Air Up Gen 2 Review: Is the top-of-the-range water bottle worth the hype?
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So much of our enjoyment of food and drink is reliant on our sense of smell. In fact, many scientific sources go so far as to credit our noses with accounting for between 75 and 95 per cent of taste.
This was immediately proven for those unlucky enough to have caught Covid-19, with the loss of smell among other horrid symptoms greatly affecting one’s quality of life. Even after recovery, those with lingering anosmia found it difficult to stomach what were once their favourite foods. It’s why, when we were given those particularly foul-tasting antibiotics as children, our parents would help us plug our noses and gulp the medicine down.
Drinking the recommended two litres of water is stressed by medical professionals but so many of us find this to be a challenge. For some, regular old tap water tastes awful, but forgoing the necessary hydration can lead to lasting health problems. Enter: Air Up.
Initially created in 2016 by two university students for a group project, the scent-sational drinking system was eventually brought to market in 2019.
We can recall a time when pocket-sized flavoured squash boosters were all the rage among school kids. From Robinsons and Vimto, to disturbingly sugary options from Jelly Belly, berry-flavoured squeezy bottles were touted in school backpacks and used to make drinking regular-old tap water a tasty, colourful experience. Full of sugar, colours and preservatives, concentrated squash soon lost popularity for their purportedly unhealthy nature (despite those ‘no added sugar’ labels).
Air Up is on a mission to help perennially dehydrated humans “hack” their senses by tricking the brain into thinking you’re drinking a flavoursome, sugary drink – when all that you’re ingesting is plain tap water. But how does it work?
The patented “Scentaste” technology puts scent pods imbued with natural fruits, herbs and spices to work. The air-permeable casing allows you to inhale the swirling aromas of peach, watermelon, orangeade and more while drinking bog-standard tap water – making it “taste” like your favourite shop-bought sugary drink.
Like HelloFresh and SoFi, Air Up has taken to YouTube personalities to promote their product, which has seen the flavoured water bottle innovation become popular among adults as well as younger children struggling to meet their daily hydration requirements.
Yet, Air Up’s Gen 1 water bottles received a multitude of complaints for their distinctly un-leak-proof nature and concerns about sustainability.
We’ve given Air Up’s latest re-jig of the infamous water bottle a try. Keep scrolling for a full review.
Key Specifications
Capacity: 600ml or 1L
Weight: 262g or 298g
Materials: Bottle and adapter made from 50 per cent recycled materials. The strap is made from TPE, the lid is made from ABS, the mouthpiece is made from food-safe silicone and the pods are made from recyclable materials.
Dishwasher Safe: Yes
Leak-proof: Yes
Sustainability Promise: Produced within the EU with 100 per cent renewable energy
Mouthpiece: ActiveOn – no manual activation required
Make no mistakes, the Air Up is an ugly water bottle and it’s something the latest pastel hues can’t fix.
With reusable water bottles like the incredibly chic Owala FreeSip and Stanley Quencher on the market, Air Up is competing with beautifully designed #EmotionalSupportWaterBottles.
Where Owala has just released an array of designs inspired by the most stylish decades, the Air Up Gen 2 looks like a 3D-printed Pixar lamp gone wrong.
While we can certainly say the bottle is now leak-proof, I do think this could have been achieved without making the lid take up 50 per cent of the 600ml bottle. Ugliness aside, my biggest design qualm with the Air Up is the 90-degree straw which makes sipping far from seamless.
Though I’m aware that air bubbles are a necessary, scientific element for making the water “taste” like the scent pods, it simply feels as though I’m sipping through a soggy, broken paper straw from a local fast-food chain which has been given a fancy silicone casing. You can forget that satisfying gulp of a refreshing beverage, because with the Air Up, you’re fighting for dribbles.
Functionality
When it comes to unwrapping and fitting the included scent pods, the process is a breeze. Each pod lasts up to roughly 10 refills of the 600ml bottle, but if you’re one to tire of flavours quickly, you might dispose of the recyclable scent pucks at a speedier rate than others.
I found it hard to believe that a whiff of one of the scent pods could actually transform the taste of tap water but, crucially, it works. It really works. At first sip, the peach-scented pods made tap water taste just like Lipton’s Peach Iced Tea. So far, so delicious. What is strange though is the after-taste which seems to linger. How? I couldn’t tell you but it does for many minutes after just a single sip and a touch too long.
I found it hard to wrap my head around it but after holding my nose and tasting the water (normal), unblocking it (peach) and repeating this a few times, I can confirm that there are no secret taste drops and it’s all in the smell. Genius.
Verdict
While I don’t think the Air Up drinking system is for me, I can certainly see how this almost magical sense-hacking device works to help the perpetually dehydrated and children especially improve their daily water intake, while also curbing consumption of sugary drinks. No doubt, the scent pods are powerful and somehow seem to deliver a lasting aftertaste. We can’t explain it, but there’s scientific sorcery going on in these reusable plastic water bottles.
The Gen 2 appears to be leakproof, though I think the cumbersome design and 90-degree straw could do with some work. We look forward to trying the Gen 3.