What are the Best Bottles for Fruit, Tea, and Coffee Infusing?

What are the Best Bottles for Infusing (Fruit, Tea, and Coffee)

6/2/2024

What are the Best Bottles and Accessories for Infusing Water with Fruit, Tea, and Coffee?

What are the Best Bottles for Infusing?

If you're like me, you get bored drinking regular, plain water all day. I used to be addicted to sodas, so switching from extremely sugary drinks to water was a big shift. The thing that helped me the most was adding my own flavors.

Now, technically sodas are flavored water with carbonation and you can also add flavor with enhancers like Mio, but for the purposes of this video I'm calling flavored water anything that gets its taste from more natural sources like fresh fruit, loose-leaf tea, or coffee grounds.

And at the end, I'll also give my take on two bottle brands that have more recently taken social media by storm, Cirkul and air up. (spoiler alert, it might not be positive)

Video Review: Which Bottles are Best for Infusing?

We also cover this in a YouTube video if you'd prefer to watch the recap!

Links to Products: As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission if you purchase after clicking a link. It doesn't cost you anything extra, and it really helps. Thank you!

Adding Fruit Directly into Your Bottle (No Infuser)

First, I have to mention the most obvious way to flavor your water, and that's simply by adding fruit like lemons, cucumber, mint, or a whole range of other flavors directly into your bottle! This works well enough, but the problem is that you ideally would have some way to strain it so it's not a good option with most bottles.

The good news is that more and more bottles are coming to market with built-in stainless steel strainers at the lid. For stainless steel, EcoVessel is one brand that's been around awhile, and for glass, Mayu is a brand I've mentioned a few times on this channel. Just add your fruit, snap the strainer into place, and you're good to go.

It's also worth noting that these strainers double as ice-blockers, which can be a life-saver when driving in particular.

EcoVessel (Steel Bottle with Strainer)

EcoVessel (Stainless Steel)

$28 for the 32oz (as of 6/2/2024, on sale)
Small strainer included - snaps into neck of bottle
All stainless-steel interior
20, 24, and 32oz size options
Reasonable prices for a stainless steel insulated bottle
Triple-layer insulation
Spout lid to prevent spills
Includes a bottle boot

See EcoVessel

Sunkey (Glass Bottle with Strainer)

Sunkey (Glass)

$19 (as of 6/2/2024)
Small strainer included - snaps into neck of bottle
All stainless-steel interior
Carrying sleeve included (for easier handling and protection)
Not insulated

See Sunkey

Bottles with Built-In Infusers

Some brands take the built-in strainer a step further by having a larger strainer that screws into the smaller one, which makes it a better option for tea or coffee. It's also a good option if you want your fruit to be contained instead of free-floating.

Notably, none of the "major" brands that I'm aware of currently have bottles with built-in infusers, including Stanley, YETI, and Hydro Flask. We would not be surprised if they come out with options within a few years, but for now you'll have to go with lesser-known brands or add-on accessories (see further down the page).

The first brand I tried with a larger infuser was Steepware, but honestly I'm not too much of a fan of this bottle. It did the worst by far on an insulation test, and the handle isn't anything to write home about.

A much better all-around option is a new brand I came across called Vesmoon. Now to be clear, there do appear to be other similar bottles with the same size strainer coming to market, but this is the one I've tested in person and I'm a pretty big fan.

Unfortunately, Vesmoon was not available for purchase as of 6/2/2024. This is sometimes a problem with brands that are smaller and newer because the water bottle market is incredibly competitive But there are other options on the market today, and these ones by Hemli and Akvati look to be comparable.

Hemli

Hemli Bottle with Infuser

See Hemli ($28)

Akvati

Akvati Bottle with Infuser

See Akvati ($40)

Stanley Bottle with a Fruit Infuser

Now I'm not a huge fan of Stanleys, but I recognize many people love them. Unfortunately, Stanley does not have a fruit infuser bottle option at this time, though a good alternative is from a brand called Fimibuke. It's essentially a Stanley knockoff with a large built-in infuser for one third the price, and while I can't say much about the company or brand itself, the design and functionality look pretty solid.

Fimibuke Fruit Infuser Bottle

Fimibuke

Side-handle
Straw lid
Built-in fruit infuser (not good for tea or coffee grounds)

See Fimibuke

Best Bottle Infusers for Fruit Infusing

Llet's say you're in the market for an add-on infuser because you don't want to buy an entire new bottle. Well, there are a few options you can look at. Let's start with ones for fruit, which generally have larger openings that work well for fruit but not for loose leaf tea or coffee grounds.

FlavorFuze Pod Fruit Infuser

FlavorFuze Pod

This was our first infuser, and it's personally still my favorite. Originally I just sold it with a splash guard style lid for wide mouth Hydro Flasks, but then I added a second lid with a handle on top that makes it a great option for drop-in infusing in any wide mouth bottle. Honestly, I like the new lid more because it makes it more universally useful. I sized it as large as possible to still fit in bottles like 20 ounce Hydro Flasks, but that also means it can have a tough time giving you enough flavor in really large bottles like 64oz growlers. But in general, it's a good all-around option for most wide mouth bottles, and I'm really proud of how this product turned out.

