The Reusable Water Bottle That Stole My Heart

My search for the perfect water bottle is over thanks to the beautiful, drinker-friendly, ocean-loving, coral-planting NAECO Bottle.

Remember that time I confessed about my weird secret water-drinking habit? (It has to do with keeping a glass of water in my kitchen cupboard.) After that riveting tell-all, the jig is up – I am a little odd about water and the vessels from which I drink it. But even if I weren't so particular, I would still love my latest discovery, the NAECO Bottle.

My family has had a lot of reusable water bottles over the years, and while they have all been fine, I have never coveted any of them. But the NAECO one, I covet. It has everything just right: The shape and size feel great in the hand; and the mouth is wide enough to add ice cubes and to drink comfortably from, but not too wide that water sloshes out from the sides. At 20 ounces, it is not too big but not too small; it is lightweight, yet manages to keep cold things cold and hot things hot all day. The cap covers the whole top, and the cap threads are on the inside, which is a very subtle but great design decision. And it is really just gorgeous; a pleasure to hold and behold.

But perhaps my favorite part of the NAECO Bottle is the spirit behind its inception. NAECO is "ocean" spelled backwards, and it was a love of the ocean that inspired the company's founder, Bill Levey, to commit himself to combatting plastic pollution. As a lifelong ocean devotee and diver, it was a bucket-list diving trip to Indonesia that guided Levey to dream up new ways to "reverse plastic habits and reverse damage to our ocean." There was so much plastic in the once-pristine spot where Levey was diving that he cut the trip short and came home ... and then got to work dreaming up NAECO.

And here's where this bottle really wins my heart: For each bottle purchased, a piece of coral is "planted."

Coral reefs are like the rainforests of the ocean, and they are under enormous threat right now. For the coral planting, NAECO has partnered with the coral conservation group, Coralive, which uses a process called mineral accretion to grow corals that are more resilient and grow faster than they would on their own. Thomas Goreau, head of the non-profit, Global Coral Reef Alliance, told CNN that mineral accretion is "more efficient than any other form of reef regeneration and will become a particularly effective defense against rising sea levels in years to come."

One piece of coral might not seem like such a big deal, but it is, and it's one piece of coral that wouldn't have been planted without you. Additionally, it doubles the impact of using a NAECO Bottle: Less plastic and more coral ... all in a beautiful bottle that you don't have to hide in your kitchen cupboard.

For more, visit NAECO.