Help! I’m Obsessed With Brita’s New Water Filter

When I was a kid, one of the biggest dunks you could bestow on someone was loudly asking a person using the drinking fountain, “Are you gonna drink the whole Mississippi or what?” It was a guaranteed grand slam, one of the funniest things that could possibly be said to another person. That is, unless you were on the receiving end, which I occasionally was. That’s right, fam—I am a proud water lover, a true guzzler, and I don’t care who knows it. Water’s good for you and it’s very cool to enjoy drinking it, so it would follow that you ought to be drinking the highest quality water possible.

My whole adult life, I’ve chased the perfect water filter. I’ve tried the PUR Plus and various Britas. One apartment I lived in used one of those on-faucet PUR filters. I’ve even considered shelling out for a reverse osmosis filter. No filter I’ve owned, however, has hit that perfect nexus of ease of use, affordable upkeep, and economy of space. I’m not going to drag any of these hitters, because IMO any water filter is better than none, but one of my previous go-tos had clogging issues; another was just too fucking big to fit in the fridge (and looked stupid on my kitchen counter). Partly out of despair and somewhat out of laziness, my household had been in a holding pattern on the “looked stupid on my counter” option… until a new contender changed everything.

Brita’s new Brita Hub instant countertop filter, which is powered by Hamilton Beach, is a formidable appliance that checks all of the boxes that a great home filter should. Most importantly, it removes over 70 major contaminants, and filters last up to six months, which is pretty wild; with other filters I’ve had, I felt like I was changing them out monthly, which is annoying and expensive. Here, you barely have to think about it.

The Brita Hub has three buttons: 12-ounce, 20-ounce, and a classic hold-and-fill. I’m already fairly lazy, so when it comes to desirable conveniences, pressing one button to fill my glass and then walking away really takes it to the next level. Part of why I hate most filters is because I can barely be bothered to stand there while it slowly drips into my cup. Now, I don’t even have to do that! Plus, the filtering is immediate and on demand, meaning that if the reservoir runs out, you can refill it and immediately start pouring again; by comparison, my previous filter took an incredibly long time to fulfill its one task. For the impatient water drinker (me), it is a near perfect appliance.

The only downside is that, since it’s electric and filters water very quickly, it does make a bit of a humming noise when you use it. That said, it’s still quieter than whatever you use to grind or make coffee.

At $180, it’s not exactly an inexpensive appliance, but considering how infrequently you’ll replace the filter (and all the time you’ll save by smashing one button and having filtered water come out immediately), it’s a very powerful option. Seriously, filters are $30, (so, with a filter lasting six months, that’s $60 a year). That’s cheaper than being a Hulu subscriber; it’s less than the price of one new Playstation 5 game. I literally spent over $60 on cocktails last night, and then I spent $60 on dumplings.

TL;DR: The Brita Hub is a super efficient filter that requires minimum upkeep, bears a pretty small countertop footprint, and makes tasty water. It’s not the cheapest filter out there, but it has the best features, user-friendliness, and filter replacement situation of any of the ones I’ve tried. Not to mention that this is for water, which is arguably the most important thing you put in your body (after pizza). Or, you know, you could keep spending hundreds of dollars a year on La Croix.

Find the Brita Hub on Amazon.

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