2 lids
- Drop-in style with a large handle on top that fits most wide-mouth bottles.
- Splash-guard style that fits snugly in wide-mouth Hydro Flasks
Sized to fit the most fruit in a drop-in infuser in bottles like 20oz Hydro Flasks.
Can be too small to flavor very large bottles like 64oz growlers.

See FlavorFuze Pod

FlavorFuze Straw

Side Channel for Straw

FlavorFuze Straw

If you have a Hydro Flask or Iron Flask with a straw lid, you can try our FlavorFuze Straw version that snaps onto the straw. It's even easier to use, it just doesn't work with as many bottles like Stanleys or Owalas because those have thicker straws.

It doesn't have as good of reviews as FlavorFuze Pod, but some of those are from people trying to use it with different bottles. So just make sure you have the intended bottle so it'll work correctly. If you do, you may find this is even easier and faster to use than FlavorFuze Pod for your situation.

Snaps onto Hydro Flask straws and similar brands (like Iron Flask).
Does not fit straws from some other brands like Stanley or Owala.

See FlavorFuze Straw

Prodyne Ice Mold Fruit Infuser

Prodyne Ice Molds for Fruit Infusing

This one takes more advance planning, but it's pretty cool, literally and figuratively. Just add fruit and water to the mold and let it freeze overnight. Then in the morning, pop the fruit-cicle into your bottle.

See Prodyne

Best Bottle Infusers for Tea and Coffee Infusing

Now each of the add-on infusers I mentioned is made with either plastic or silicone, so let's look at some stainless steel ones, which can be used for fruit but are also better for tea and coffee because they have a finer mesh strainer.

FlavorFuze Steel Infuser

FlavorFuze Steel

Our FlavorFuze Steel is sized for wide mouth Hydro Flasks, and it comes with two sizes. It's ideally used when you're getting ready for your day and have time to leave your bottle on the counter while it's brewing because it can be difficult to add the lid on top of our infuser. But brewing tea doesn't take that long so it's usually still a great option.

Like with most of our infusers, we designed them primarily around Hydro Flasks, so it likely won't fit other bottles with different diameter openings.

See FlavorFuze Steel

RumbleGo Portable Coffee Infuser

RumbleGo Portable Infuser

RumbleGo is a drop-in style stainless steel infuser that's sized for wide mouth bottles like Hydro Flasks. It's designed primarily for coffee, but you could use it for tea (or fruit) as well.

See RumbleGo

FinalPress Infuser

FinalPress Portable Coffee and Tea Infuser

FinalPress is a portable french press you could use with any wide mouth bottle, but keep in mind it's not a drop-in style infuser so it's not good to use when actively driving or moving. But if you have time in the morning at your hotel room, campsite, or wherever you are, this is a good option to consider.

See FinalPress

Bottles with Flavor Pods (Cirkul and Air Up)

And finally, let's take a look at the two elephants in the room that have taken social media by storm recently, Cirkul and air up. They each have flavor pods, but they work very differently.

Cirkul's Flavor Pod

Cirkul's Flavor Dial

Cirkul's Handle

Cirkul

Cirkul's pod screws into the cap, and there's a packet of flavor that is slowly released with your water. Just know that with Cirkul, you're essentially drinking fruit-flavored diet soda without carbonation.

Good

Control how much flavor your bottle releases
Easy to change out flavor pods

Bad

High cost over time
More waste because the pods are disposable
The flavor tasted fine enough, but it didn't last as long as I would have expected
Lid and bottle look and feel cheap in my opinion
One of the worst handles I've ever used on a bottle
Contains sucralose
Harder to drink from than most straw lids, and it makes weird bubbling noises before and after you take a sip
The outside of the bottle I purchased feels plasticy even though it's a steel bottle, and it scratched very easily

I personally don't prefer to use Cirkul, but if you'd like to give it a try, here's a link to check out.

See Cirkul

air up

air up Knockoff on Amazon

air up

To be up front, I haven't tried air up in person yet, so I'm willing to give it a try eventually before completely discounting this one. I certainly like the idea of using scents to trick your brain into tasting flavors instead of relying on sugar substitutes, but I've also read a bunch of reviews commenting about how the flavors taste weird and the straw doesn't work well because it causes you to suck in more air for the scents to work as intended.

Good

Uses scent instead of added flavors from potentially harmful additives like sugar or replacements like sucralose

Bad

High cost over time
Aesthetics (my opinion)
Reviews I've read say it's harder to drink from than most straw lids because you have to suck air and water through the flavor pod for it to work.
There's apparently not an option to drink from the lid normally without flavors to avoid the more difficult drinking.

I didn't actually see a real listing on Amazon for air up. Instead, there are some listings from other companies who are being sneaky by calling their bottles names like Air Water Up Bottle to trick Amazon's search results while still technically being legal.

See air up's Website

See air up Amazon Knockoff

Buying a water bottle?
Keep us in mind!

See our Amazon store for helpful accessories, like fruit infusers, cup holder adapters, and carrying slings.

See Our Store