Tested by 
You may be having a love affair with your Le Creuset cookware, or perhaps you have a (completely necessary and ever-growing) mound of tote bags stashed away in your cupboard or you have a weird obsession to buy best mattress toppers on the market. But do you have 30 of the same water bottle? Thirty-six-year-old TikToker Aly Zamorano, does. Behold: the Stanley Quencher.
The stainless steel, reusable water bottle has made quite a name for itself on social media, thanks to its generous size, growing range of accessories, pleasing colour palette and ubiquitous straw lid. As of April 2025, the hashtag #StanleyTumbler has over 1.3 billion views, and the more specific #StanleyQuencher has accrued almost 54.4 million posts.
So, how did this adult sippy cup (because that’s essentially what the Stanley Quencher is) take the world by storm and do you need one? The GHI investigated.
The Stanley Quencher origin story
You may be more familiar with Stanley as a brand that makes thermal flasks and travel mugs (in fact, the Stanley Classic Trigger Action Travel Mug topped our tests to be crowned the best travel mug). The original – and certainly more rugged-looking – flasks have been produced by Stanley since 1913 and, while they’re known for being reliable and robust, they haven’t typically been considered as a must-have item worthy of your Instagram feed.
Even in 2016, when the now-social-media-famous Stanley Quencher was first launched, the giant cup wasn’t seen as a priority for the brand. This all changed when the shopping blog, The Buy Guide, started using, selling and promoting the cup to its followers. And the world’s first sipfluencer was born.
“Stanley had been a company only producing occasional-use items,” blog co-founder Ashlee LeSueur told US website Retail Dive. “They were making products for people's camping trips. We told them this cup was a daily-use item. It was an everyday, all-day item. And it needed to look good in people's homes and kitchens, with their outfits, and not just in the great outdoors.” They persuaded the brand to change its marketing approach.
What is all the fuss about?
Stanley and The Buy Guide worked together to market the water bottle to a whole new group of shoppers, and it quickly gained popularity among social media users for its sustainable “Built for Life” motto and stylish design. The fact it was hard to track down online added to its appeal.
This was the case for self-proclaimed ‘Stanley Collector’, Zamorano. “I was browsing TikTok one day and saw one,” she told us. “At the time, they were really hard to find and sold out everywhere. I called so many stores before finding one about 30 miles away.”
Coming in a range of colours from rosy pink to sleek black and in sizes up to 1.2 litres, the cups have been hailed as “emotional support” bottles and labelled “a perfect, objectively magnificent monument to thirst quenching”. And they’ve now very much hit the mainstream – moving from TikTok to Instagram and beyond.
For Zamorano, the appeal is that they “keep your water cold for such a long time,” while, importantly, looking cute too.
In fact, the bottle gained so much love and attention on social media in 2023 that the brand’s annual sales rose from $75 million a year to $750 million a year, according to Forbes.
Most recently, Stanley-lovers in the US have been seen rushing to Target to grab the limited-edition Valentine’s Day Stanley Quencher, and TikTok users have been showing off whole walls and shelves in their homes dedicated to Stanley Quencher collections. And considering the reusable bottle costs £45, these displays don’t come cheap.
The GHI verdict on the Stanley Quencher
At the GHI, we like to get to separate the myth from reality. So, naturally, we wanted to put the Stanley Quencher to the test to see whether it really is worth the investment.
In our lab, we first filled the bottle with water and left it in 30C room for two hours, measuring the temperature before and after to see if there was any change. Next, to assess its long-term chilling capabilities, we filled it with ice cold water and left it for 14 hours, checking the temperature every 30 minutes and recording any changes.
So how did it fare? The huge tumbler scored a very reasonable 86/100 in our tests, with our experts agreeing the different colours and sizes available make this bottle a stylish everyday companion. It can be used for both hot and cold drinks and performed well in our temperature test, keeping drinks cool for a solid nine hours. The optional straw lid allows for easy sipping on the go, making it ideal for people looking to increase their daily water intake.
It’s also made from 90% recycled stainless-steel and comes with a lifetime warranty (in other words, you don’t need to collect loads, a trend that slightly undermines the cup’s eco-friendly, reusable benefits). Lastly, unlike other stainless-steel options, the Stanley Quencher is completely dishwasher safe, which is a huge pro if you're using it regularly.
On the downside, it wasn’t completely leakproof, which may be a dealbreaker for some. When tipped to the side or upside down, our experts noticed water leaked out of the lid, so if you like to chuck your bottle in your bag, you may want to stay clear. However, if you plan on carrying it with you everywhere you go, like a modern day It bag, the ergonomic carry handle makes it easy to continue sipping all day long; plus, the tapered bottom means it fits perfectly in your car’s cupholders.
Our verdict? If your aesthetic is more quiet luxury or you want something lightweight to commute with, this probably isn’t the accessory for you. Instead, we recommend checking out our experts’ winning pick, the Chilly’s Series 2, which scored 97/100 in test, or one of their other top-rated water bottles.
However, if you’re after a water bottle that keeps hydration front of mind, the Stanley Quencher is a great solution – it’s designed to be noticed. And if it provides a little emotional support at the same time, that’s just an added bonus.
The Stanley Quencher is available to buy from Amazon, John Lewis and the brand's own website (although, be warned, it does sell out fast!)
8 April 2025: Article statistics were updated, and current stockists were ensured to be correct and reflect the best available deals.
Megan is the Good Housekeeping Institute’s senior homes and lifestyle writer. She loves diving into the latest product releases to find the very best buys on the market and has written hundreds of product reviews on everything from the best vacuum cleaners and coffee machines to the best ice cream makers and robot window cleaners.
When she’s not writing about the newest gadgets and gizmos for your home and garden, you’ll find her running every distance from 5km to 100km or relaxing at home with her cat – there really is no in between.
Megan has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously written for Stylist, Glamour, Women's Health, TimeOut, SquareMeal, and YOU magazine. You can find Megan on Instagram @meganlouisegeall.
Blossom is passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for GH readers. As head of the homes testing team, she has led reviews across multiple categories, from pizza ovens, and smart plugs to portable fans and hobs. She enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols to ensure we’re testing them against their claims. Her aim is to find the top-performing products on the market, to help take the hard work out of housework. Blossom’s most notable accomplishment in the lab has been toasting 528 slices of bread in her quest to find the best toasters money can buy. In her free time, she openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.
