Brita Stainless Steel Filter Bottle Review

Our go-to for a bottle with a built-in filter, the Brita Stainless Steel, is impressively sleek, considering its purpose. We've found that filter bottle design has improved greatly over the past few years, and the Brita Stainless is the pinnacle of this technological advance. It's so much like a regular straw bottle that it's easy to forget that there's a filter in it. This bottle is an all-star at insulation, plus it's lightweight, portable, and easy to operate. Brita claims that the filter in this bottle reduces chlorine taste and odor, as well as particulates, which our test results support. However, note that this bottle is not a suitable substitute for filtering water from a natural source. It is meant to be filled with potable water only.

Performance Comparison

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Closure

The Brita's flip cap is super easy to operate, even one-handed. With the touch of a button, the cap springs back, revealing the oval silicone bite straw. The whole top of the bottle twists off with a 3/4 turn, making it really easy to fill and clean. There is a small open hole in the cap for ventilation that will leak if tipped upside down. The cap plugs this hole when it's shut, however, to ensure that it doesn't leak when closed.

Despite the aforementioned leakage potential when the cap is open, this bottle got a perfect score on the controlled leakage test. The cap clicks shut, so you know it's closed. The button is flush with the bottle to ensure that it doesn't get accidentally triggered in a bag. We can confirm that this bottle won't leak on you as long as you clip the lid shut.

Insulation

The double-walled stainless steel insulated container seems a bit thicker than most, which is likely why it beat out all the competition on the controlled insulation test. It's not made for hot liquids or anything but tap water, for that matter, but your cold water will stay cold for hours in this bottle.

In our controlled test, where water bottles were set on the grass under the hot sun for six hours, the water inside the Brita only raised nine degrees F, from 65 to 74. This was the top-performing bottle on this test, giving it the title of the most insulated bottle that we tested.

Taste

Since it's a filter bottle, we measured its ability to filter chemical taste from tap water and mineral taste from well water. However, it's not made to filter bacteria, viruses, and protozoa, so we left the filtration testing of wild waters to the other filters made for this purpose. The charcoal filter in the Brita did a sufficient job of filtering the chlorine taste from all the municipal sources that we tested. It was the least effective of the three bottles in our lineup at filtering the mineral taste from the well water that we tested. Where we felt it excelled, and our recommended use is as a filter bottle for municipal water sources.

On our controlled taste test to determine whether the components leached chemical flavor into the water, the Brita did not perform as well. We filled each bottle with 100-degree water and let it sit (like a bottle left in a hot car), then tasted the water to determine which materials were the most inert. Surprisingly, even when sipped through the filter straw, the water tasted of plastic. It was actually one of the strongest chemical tastes experienced in the test. To be fair, this bottle is not made to be used with hot liquids. And it's the most insulated bottle that we tested, so the water inside is not likely to reach 100 degrees under ordinary circumstances. It's safe to say you should stick with cold or room-temperature water when using this bottle.

Ergonomics

This was another test in which this bottle excelled. It's slender enough to fit in a cup holder and easy to grip. The push button cap is simple and responsive, making it great for driving and other multi-tasking situations. This bottle was our favorite to use at the gym or while working since it provides filtered water and easy one-handed drinking. The flexible rubber, hinged carry strap is big enough for a couple of fingers and soft on the hands.

The installation and replacement of the filter is easy — a simple twist locks the filter in place on the bottom of the lid. The straw then operates with ease, meaning no unnecessary sucking is required. Typical of straw-style bottles, there is always a tiny bit of water in the bottom that the straw won't reach. Similar to the filter, the lid itself screws onto the bottle with two full twists.

Material Quality

The stainless steel from which this bottle is constructed is extremely solid. We were impressed by not only the metal components but also the plastic lid and flip cap. These components are typically the first to fail on some stainless bottles, but the Brita inspired confidence. When dropped, it hardly received a scratch on this portion of the bottle. Plus, the hinge design on the carry handle is substantial and well-designed.

The oval silicone bite straw is a unique design that is satisfying to use. You can grip it with your teeth if you need a little extra stability in motion or simply use it like an ordinary straw when stationary. The only questionable component of this bottle is the plastic straw. Brita claims that the bottle is BPA-free, and also, the straw produced a lot of plastic taste, even through the filter, during our hot water test. As we mentioned before, this bottle is not meant to be used with hot water.

Should You Buy the Brita Stainless Steel Filter Bottle?

If you are looking for a filter bottle to remove the chemical taste from municipal sources, look no further; this one is our undisputed favorite. It's sleek, portable, and weighs less than most stainless options out there, plus it conveniently fits in a universal cup holder. It is durable and more or less leak-proof, inspiring confidence when thrown in the bottom of a gym bag or a messenger bag on the daily commute. The easy-to-use button flip-cap had us hydrating with ease. Overall, this is a great bottle but is definitely designed for a specific use, limiting its versatility. We wouldn't recommend putting any other beverages in this bottle besides water. Also, if you need a filter bottle for non-potable sources, then you'll want to look at either of the other two filter bottles that we tested.

What Other Water Bottles Should You Consider?

This bottle is only meant to filter already potable water. If you are seeking a filter bottle that will allow you to drink from any source safely, Lifestraw claims their Go bottle can do just that. The Grayl GeoPress is another filter bottle that uses a press design that allows you to filter and then fill other containers. If you prefer an insulated straw-type bottle and you're not worried about filtering, check out either of our award winners, the Hydro Flask Wide Mouth with Straw or the more affordable Iron Flask Insulated bottle. If you just want an insulated vessel that carries more volume, we recommend the Yeti Rambler 26. For a simple yet nearly indestructible container to use in the great outdoors, the Nalgene Wide-Mouth is our longstanding favorite.