 5 stars. It would be an easy 5 stars if I haven’t had so many problems with the caps on these.

Buy it directly from Hydro Flask HERE. Expect to pay around $22.

[Review] The Coldest Water – 21oz Insulated Bottle

As a longtime user of insulated, double walled water bottles, I can wholeheartedly recommend “The Coldest Water” bottle. Here are some of my reasons:

THE CAP. The cap is fantastic. Hydro Flask makes some bottles with the same sized mouth opening, yet their screw caps are only as large as they need to be. I really like the enlarged cap on this. It allows you to grip it easier and get it on and off faster, with less effort. The carabiner loop at the top is also nice and wide, which makes it easier to slip your fingers in and carry it by the top of the cap. It is also nice to know that the hydro flask cap (they call it the hydro flask standard mouth loop cap) fits, just in case you happen to need a new cap and aren’t able to get one from The Coldest Water for some reason.

Another plus for this bottle, in my opinion, is that they’ve set themselves apart from the competition by being a little more unique. They’ve added a grippy silicone band at the bottom of the bottle. This is an added little bonus, because it is removable and looks great with or without it.

The opening is large enough for standard sized ice cubes, yet this bottle will even keep tap water cold for hours. I like this bottle because the 21 ounce size is great to keep at my desk. I fill it up several times a day from a water fountain or water cooler and the water will stay nice and cold for the morning or afternoon.

I see no reason to suspect this bottle is inferior to the other top brands in any way. In fact, I actually prefer this one!

One of the only negatives I can come up with for this bottle is that the gasket seal in the cap is pretty deep in the grooves and could be tricky to get out and clean properly. I will be using this bottle for water, primarily, so I don’t expect that I will need to worry about this too much.

Note: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest review. I have not been compensated by the company in any way and these are my unbiased opinions.

I give this bottle by The Coldest Water 5 stars.

You can purchase it on Amazon HERE.

or

From their website HERE.

Expect to pay about $20-$25.