We’ve all heard it before: you need to drink more water. Your blood, muscles, brain and lungs need water to function properly. And in cold weather, our bodies need water to regulate body temperature and to make sure nutrients from our meals make their way into our organs and are digested properly by our tissues. As a matter of fact, if you don’t consume enough water (60 oz a day is recommended for a person of 120 pounds), your body might actually rebel against you. Joint and muscle pain, headaches and constipation are all symptoms of dehydration. But like I said, you’ve heard this all before.
So if you’re anything like me, you wake up with the intention to drink half your body’s weight in water. And then sometime around 3pm, you realize that all you’ve had to drink today is coffee. The task of drinking such large quantities of such a boring liquid sometimes seems so arduous that we avoid it entirely. But with the introduction of the Aqua Zinger, you can begin to enjoy the task of drinking water. This sleek silver bottle has the ability to create all-natural beverage options so quickly and easily that you won’t even realize you’re increasing the frequency of your daily water intake. Like their website boasts, “When water is this delicious, it’s hard to avoid!”
With the addition of a bottom-mounted grinder, it’s simple to chop up your favorite fruits and infuse your water with them. Just remove the grinder, add your ingredients, and replace the lid, twisting gently to allow the blades to slice through the contents of the cup. Then with a quick shake, the now pulpy ingredients will leak their delicious flavors through a mesh screen and successfully infuse the water. This process takes time- overnight or longer sometimes- for flavors to make their presence known.
We suggest using very fragrant ingredients, like ripe berries, peaches or ginger. We had some trouble tasting the infusions when using citrus- both mandarin orange and lime were difficult to crush in the grinder and we detected only a faint hint of their flavor in the water. Perhaps the Citrus Zinger by the same company does a better job? The grinder is also a bit difficult to clean without a flexible scrub brush so you might want to think twice before using any sticky ingredients.
In addition to being a satisfying way to fulfill your daily water consumption guidelines, the AquaZinger can also reduce food cravings. You’ll be drinking significantly more water than you have in the past and you’ll be able to satisfy your palate with flavors like cucumber, blackberries, kiwi, strawberry, peach, ginger, lemon, lime, or even mint! With just one month until we start setting New Year’s Resolutions, this is a great holiday present for any health-conscious friend or loved one. But another warning: it’s a fairly heavy bottle, and though suitably leakproof in our tests, was hefty enough to make you think twice before carrying it out. You can’t separate the bottom section with the blades and infuser from the top either (though it’d be hard to imagine a simple way to engineer). The vacuum insulation is nice, keeping drinks cold in our tests, though should work equally well for those who want their beverages warm.
The VodkaZinger, on a similar note, is an identical unit except for the color. We found that it needed even longer for the spirit to absorb much flavor beyond a scent- and, of course, the irony of hydrating and then drinking some alcohol was not lost on us. Solid idea, decent execution, but infusion is a time-intensive process. Available now, online and in stores, for $25.
