Air up review: Add a splash of flavour and fun to hydration

We all know we should be drinking more water, but let's face it - it's not the most exciting of things to drink. In comes Air Up to save the day with its scent-based drinking system, but does it really work? We put the Air Up Gen 2 Flair to the test to see if it lives up to its claims. In this review of the Air Up Gen 2 Flair, you can find the pros and cons, key features, and how we tested it.

Air up overview

The air up drinking system claims to turn tap water into flavoured water through scent alone. It works by attaching an aroma pod to the bottle, so that when you're drinking water, you're taking scented air into your mouth. The idea is the scented air will rise from the water through the throat. It will then reach the olfactory centre in your brain to trick it into thinking you're drinking flavoured water. How cool is that?

How we tested the Air Up Gen 2 Flair

To ensure I gave the air up a thorough try, I made sure to sip it when I would usually reach for squash. I had it by my side day-to-day in my home office, quenching my thirst while I tapped at my keyboard. It was there to wash down my evening meals. It was also by my bedside so I could reach for it when I got thirsty during the night.

I made sure I took it with me when I went to the office or travelled to attend events. This is so I could test how it travelled and found out it does not leak at all. Some of the other factors we took into consideration while testing the bottle was – how efficiently it made the water feel flavoured, ease of use, spillage, sturdiness, appearance and value for money.

Air Up key features

The Air Up Gen 2 Flair bottle comes with three aroma pods and you can choose the flavours according to your preference. The bottle holds 600ml of water and the pods flavour at least five litres of water per pod. This ensures you'll get 15 refills out of what's included.

The bottle is made of a BPA-free Tritan, which uses less plastic than the average bottle drink. The pods are made from recyclable materials to help cut down the amount of single-use plastics ending up in landfills.

Each of the separate pod packs comes with three pods. These will flavour 15 litres of water, the equivalent of 23 bottle refills.

There is also a wide range of accessories available to buy separately. These include different coloured straps, mouthpieces and lids, as well as a cleaning brush and insulation sleeve.

Final thoughts on the Air Up Gen 2 Flair

Overall, I think the Air Up Gen 2 Flair bottle offiers good value for money. However, as each pod is designed to last for five litres, the pods included would run out after just a week's worth of use if you are drinking the UK recommended daily amount of 1.2 litres. You can buy refill pods, which come in a three-pack so it will last a little longer, but if you're buying these each week, the cost would start to add up.

I can't get over the sheer number of flavours available. There are loads of refill options, from common flavoured water flavours, like orange and blackcurrant, to more unusual flavours like iced coffee, kola and lychee-rose.

My usual tipple of choice is blackcurrant squash, so I was most excited to try the cassis aroma pod. It didn't quite live up to my favourite squash, but I did get the fruity, berry flavour as I sipped from the bottle.

The wild berry pods gave a nice fruity essence to the water which felt quite strong in the beginning, but mellows down later on. It really did feel like you’re sipping on a mildly flavoured drink.

I wasn't a huge fan of the watermelon, kola and orange-vanilla swirl pods. The flavour of these wasn't as strong - the scent left more of a synthetic than realistic taste. That said, as no one's sense of smell is the same, everyone will experience the taste of the pods in different ways. You may like the flavours that I didn't.

However, I have noticed that the sipper allows a lot of air to enter your mouth while drinking from the bottle which could enter your air pipe. This is something that could take some time to get used to in order to prevent from happening.

My favourite out of all the pods I tried was tangerine. It surprised me as I usually hate the taste of orange squash, but the air up gave me the right taste of orange for my liking. To me, this was the pod that had the most authentic flavour out of the five I tried.

But my favourite thing out of all was the bottle itself. It's lightweight to carry, modern in design, and really easy to clean. It has a rubber lid with a straw built in so you can constantly swig from the bottle as you go. I appreciate that the straw actually reaches all the water at the bottom of the bottle so you can completely empty it.

Has the air up converted me from drinking squash? I don't think so. I prefer the stronger taste of squash. I think if you were someone who already drinks a lot of flavoured water, you would get on really well with the air up as you're already used to a more water-based taste.

Best Air Up pods

Rosie Floyd is a Senior Home & Pets Product Writer for Yours, specialising in home appliances, décor and furnishings, as well as all things dogs. After completing her Journalism & Media degree from Coventry University back in 2015, she started her career writing about must-visit holiday destinations, moving on to creating content around outdoor living and garden buildings, before joining the team at Bauer.