This aluminum-canned water from Ever & Ever will help you kick your plastic water bottle habit - here's why it's worth the price

• Coconut water brand Vita Coco recently unveiled a new line of moderately sustainable aluminum-bottle-canned water called Ever & Ever.
• We tasted it and were pleasantly surprised.
• At $23.99 per case (12 16-ounce bottles), it's not cheap, but it will help you kick your single-use plastic water bottle habit.
• Keep an eye out for it in stores for $2 to $3 a bottle, which is a more practical purchase in a pinch.

Canned water might be familiar to military personnel, but apart from them and those all too familiar with emergency disaster preparedness and response, most of us haven't ever tried still water from an aluminum can. And for those who only reach for a single-use plastic water bottle in a desperate pinch, as of today, they will finally have another widely available option.

Tasting notes

In short, Ever & Ever's still water doesn't taste fantastic, but then it's not much different from Dasani or Nestlé. It is pH-balanced (7.4) and filtered by way of reverse osmosis, so there's a good chance it's better for you, however. And because reverse osmosis removes a lot of water's good qualities, Ever & Ever replaced some electrolytes: magnesium sulfate, calcium chloride, potassium bicarbonate, and potassium chloride.

Upon cracking the seal on the sparkling water, don't be alarmed if it's filled with big, bubbly energy. When I cracked the lid on this thing, I wasn't sure what I unleashed, but it was something akin to rolling boil, minus the heat. Minutes after opening it, with the cap only loosely hung on top, it still demonstrated signs of heavy-duty carbonation. That's right. Eat your heart out, La Croix. (There are, however, no flavors available as of yet, so you're safe, for now.)

Yes, the fizziness is impressive, but what's the catch? No, it is not, despite what you may be thinking, extortionately expensive. And no, it's not questionably sourced or treated water. It's just recycled aluminum that has lived a seemingly endless list of lives, with many more to come. "A pirate's hook in a local production of Treasure Island, soothing wind chimes, a custom spinning hubcap, and then another bottle-can," the bottle-can pontificates on possible future incarnations. And, again, it's not lying.

Aluminum facts

"Nearly 75% of all aluminum ever made is still in use today," the bottle reads, which is a direct quote from the Aluminum Association, a Washington, D.C.-based advocate for the industry, which you can take with a grain of salt. But while we struggle back and forth with recycling aluminum, there's probably enough value in the practice to hydrate from aluminum when and where need be.

Bottom line

Aluminum can be recycled as many times as it can be recovered, and as of yet, that's not something we can say about the plastics strewn about this lovely little planet. So, maybe the next time you need water and you're about to grab a single-use plastic bottle, keep an eye out for Ever & Ever. They also make extremely lightweight, reusable bottles, and I've been toting around an empty one with me to lighten my load in my briefcase.

All this said, the bottle-can still contains a little bit of plastic in the lid to secure it for health safety reasons, which we'll let slide for now.

The unavoidable fact is that this stuff is expensive, particularly by the case. We're hoping that Ever & Ever becomes widely available enough that it will be available for about $2 to $3 (as a brand representative told me) in gas stations and airports so that, when you're caught in need of water without a reusable bottle, you'll have a largely plastic-free option available at a comparable price to plastic-bottled water. In the meantime, the 12-pack cases of 16-ounce bottles are available on Amazon, but keep an eye out for it on the shelves.

Watch Ever & Ever's "Plastic Service Announcement" in conjunction with Lonely Whale here.

Pros: Plastic-free and affordable, reusable, sparkling water is extremely well carbonated

Cons: Expensive (twice the price of Essentia by the ounce when buying a 12-pack case), not widely available yet to grab at the gas station or airport

Buy Ever & Ever Still or Sparkling Water on Amazon for $23.99 per case (12-pack) of 16-ounce bottle-cans