Innate Mizu and Kaze
Drinking in Style, Sans Pesky Chemicals
If you’ve kept half an eye on the news this past year, you’ve surely seen the uproar over the use of BPA in several popular water bottle brands. BPA is short for Bisphenol A, a compound found in certain plastics that, when used for lining bottles, can leach into the water you’re drinking. Whether or not the levels that make their way into your water are dangerous, it’s nice to have options with which to sidestep the whole issue.
Innate is a Canadian gear company that specializes in water bottles, flasks, and containers made from food-grade stainless steel. All of their bottles lack the nasty chemicals that have news anchors’ tongues tripping while still keeping liquids hot or cold and odor-free. Materials aside, Innate products boast innovative, thoughtful designs and aesthetics that fit in at the office as well as the backcountry. I recently tested their Kaze vacuum flask and Mizu water bottle.
Hit the jump for the results.
The Kaze is a sleek double-walled cylinder that holds 425mL of coffee, tea or yerba mate and will easily fit in most cars’ cup holders. It has smart features like a push-button stopper that lets you drink on the go without unscrewing the lid, a small steel cap that doubles as a cup for more civilized drinking and a modular handle can be mounted or left behind depending on how you like to grip your java. Innate claims that, with a little preheating with hot water, the Kaze will keep a beverage hot for up to 10 hours. This is a lot longer than I plan to go without my coffee but I appreciate the over-engineering. For all its features, the Kaze has become my favorite go-to flask for hauling caffeine.
The Mizu (Japanese for “water”) is a voluptuous tank of steel with a curvy, flip-top lid that looks refreshingly different from all the ubiquitous wide-necked, sticker-adorned bottles that are carried by backpackers and students everywhere. Slightly smaller than those Nalgenes, the Mizu still holds 770mL of water and is easier to drink from. While the lid screws off for filling and accepts most standard-sized backcountry water filters, drinking is done via the flip-top cap. No more sloshes when your buddy hits a pothole while you’re taking a sip. But easier drinking comes at a cost. In order to allow for air to enter the bottle while you drink, there is a small hole at the back of the lid. Fine if the bottle remains upright, but if you lay it on its side water dribbles out. A small rubber plug was provided with the bottle but it was quickly lost during my testing and would be too finicky to keep track of anyway. So this one is relegated to office duty for me.
