Our friends at Bamboo Bottle were good enough to send us one of their namesake water bottles to take a look at, and we’ve enjoyed getting to know the company and its bottle. First, the basics: it’s a glass 17oz reservoir inside an attractive bamboo cover, capped in plastic to hold it all together.

The main selling point for the Bamboo Bottle isn’t pure functionality—it’s sustainability and appearance. The glass reservoir means safe, taste-free liquids—whatever you’d like it to hold, from water to tea or coffee—and is of course BPA-free and made from the “practically inexhaustible” resource glass. Same with the bamboo—very sustainable, and if you’ve ever planted it, you know it grows without restriction if it likes you (and you don’t have a pet panda). Bamboo Bottles say they picked it because it provides style and strength and looks good doing it.

So we have an attractive, green bottle. That’s heavy—one of the first things I noticed. This thing packs some heft, and honestly, doesn’t deliver a ton of volume for the weight of that 17oz reservoir. No big deal; refill it frequently. More of a big deal is that I’ve gotten spoiled on insulated bottles from Hydroflask and others, and while I’d hoped the bamboo would deliver some insulation, that’s really not the case. That said, the thermal performance isn’t any different than a normal drinking glass—one that you can cap and take with you everywhere you go. Convenient, yes?

With the thermal change of a cold drink warming up, the bamboo does weep. You can’t wash it in the dishwasher, either (but you can the rest). Also, the bottle had the unfortunate ability to come apart in my hands when trying to open it—bad while driving. These are probably teething pains of a new product, but they aren’t deal breakers by any means. And speaking of breaking—don’t worry about the glass, I can attest to it being pretty tough. Ahem.

You’ll “drop” $25 for this good-looking, green water bottle. You can feel good about your conservation efforts or carbon footprint or sustainability profile—whatever it is that lights your fire—while using it, without sacrificing any usefulness that inspires people to grab a water bottle. You can get them online at Bamboo Bottle’s site, and if aesthetics and sustainability are what do it for you, I can recommend grabbing a Bamboo Bottle.